photo by sjsharks.com

By Jerry Feitelberg

When news broke that Joe Thornton would miss an undisclosed amount of time with a knee injury, San Jose Sharks fans immediately were concerned about how the team would continue scoring without its future Hall of Famer. Thursday night, the Sharks offense did just fine, putting up five goals against the visiting New York Rangers. Unfortunately, the defense was the letdown, with the Sharks falling 6-5 to the Blueshirts.

Logan Couture scored two goals, Kevin Labanc picked up three assists and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Tomas Hertl and Barclay Goodrow all scored for San Jose. Aaron Dell, starting in place of the injured Martin Jones once again, made 23 saves but allowed 4+ goals in back-to-back game for the first time ever in his career. Rangers Captain Ryan McDonagh scored his first two goals of the season, Brady Skjei netted a short-handed goal and J.T. Miller scored the game-winner with 1:50 left on the clock.

Kevin Hayes staked the Rangers to a 1-0 lead 5:45 into the first period, but a goal from Barclay Goodrow and Logan Couture’s first of the game gave San Jose a 2-1 just over halfway through the first period. Jesper Fast beat Dell with 2:07 left in the period to tie the game.

Couture wrested back the lead in the opening moments of the second period, slipping the puck past backup netminder Ondrej Pavelec 2:36 into the middle period. The Rangers fired back with three unanswered goals in the period, with Ryan McDonagh scoring on a two-on-one with Kevin Hayes then a point shot and Brady Skjei knocking a clearing attempt into the Sharks net off his shinpad with San Jose on the power play for a 5-3 lead after 40 minutes.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic beat a vulnerable Pavelec for his eighth goal of the year, one shy of his career-high, 10:51 into the third, but Miller extended the cushion with his 11th goal of the year late in the frame. Hertl, who missed a number of grade-A opportunities, finally converted with 50 seconds left in regulation.

The Sharks head into the NHL All-Star break looking at the possibility of Jones rejoining the team for their next game against the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday night on the road.

San Jose beat the Pens 2-1 at home on January 20th, with Aaron Dell making 31 saves in the win.

While #19 is out, the Sharks will count on players like Jones and team leaders like Vlasic and Couture to continue to step up if the team wants to hold on to its second place spot in the Pacific Division, two points away from being on the outside of the playoff picture.