~ Photo: AP – Frank Franklin II

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ Jimmy Vesey of the New York Rangers made a timely goal to contribute to his teams’ 7-4 win over the San Jose Sharks  in a late battle Monday.

In San Jose’s defensive zone, Mats Zuccarello stole the puck from Chris Tierney and passed to Derek Stepan who found Vesey up front at 12:37 of the third. Vesey scored through Justin Braun’s legs, who had his back towards Vesey. It was the second time Stepan and Zuccarello assisted on the night.

While the Rangers won their sixth of their last eight at home versus the Sharks, San Jose avoided a third straight shutout there emphatically, getting busy in the first of a five-game road trip.

New York scored goal pairs three times during the game. Both teams scored seven goals in the final frame, including two empty netters.

The Sharks’ Joe Pavelski got on the stat sheet for the first time this season, with a goal and three assists. Teammate Brent Burns’ shiner did not slow him down, as he scored two goals in his 800th NHL game. With his first goal, he has now scored against each NHL team.

The Rangers always led. Marc Staal opened the scoring at 12:16 of the first.

San Jose tied it in the final minute of the first. The 3-on-2 scoring play came from a 5-on-3 man advantage. Joe Thornton passed up ice to Pavelski, who crossed to Logan Couture, as he found the open left side of the net.

New York did not take too long to respond. Ryan McDonagh shot the puck off the boards and Rick Nash was able to just put the rebound under goalie Martin Jones’ left knee at 4:15 of the second. Chris Kreider also aided.

After Kreider was tripped, he put the Rangers up 3-1 when he made a difficult side angle shot. He was helped by McDonagh and Antti Raanta on the power play at 10:21.

Then came the third period.

Burns opened it up at 9:13 as he came into the slot after Pavelski worked his way around his defenders. Paul Martin also assisted.

Kevin Hayes then gave the Rangers their second two-goal lead at 12:16.

Down by three goals after Vesey’s, the Sharks were undaunted as Burns and Pavelski factored into the next two goals, making it a one-goal game again at 15:31.

However, that was all San Jose would get and  Zuccarello and Michael Grabner put in empty netters to close out the game.

Pavelski said, “We weren’t good enough. We were chasing it a little bit too much. Every time we fought back and got close, something just broke down.”

Game notes: The Sharks get back on the ice again Tuesday at 4pm, to face the other New York hockey team.