Artemi "Breadman" Panarin's 5th NHL hat trick helped the New York Rangers edge out the San Jose Sharks 6-5 Saturday evening at Madison Square Garden.
Anthony Duclair made it 1-0 for the Sharks at the 3:50 mark for his 6th goal of the season before the Rangers tied it with Panarin's first of the night on the power play at 8:44, his 13th of the season. San Jose would hop back in front from Ryan Carpenter (1) at 12:21, but just 24 seconds later, Panarin tied it at 2 with his 2nd of the night and 14th of 2023/24. Birthday bud Mika Zibanejad gave New York the lead before the end of the period at 16:42, his 6th of the season.
The 2nd period didn't feature any goalscoring until 9:16, when the Sharks once again leveled things, this time at 3 apiece, from Jacob MacDonald (4) on a San Jose power play. A few minutes after that, New York's Will Cuylle (4) got the Rangers back in front at the 16:03 mark, giving the Blueshirts a much needed 4-3 advantage heading to the 3rd.
Panarin extended the Rangers' advantage by completing his hat trick at 4:41 (15) and then K'Andre Miller added the final New York goal at 13:04. Despite 2 more goals from the Sharks' Fabian Zetterlund (7) at 14:38 and Alexander Barabanov (1) at 15:50, the Rangers held on for a hard fought win.
The Rangers improve to 18-4-1 and remain firmly atop the Metropolitan Division with their 3rd straight win tonight. They play next at Ottawa on December 5, 7 pm starting time. The Sharks fall to 6-17-2, still easily dead last in the Pacific Division, with their next contest a visit to UBS Arena to face the New York Islanders, same date with a 7:30 pm start time.
Team Stats
Shots: SJ 28, NYR 36
Hits: SJ 16, NYR 14
Faceoff Wins: SJ 26, NYR 30
PIM: SJ 6, NYR 4
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