Artemi Panarin's hat trick, assist power Rangers to wild win over Sharks
NEW YORK -- Artemi Panarin had three goals and an assist, Jonathan Quick won again, and the New York Rangers held on to beat the San Jose Sharks 6-5 on Sunday night.
Mika Zibanejad had a goal and an assist, Will Cuylle and K'Andre Miller also scored, and Jacob Trouba, Vincent Trocheck and Jonny Brodzinski each had two assists to help the Rangers win for the sixth time in seven games.
The Metropolitan-Division-leading Rangers have won 16 of their last 19 games, have a league-best 18 wins and are tied with Boston for tops with 37 points.
"It's a good feeling," Panarin said. "We look pretty good right now. I hope we can play this way all year."
Quick stopped 23 shots to improve to 7-0-1 this season, becoming the first goaltender with a point in eight consecutive starts to begin his tenure with the Rangers.
Anthony Duclair had a goal and an assist, and Jacob MacDonald, Fabian Zetterlund, Ryan Carpenter and Alexander Barbanov all scored for San Jose. Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 30 saves.
The Sharks lost for the 11th time in 12 road games. San Jose was coming off a 6-3 win at New Jersey on Friday night, their first road win of the season after 10 losses.
"Our mental resolve was impressive,'' Sharks coach David Quinn said. "But we have to finish checking and back checking, You can't leave anything to chance and we left too much to chance."
Cuylle gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead with his fourth of the season with just under 4 minutes remaining in the second period.
Panarin then completed his hat trick -- his third with the Rangers -- with his team-leading 15th of the season at 4:41 of the third to make it 5-3.
"He's always been an elite player but you appreciate him more when you watch him day in and day out,″ Rangers first-year coach Peter Laviolette said about Panarin, who leads the team with 35 points.
Miller gave the Rangers at three-goal lead with 6:56 remaining, but Zetterlund and Barbanov scored just over a minute apart to make it a 6-5 game with 4:10 left.
"They made it interesting at the end,″ Zibanejad added. "We'll take this win and these four points this weekend."
Panarin has points in 19 of his 23 games this season. He became the third player in franchise history with a season-opening home point streak of 10-plus games, joining Mike Rogers in 1983-84 and Wayne Gretzky in 1996-97. Panarin led the Rangers with 92 points last season and 96 the season before that.
"He leaves you speechless sometimes,'' Zibanejad said of Panarin. "I couldn't be happier having him on our team."
The Rangers won for the 3,000th time in franchise history, becoming the fifth NHL team to reach the milestone. They reached that figure by defeating 36 different franchises in 87 different venues.
Duclair opened the scoring 3:50 into the game, beating Quick on a breakaway for his sixth, and Panarin tied it at 8:44 on a power play.
Carpenter scored his first of the season with 7:39 remaining in the period to put the Sharks back ahead, but Panarin tied it again 34 seconds later.
Zibanejad put the Rangers ahead 3-2 with 3:18 remaining in the first, beating Blackwood from in close for his sixth.
The Sharks tied it 3-3 on a power-play goal by MacDonald at 9:16 of the second, his fourth of the season and third in two games.
Lafreniere had a penalty-shot chance for the Rangers at 10:16 of the second but was denied by Blackwood.
The Sharks pulled Blackwood with just over two minutes remaining but couldn't tie it.
"Give our guys a ton of credit,'' Quinn added. "They came ready to play tonight and had a chance to tie it late."
UP NEXT
Sharks: At the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
Rangers: At Ottawa on Tuesday night.
