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Rangers allow 52 shots against in 4-1 loss to Sharks

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Henrik Lunqvist makes 43 saves before getting an early trip to the showers in San Jose.Nick Lust/NHLI via Getty Images

Henrik Lunqvist makes 43 saves before getting an early trip to the showers in San Jose.

SAN JOSE – There is something about the Rangers playing the Sharks on the road and getting eaten alive. The Blueshirts won at the SAP Center last year, but now twice in Alain Vigneault’s three years they’ve turned in absolute monstrosities at the Tank.

The final score of Saturday afternoon’s 4-1 spanking wasn’t as embarrassing as their 9-2 blowout defeat here on Oct. 13, 2013. But it easily could have been, and the flow of play was just as lopsided, with a season-high 52 shots allowed to the Sharks (40-25-6, 86 points) and Henrik Lundqvist (43 saves) pulled despite a magnificent performance to make this resemble a hockey game until the third.

That is why any good feelings the Rangers (40-24-8, 88 points) had built on this three-game California road swing (1-1-1) are up in smoke as they fly home to New York with just 10 regular season matches to play. They spiraled from a 2-1 win in Anaheim Wednesday to a 4-3 OT defeat in L.A. Thursday to Saturday’s mess.

Meanwhile, the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins (86 points, game in-hand) at least temporarily jumped into third place in the Metropolitan Division behind the second-place Blueshirts with a 4-1 road win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Islanders (85 points, two games in-hand) had a chance to reclaim that spot in later in an 8 p.m. start in Dallas against the Stars.

Lundqvist has reason to be the most frustrated of all. In a rare occurrence, Lundqvist made 43 saves in an incredible performance but was pulled from his net anyway 9:05 into the third period, down 4-1. If that doesn’t illustrate how bad his team played in front of him, nothing will.

Lundqvist has not won a start since Feb. 27 in Dallas. Since, he has two DNPs, three missed games due to injury and an 0-3-2 record in five starts. He was yanked Saturday for the fifth time this season, but for only the first time since Dec. 28 in Nashville, after which the King and the Blueshirts started to right their ship.

Martin Jones made 25 saves for the Sharks.

The Sharks dominant the Rangers in a Saturday matinee in San Jose.Nick Lust/NHLI via Getty Images

The Sharks dominant the Rangers in a Saturday matinee in San Jose.

Backup Antti Raanta wasn’t even sitting with his team when he got the call to replace Lundqvist. He was watching from across the rink in the stands, because some rinks just don’t leave room for backups on the bench.

But Vigneault was so desperate to no longer subject Lundqvist to the mess in front of him, and San Jose had opened such a frighteningly-fast 4-1 lead with three goals in three-and-a-half minutes in the third period, that he had no other choice.

Incredibly, ex-Shark Dan Boyle actually sent the game tied at one apiece to the third period on a goal off the rush on assists from Derick Brassard and Marc Staal at 17:32 of the second. That answered Joel Ward’s power play goal at 7:50 of the second to open scoring.

It’s difficult to explain, though, how shocking it was that this game was tied.

The Sharks put a staggering 33 shots on Lundqvist in the game’s first 30 minutes, including 21 shots in the second period alone. Nevertheless, it was tied, until the score started finally to resemble how they game actually had been contested: Joe Thornton scored at 5:45 of the third, Ward put home his second at 7:34, and then Joe Pavelski scored at 9:05 to end Lundqvist’s night.

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