MSG treat for Rangers in 5-2 victory over Sharks

The third time was a charm for the New York Rangers (4-3-3) to figure out the formula for success at Madison Square Garden, in their 5-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks (6-4-0) on Monday night. In a game featuring hard work, sacrifice and effort the Blueshirts gave a packed Garden a Halloween treat.

Making his debut with the Rangers was forward Andre Deveaux, who had the type of grind-it-out effort that’ll keep him with the Blueshirts for quite some time. Deveaux playing with childhood friend Dan Girardi, in what was a dream come true for both players.

Girardi also had an impressive night, earning the third star of the game thanks to his efforts. The Blueliner finished the night with three blocked shots, two hits and assists.

New York opened the night of scoring when Ryan McDonagh (3) scored on a perfect set-up by captain Ryan Callahan at the 4:46 mark. The Rangers added to their lead on a power play goal with 14:53 on the scoreboard when Derek Stepan tallied his first goal of the season.

The Blueshirts were all over San Jose in the first period, up until the 17:50 mark when Joe Pavelski (8) banged home a puck which hit both ends of Martin Biron’s (24 saves) cage before rattling in for the first Sharks goal. Pavelski finished the road trip with six goals in six games.

In what was a physical battle between the Sharks and the Rangers, as there were multiple scrums and one fight, San Jose tied things up in the second period, putting on a display of how to hold the puck. The Sharks overextended the Blueshirts blueline to even things up.

Pavelski was a big part of the Sharks’ second goal setting up second-year star Logan Couture (4) rifled home a shot to make things 2-2. It was sometime after that, the Rangers started to respond-getting back their game.

Spark plugging that effort was Captain Cally, who got a beauty of a pass from Erik Christensen, as the Rangers took the 3-2 lead at the 14:00 mark. The Blueshirts defense lead to the fourth goal at 16:42 as Artem Anisimov recorded his first goal of the season, adding on to the lead.

Christensen was a part of that fifth goal of the game along with Jeff Woywitka-who recorded his first point in a Rangers uniform. New York also had an impressive performance from Wojtek Wolski, who finished with a game-high seven shots in the game.

Capping off the game and the victory was Captain Cally, who on one leg gave the Rangers a 5-2 lead at the 19:12 mark.  The forward showed that effort, grit and spirit necessary to lead the team.

Now the Rangers will continue this six-game homestand with a Thursday night game against the Anaheim Ducks. The game is scheduled to air on the MSG network, with the puck drop slated for 7:00 p.m.

Stacy Podelski

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