SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Kevin Shattenkirk scored the lone goal in the shootout and Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves to help the New York Rangers complete a season sweep of the San Jose Sharks with a 4-3 victory on Tuesday night.
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.
Tomas Hertl scored the tying goal with 1.3 seconds left in regulation to give San Jose a point. Brent Burns and Timo Meier each scored for the Sharks to extend their points streaks to a career-high nine games.
The Sharks also got a boost with the return of Joe Thornton to the lineup. Thornton had missed nine games with an infection in his surgically repaired right knee. The 39-year-old Thornton had played only two games since injuring his knee Jan. 23.
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.
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.
The Sharks, who outshoot opponents by more than nine shots per game, controlled the pace of play for most of the second period but neither team managed to score. The most dramatic moment came when Lundqvist got knocked into by teammate Cody McLeod. Lundqvist was shaken up and had to be attended to by the trainer but remained in the game.
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.
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