In a clash between two teams desperate for a win, the Rangers came up just short.
The winless Sharks waltzed into Madison Square Garden on Thursday night and picked up their first victory of the season, 6-5 in overtime, against the Blueshirts, who have yet to effectively defend home ice once this season at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
After Will Smith scored 1:37 into the extra period, the Rangers fell to 0-4-1 at MSG.
Each team had a player post a hat trick in the high-scoring battle.
Macklin Celebrini scored three of the Sharks’ first four goals, while Taylor Raddysh was the first to put the Rangers on the board before netting two more to help his team force overtime and earn at least a point.
It was the second hat trick of Raddysh’s career.
For a team that is looking to prove itself at home, the Rangers didn’t bring much at the start of the game.
Not only were the Sharks able to get on the board less than two minutes in, they outshot and outhit the Rangers through the opening 20 minutes.
Adam Gaudette was left all alone in front of the Rangers net to easily take an early 1-0 lead before the Sharks capitalized on the power play less than five minutes later.
A bouncing rebound found its way into the back of the Rangers net off Celebrini for his first of the night.
After Raddysh cut the Sharks lead in half, the 19-year-old Celebrini netted his second of the period with approximately nine seconds left.
Will Cuylle couldn’t break the puck out of the zone, allowing the Sharks to send it back in for the two-goal lead.
The Rangers tightened up in the second period and finally found some juice offensively. It led to three straight goals for the home team, including a power-play score from Mika Zibanejad and a go-ahead shorthanded goal from Raddysh.
Juuso Parssinen was the one to make it a 3-3 game off a shifty move on Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic.
The Sharks’ star rookie, however, struck at the tail end of the period yet again. Celebrini unleashed a bullet one-timer from the circle, showing off his quick release, to notch the hat trick and even the game at four-all.
Per Sportsnet, Celebrini is just the 15th teenager in NHL history to record multiple hat tricks.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
