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Monday, Mar. 6 10:30pm ET
Ricci scores after :50, then with :45 left | |||||
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BOX SCORE
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Mike Richter kept the New York Rangers in the game. Mike Ricci gave him a loss. Richter faced 36 San Jose shots and turned away all but two by Ricci as the Sharks beat the New York Rangers 2-1 Monday night. Ricci scored 50 seconds in and then again with 45 seconds left to negate Richter's effort. "Sometimes you just shoot and don't even look, and the puck goes in," Ricci said. "That's what happened tonight on that last goal." The game appeared headed for overtime, despite a huge shots advantage for San Jose, before the Sharks struck suddenly in the final minute. Stephane Matteau made a cross-ice pass from the right, and Niklas Sundstrom deflected it to Ricci, whose wrist shot from about 10 feet beat Richter. "I just held back to see how things would develop," Ricci said. "Sundstrom made a great play to get me the puck. I don't think he heard me yell at him, but he's got eyes in the back of his head." Richter was surprised at the winning goal. "It looked like the puck may have bounced over Sundstrom's stick," Richter said. "That's unfortunate because I was ready for a shot from Sundstrom. I'm disappointed because I thought we played better than they did in the third period and would at least get a point, if not a win." The goal was the 18th for Ricci, who has 16 career two-goal games. "Mike has struggled the past couple of games," Sharks coach Darryl Sutter said of Ricci. "But he's a leader and winner, so it's good to see him rewarded like he was tonight." The Sharks had a 30-7 advantage in shots through the first two periods and finished with a 36-14 edge. That is the most the Rangers have been outshot in a game this season. Twice before, they had been outshot by 21. "Richter's performance was fabulous, just fabulous," coach John Muckler said. "It's a shame we had to waste the effort." The victory was San Jose's first in nine games over the Rangers on the Sharks' home ice. Since entering the league in 1991, the Sharks are just 2-13-2 against the Rangers. "We should not win this game, but he Richter is so great that we actually had an opportunity to win it," center Petr Nedved said. "San Jose had chances from the beginning to the end, but he killed most of them." San Jose first scored just 50 seconds into the game. Ricci's close-in shot from the right corner of the net was deflected by Richter, but Ricci collected the rebound and put the puck into the net. New York tied it at 7:21 of the second period when Mathieu Schneider scored on a slap shot from 25 feet. San Jose goalie Steve Shields partially deflected the shot, but the puck trickled between his legs and into the net. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard NY Rangers Clubhouse San Jose Clubhouse RECAPS Ottawa 5 Boston 1
San Jose 2 AUDIO/VIDEO   Mike Ricci scores his 17th of the season.avi: 545 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||