By Mary Walsh

Sunday, the San Jose Sharks were shut out by the New York Rangers, 4-0.  It was the first time since 1993 that New York shut out San Jose. As they were playing their second game in less than 24 hours, it was not surprising that the Sharks looked fatigued by the latter part of the second period.

It was the first time the Sharks gave up the first goal this season. That goal was a killer, since the Rangers have one of the best goalies in the business. The game went from bad to worse from there, with a team-wide collapse.  Everyone not named Joe finished the game with a minus after their name on the stat sheet.

After the first period, Eriah Hayes said the team still needed to “Get more shots on net. I think we only had five there, so, funnel pucks to the net and crash away on the rebounds.” The Sharks did shoot more in the second but that was all they accomplished.

The Sharks went from wobbly in the first half of the second, to utterly gutted in the second half. They looked tired and overwhelmed. In retrospect, they were lucky to get as far as they did without giving up a goal. They finally gave up three in the last seven minutes of the period. Though being badly beaten in the faceoff circle and looking beat all around, the team managed to get credit for 15 shots to the Rangers’ 17 during the period.

With 6:59 left in the second, Karl Hagelin took a shot from the blue line, then skated in with Mueller and Burns flanking him, to pick up his own rebound and put it past Stalock. The assists went to John Moore and Dominic Moore.

The second goal came in a jam at the Sharks’ net, when the puck trickled under Stalock. Martin St. Louis, despite the efforts of several Sharks to push him back and out, kept after the puck until it went in. The goal was reviewed as it seemed close to the whistle, but the call stood up.

After the review and a consultation at the bench, play resumed and went right back to the Rangers. Rick Nash dumped the puck in off the face off. Nash chased it in and barely touched it, putting it through the five hole before Stalock could get ready. An assist went to Dominic Moore.

The third period started with an early fight between Tanner Glass and Andrew Desjardins. That seemed pretty hard on Desjardins, since he fought Saturday night as well. The Sharks were stuck with an additional two minute penalty to Desjardins, for cross checking Kevin Klein. The Rangers did not convert on their first power play of the game.

The Rangers followed up the failed power play with another goal, off a failed pass in the Sharks’ zone. Kevin Hayes scored it, his first NHL goal.

The Sharks had two power plays after that but could not break Henrik Lundqvist’s shutout. Patrick Marleau had a chance off a neat pass from Joe Thornton, but his shot hit the post. A short handed break for Rick Nash followed that but Stalock stopped it and held on.

The final shot count was 33-29 for the Sharks. The Sharks’ power play went 0-3, their penalty kill went 1-1. The Sharks won just 21 of 61 faceoffs.

The Sharks made some roster adjustments for Sunday’s game. Defenseman Jason Demers was back in the lineup, while Scott Hannan sat. Al Stalock was in net, consistent with the team’s every other game rotation for goalies so far. Forward Eriah Hayes was also in the lineup, as he had been the day before, in lieu of John Scott. Demers was paired with Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Justin Braun played with Matt Irwin.

The Sharks next play on Tuesday in Boston at 4:00 PT.