SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Allowing another late goal could have been debilitating to the New York Rangers. Instead, they managed to bounce back and get a well-deserved win.
Kevin Shattenkirk scored the lone goal in the shootout and Henrik Lundqvist rebounded after allowing the tying goal with 1.3 seconds left in regulation, helping the Rangers complete a season sweep of the San Jose Sharks with a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.
"There was a moment where we were down and bowed our heads a little bit," Shattenkirk said. "Take that moment, take it in and move on. We did a good job of it. ... The way we stuck with it was huge."
Chris Kreider scored two goals in the third period and Mats Zuccarello also scored for the Rangers, who followed up a 3-2 overtime win at home against the Sharks earlier this month with another victory.
New York has just two wins in its other 10 games and lost a game Sunday in Los Angeles when the Kings scored with less than a minute left in regulation.
"That's a good team," Kreider said. "It's a good team we've beaten twice now, regardless if we blew the lead. That's a good team. We played so much better than we did the past few games. There's no reason we can't do that consistently."
Brent Burns and Timo Meier each scored for the Sharks to extend their points streaks to a career-high nine games.
The Sharks got Joe Thornton back in the lineup after missing nine games with an infection in his surgically repaired right knee, but struggled to control the game as coach Peter DeBoer spent much of the night juggling his lines.
"We didn't have the start we wanted today," Meier said. "We were chasing them from behind. We had a lot of turnovers. We didn't play our game. We tried to shuffle around the lines a little bit. We fought back nicely. We tied up at the end. Too bad we couldn't get those two points."
Martin Jones made 34 saves for San Jose, but couldn't stop Shattenkirk in the third round of the shootout.
Lundqvist stopped Hertl, Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski in the shootout after robbing Burns with his glove in the final second of overtime for his 31st save of the game.
"I don't know if I would have made it through the night if they scored with two seconds to go in overtime as well," said Lundqvist, who was shaken up in the second period after a collision with teammate Cody McLeod. "It would have been tough to accept. It was just a big relief to take it to the shootout."
Kreider twice gave the Rangers the lead in the third only to have the Sharks tie it, with the last coming when Hertl got a pass in front of the net with the clocking running down and beat Lundqvist to send the game into overtime.
Kreider had given New York a 3-2 lead earlier in the period after a defensive breakdown by San Jose. Zuccarello was left alone in front after an offensive zone draw and took a pass from Mike Zibanejad before feeding Kreider at the side of the net to give New York the lead.
Kreider scored on a one-timer early in the period only to have Meier answer with a shot into the top corner on a two-on-one.
The Sharks struck first when Burns beat Lundqvist with a big shot from the point less than four minutes into the game, becoming the first Sharks defenseman to record points in nine straight games.
But the Rangers took over from there, outshooting San Jose 17-6 in the opening period and getting the equalizer when Zuccarello beat Jones from the top circle less than a minute after Burns' goal.
"Tonight was one of those tough games you are coming off the road, it's a little bit of a trap game," DeBoer said. "We knew that coming in. The first period we were on our heels. They were the more desperate team tonight."
NOTES: Thornton played in his 1,496th career game, passing Phil Housley for sole possession of 20th place on the all-time list. ... Sharks captain Joe Pavelski played his 900th career game. ... F Pavel Buchnevich was a healthy scratch for New York.
UP NEXT:
New York: Visit Anaheim on Thursday.
San Jose: Host Columbus on Thursday.
