New York @ San Jose preview
SAP Center at San Jose
Last Meeting ( Oct 30, 2018 ) NY Rangers 4, San Jose 3
Less than seven months removed from advancing to the Western Conference finals, the San Jose Sharks decided to make a change behind the bench. The skidding Sharks fired coach Peter DeBoer on Wednesday night and replaced him on an interim basis with assistant Bob Boughner for the start of a seven-game homestand against the New York Rangers on Thursday.
The Sharks won 11 of final 13 games to close out November, but they were outscored 22-7 during a five-game slide (0-4-1) this month. San Jose reached the playoffs in each of DeBoer's first four seasons, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2015-16, but now turn to Boughner, who returned to the Sharks in May after he was fired by the Florida Panthers following two seasons as their head coach. "When you have had a level of past success, change is never easy, but we feel this team is capable of much more than we have shown thus far and that a new voice is needed," general manager Doug Wilson said. New York opened its four-game road trip in impressive fashion, throttling Vegas 5-0 before dropping a 3-1 decision at Los Angeles, but it has won its last three meetings against San Jose -- all by one goal and the last two beyond regulation.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), NBCS California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE RANGERS (15-12-3): New York has been plagued by an inconsistent offense during a seven-game stretch in which it has alternated losses and wins, scoring a combined five goals in the four defeats. “I feel like every time I talk to the media, it’s the same thing -- we didn’t shoot enough," forward Chris Kreider said. "We needed to have a little more snarl, get to the net, get pucks to the net. And we weren’t able to do that.” Rangers forward Artemi Panarin has scored eight of his 15 goals in 14 road games.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (15-16-2): DeBoer's exodus overshadows what will be a milestone night for Joe Thornton, who will skate in his 1,600th game and join Patrick Marleau as the first set of teammates in history with that many appearances. The 40-year-old Thornton might be more preoccupied with another number Thursday, namely ending his season-opening 33-game goal drought. Thornton is among a number of San Jose players mired in an offensive funk, including defenseman Brent Burns, who had been held off the scoresheet in nine straight.
OVERTIME
1. San Jose also fired assistants Steve Spott, Johan Hedberg and Dave Barr while adding Roy Sommer, Mike Ricci and Evgeni Nabokov to the coaching staff.
2. The Rangers are 3-for-7 on the man advantage in the first two games of the road trip.
3. The Sharks is 1-for-30 on the power play over the last 12 games.
PREDICTION: Sharks 3, Rangers 2