Rangers survive for 2-1 win over Sharks

In an Jose, the New York Ranges’ Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves, none bigger than his clutch save on Logan Couture with four seconds left in regulation on Saturday to preserve a 2-1 win over the Sharks.

Just 11 seconds earlier, Couture had ruined the Shesterkin shutout bid with a goal with the Sharks skating the extra attacker.

“They beat us to every loose puck, they outbattled us, they outcompeted us,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “I thought our puck management wasn’t great all night long, but we were at least hanging around in the first two periods. Took some penalties that put us behind the eight ball.

“It was a step back tonight. [Over] 82 games, you’re going to have nights off. OK, let’s see how we respond. That’s the key. But we stunk. … It hasn’t happened in a long time, so let’s see how we respond on Monday (against the Ottawa Senators).”

After a scoreless 54 minutes of play, Julien Gauthier finally broke through for the Rangers on a tip off a Jacob Trouba shot from the blue line for a 1-0 lead.

New York improved to 9-6-4.

“We played a great game tonight, I was happy with our performance,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “We played hard, had lots of scoring chances, and (Sharks goalie James) Reimer played outstanding.”

Despite the miserable play from the Rangers of late, they are 2-0-1 in their last three games.

“We were a little frustrated the puck didn’t go in the net [until late in the game], trust me,” Gallant said. “But they didn’t lose their focus. They kept pushing and pushing because they were playing well and the chances were there. There were a lot of grade-A chances, and Reimer made some great saves.”

Adam Fox scored into an empty net with 67 seconds left on the regulation clock.

“We liked our game up until that third period, and we knew the bounces and chances were coming and we liked what we were seeing and getting pucks on net. It was just a matter of a bounce or two,” Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller said. “Credit a lot to our goalie back there. He’s been unreal since I’ve joined this team. He’s been that guy that can win games for us single-handedly, so huge shout out to [Shesterkin]. I can’t imagine that’s too easy of a job.”

San Jose dropped to 6-11-3.

James Reimer made 41 saves in the Sharks loss.

“That’s a really good hockey team over there, and we stayed right with them, and we were just one small chance and four seconds away there,” Reimer said.

Photos by Jack.Lima@prohockeynews.com