An excited New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin (10) celebrates his first period goal with teammate Alex Lafeniere (13) as the San Jose Sharks goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (29) is laid out in front of the net at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sun Dec 4, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Jessica Kwong

NEW YORK, N.Y. — The San Jose Sharks failed to tie the game late at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night and fell 6-5 to the New York Rangers, who earned their 3,000th win in franchise history.

Coming off their first road victory this season, against the New Jersey Devils on Friday, the Sharks had a chance at a two-game winning streak. But after the pregame skate, the Sharks had Ty Emberson and Nico Sturm as late scratches due to lower-body injuries.

Sharks head coach David Quinn, who returned to face the team he used to coach, said it was “an adverse day with the news we got this morning”.

“Listen we’re playing much better hockey, we’ve had a lot of adversity, I’ve said this a lot, no one’s had more than us,” said Quinn. “But give our guys a ton of credit, they came ready to play tonight and had a chance to tie it late.”

In the first period, Anthony Duclair made a wrist shot at 3:50 to put the Sharks up 1-0. Artemi Panarin made a deflected shot at 8:44 to tie the game at 1-1. Then Ryan Carpenter, who spent last season with the Rangers and got a welcome back shoutout on the jumbotron, made a revenge wrist shot at 12:21 that brought the Sharks back up 2-1.

But 30 seconds later, Panarin hit back with a wrist shot to tie the game again at 2-2. Mika Zibanejad made a snap shot at 16:42 and the period ended with the Rangers leading 3-2.

In the second period, Jacob MacDonald made a wrist shot at 9:16 to tie the game at 3-3. Will Cuylle made a wrist shot at 16:03 and New York lead 4-3.

MacDonald said that ‘fight is a big part’ that the Sharks have now that was missing in the first part of the season.

“Having that tonight was a very good sign,” said MacDonald. “I thought we sprung a couple of goals quickly, definitely treading in the right direction, so I like where we’re at, just have to keep pushing to lock things down.”

In the third period, Panarin netted a hat trick with a backhand shot at 4:41 to extend the Rangers’ lead to 5-3. K’Andre Miller hit a wrist shot at 13:04 and boosted the Rangers up 6-4. But the Sharks responded with a wrist shot by Fabian Zetterlund at 14:38 to cut the Rangers’ lead to 6-4.

“You want to create something every shift and when you’re down three goals it’s not over until a single or whatever you call it,” said Zetterlund. “We give it a good push and almost…”

Alexander Barabanov made a tip-in shot from Calen Addison at 15:50 to trail the Rangers by only one, but the Sharks failed to net another.

The Rangers (18-4-1) became the fifth NHL team to reach the 3,000-game victory milestone, before a sold-out crowd of 18,006.

San Jose (6-17-2) continue their road trip facing the New York Islanders (10-7-6) at UBS Arena on Tuesday. The puck drops at 4:30 p.m. PST.