Artemi Panarin<\/a> each got past San Jose\u2019s defense but couldn\u2019t beat Alex Nedeljkovic. But the fourth line could \u2013 Carrick capped a hard-working shift that kept the Sharks pinned in their own zone by scoring on a spinning wrister at 12:50 to cut the deficit to 3-1 \u2014 the period ended that way, with the Sharks outshooting the Rangers 17-11.<\/p>\n\u201cWeren\u2019t quite ready to play. You feel like you are, but they come out flying,\u201d Miller said. \u201cThey draw two penalties. They capitalize. The building was rocking. I don\u2019t know, we just kind of beat ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
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There was a more positive vibe in the second period, when the Rangers outshot the Sharks 11-7 and had the better of the play. They had more zip in their step, kept the Sharks mostly to the outside while killing a pair of penalties and had the better chances at 5-on-5. What they didn\u2019t get was a goal \u2013 neither team scored in the middle period.<\/p>\n
The Sharks did an excellent job keeping the space in front of Nedeljkovic clear during the third period, and the Rangers didn\u2019t help themselves by giving San Jose two more power plays. New York had plenty of zone time after pulling Martin with just under four minutes remaining but didn\u2019t get a Grade A scoring chance before the final horn sounded.<\/p>\n
Key takeaways after Rangers end California trip with 3-1 loss to SharksAnother slow start = another loss![\"NHL:](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1793b24e9e14d34568d7fe431be31e99.jpeg\"\/)
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Stan Szeto-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
The Rangers played pretty well for the final 50 minutes. The problem was that by then, they were already in too big a hole.<\/p>\n
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San Jose came out flying, converting two early Rangers penalties into power-play goals. The Sharks were flying; the Rangers were not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no hiding the fact that the start kills us, really,\u201d Zibanejad said. \u201cEven though we get that 3-1 goal and we\u2019re trying to climb back. It\u2019s, it\u2019s just a constant try to come back and try to chase. We\u2019re wasting a lot of energy on playing like that too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan blamed himself for the recent run of poor starts, which included allowing a goal 18 seconds into the loss in L.A.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to do a better job preparing them,\u201d he said. \u201cI have to make sure they\u2019re ready from the drop of the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Rangers played a solid game for the final 2 1\/2 periods. The problem was that by then, they were already in too big a hole.<\/p>\n
Fourth line produces, top six don\u2019t![\"NHL:](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2753e206bffadcaf04933ca55fbff580.jpeg\"\/)
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Stan Szeto-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Carrick was the Rangers\u2019 best forward, scoring their only goal and combining with linemates Taylor Raddysh and Anton Blidh to generate a number of good scoring opportunities in their limited ice time.<\/p>\n
In contrast, the top-six forwards didn\u2019t do much.<\/p>\n
Zibanejad (10-game point streak) and Miller (four-game multi-point streak) didn\u2019t do much. Nor did Panarin, their leading scorer, who was held pointless for the second straight game after a 10-game streak.<\/p>\n
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All three were on the ice for the Sharks\u2019 only even-strength goal.<\/p>\n
Sharks win battle of No. 1 picks<\/p>\n
The Rangers (2020) and Sharks (2024) had the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL Draft four years apart. Suffice it to say the Sharks are a lot happier with Celebrini than the Rangers are with Alexis Lafreniere.<\/p>\n
Celebrini is a star in the making, and he\u2019s the biggest reason the Sharks are contending for a playoff berth after finishing last overall in 2024-25. He was the most dangerous player on the ice for either team and is tied for third in the NHL scoring race with 74 points (26 goals, 48 assists).<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been one of the best in the league,\u201d Zibanejad said. \u201cHe\u2019s not only showed that against us, he\u2019s shown that against I feel like every team they\u2019ve played. You look at what he\u2019s been able to do, it\u2019s obviously impressive. Unbelievable player, and at such a young age to be able to have the impact, that\u2019s impressive. Kudos to him. Obviously, him playing well again didn\u2019t help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Meanwhile, Lafreniere went without a point in all three California games and has just 10 goals and 28 points in 52 games. Sullivan obviously wasn\u2019t pleased with what he saw from No. 13 against the Sharks, giving him only 14:20 of ice time. It\u2019s the third time in the past four games he played less than 15 minutes.<\/p>\n
Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New York Rangers won\u2019t be sorry to head back to the snow and cold of the Big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[5807,304,233,9207,3039,95,845,5,2685,145,501,6883,375,160,35,4,1265,5920,519,168,5306,5305,1780,768,11155,52830,3362,33,1692,802,3042,9210],"class_list":["post-425232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose-sharks","tag-alex-nedeljkovic","tag-alexis-lafreniere","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anton-blidh","tag-artemi-panarin","tag-boston-bruins","tag-collin-graf","tag-hockey","tag-j-t-miller","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-macklin-celebrini","tag-matthew-robertson","tag-michael-misa","tag-mika-zibanejad","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-pavol-regenda","tag-sam-carrick","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sanjose","tag-sanjosesharks","tag-sharks","tag-sidney-crosby","tag-spencer-martin","tag-stan-szeto-imagn","tag-taylor-raddysh","tag-the-rangers","tag-the-sharks","tag-tyler-toffoli","tag-vincent-trocheck","tag-will-borgen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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