Danny Knobler | Special to ESPNNewYork.com 9y

Refreshed Rangers shut out Sharks at MSG

NEW YORK -- Some of the changes were forced by injury. Some were forced by ugly play.

But the fact of the matter is that in the first six games of the season New York Rangers coach Alain Vigneault used six different lineups. He felt a need to continue making changes.

Maybe he finally found something that can work.

The Rangers benefited from a fortunate schedule Sunday, because they hadn't played in three days and the San Jose Sharks were coming off a tough game the night before. The Rangers also benefited from some fortunate bounces and some poor play by the opposing goalie, as they freely admitted.

But in a 4-0 win over a team that hadn't previously lost a game in regulation time, the Rangers looked significantly better, significantly more comfortable and significantly more confident.

This game was so much better than the ones that came before that when the Rangers had two defensemen hurt blocking shots, neither one of them ended up with a broken bone. Vigneault said both Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein needed stitches, but he also said that both could be listed as day to day.

The Rangers' confidence should probably still be listed as day to day too, but Sunday was a much better day. The new lines seemed to click quickly, the plan to have real centers play center led to by far the Rangers' best faceoff game this season (winning 66 percent of the draws), and it was the other team that seemed to have the "nightmarish snowball" (Girardi's term last week) rolling straight at it.

"We were eaten alive [on faceoffs]," Sharks coach Todd McLellan complained.

The Rangers know the feeling. They also know the feeling of one bad goal leading right into another, something that happened far too often to them in the first few games but happened in their favor Sunday.

All too often, the Rangers have fallen apart when they have fallen behind. Then again, we'll never know if that would have happened Sunday, because the Sharks never scored.

And perhaps that's why Henrik Lundqvist gave the team's Broadway Hat to defenseman Matt Hunwick, for clearing the puck right off the goal line in the first period of what was still a scoreless game.

"I think that's the biggest save of the game there," said Lundqvist, who faced 33 shots in his 51st career shutout (but first this season). "It didn't let [the Sharks] get feeling good about their game and get the game going in their direction. That save he made in the first, I think it helped me and helped the whole team. That's what you need. You need the bounces, the big plays at the right time."

The bounces and plays came later, mostly in a second period that the Rangers dominated. Carl Hagelin put them ahead at 13:01, tipping in his own rebound, and the Rangers finished the period with two goals within four seconds, the first from Martin St. Louis and the second from Rick Nash.

Never in franchise history had the Rangers scored two goals that quickly without either being an empty-netter.

Both goals were the result of bad plays by San Jose goalie Alex Stalock, but the Rangers' 3-0 lead heading into the second intermission was fully deserved.

"In the second period, the team clicked," Hagelin said. "We had a lot of chemistry. We've been changing lines a lot. We haven't had results, so it made sense. It's good to see the [new] lines clicking."

The move of St. Louis back to the wing and the call-up of center Chris Mueller from the minor leagues prompted the latest change. Nash and Chris Kreider played on a line centered by rookie Kevin Hayes, who played a strong game Sunday and was rewarded with his first NHL goal. St. Louis and Mats Zuccarello played on Derick Brassard's line, and Hagelin played with Dominic Moore and Lee Stempniak.

"I thought [Hayes] was great," said Nash, who leads the NHL with seven goals in six games. "We were talking a lot, trying to figure out each other's game because we hadn't played with each other before. I thought he had a great night."

It was a good night for the Rangers overall, without a doubt their best night of the young season.

Maybe these changes worked, and maybe Vigneault won't need to rush to make more.

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