Grading the Rangers Offense From 3-2 Win Over San Jose

A Narrow Victory

The Rangers picked up their fourth win in six games on Thursday night when the San Jose Sharks and ex-Rangers Barclay Goodrow and Alex Wennberg came to town. In the end, the Rangers did just enough to earn two points in the standings, but can definitely take some lessons away from the contest.

Rangers Offense Sufficient But Not Overwhelming

The first period for the Rangers started similarly to many of their recent match-ups. For the third time in four games, the Blueshirts found themselves getting outplayed by their opposition on home ice early and allowing a goal against in the first five minutes.

It's becoming something of a theme for the Rangers to come out flat and allow an early goal against. On the previous two occasions, the Rangers fell to the Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets, unable to match the offensive onslaughts they were defending against. On Thursday night, however, the Rangers offense rallied back to help the Blueshirts squeak out a win on home ice.

The first Rangers goal came via a player who desperately needed to find the back of the net. Just about halfway through the second period, a saved Adam Fox opportunity fell perfectly for Mika Zibanejad, who fired the puck into the net, tying the game 1-1 and giving the struggling forward his third goal in 15 games on the season.

Just a few minutes later, the Rangers fourth line came through in a big way when something of a broken play led to a Jimmy Vesey backhand shot from the hashmarks that beat Sharks goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood over the shoulder for a 2-1 New York lead.

Three minutes after Vesey found the twine, the Rangers widened their lead to 3-1 when a beautiful pass from Artemi Panarin was deflected by Vincent Trocheck for his fourth goal of the season.

Although the Rangers were able to put together a big second period of scoring, featuring goals from three different lines, there is still cause for concern regarding the streakiness of the offense overall. In the end, the Rangers scored enough to earn the victory and that's all that matters for the night itself. Moving forward, there seems to be a slightly worrying drop-off in Rangers scoring that the Blueshirts will want to keep their eye on. Through their first six games of the season, New York was averaging about five goals per game. Since then, the Rangers are scoring at a clip of about 2.6 goals per game.

Obviously, this trend is something to keep in mind as the Blueshirts move forward with their season. As for their grade from Thursday night's game, a B grade seems fair for the performance the Rangers put on at Madison Square Garden, scoring in only one period, but maximizing that period's offensive output.