Rangers Power By Sharks 5-3

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 12, 1998 / 1:04 AM EST / CBS Sportsline

While the New York Rangers have slipped toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, their power play has remained potent.

Wayne Gretzky quarterbacked the Rangers offense, scoring a goal and setting up two others Wednesday to key a 5-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks. Three goals came with a manpower advantage in the second period, including two with 27 seconds to turn around the game.

"We've worked a lot on the power play the last five or six games," said Gretzky. "We might have struggled in the beginning of the year, but over the long haul we have one of the top four or five power plays."

The Rangers kept their unbeaten record against San Jose (12-0-1) alive, and Gretzky remained on a personal hot streak with five goals in his last four games.

Owen Nolan scored a pair of goals for the Sharks.

With the Rangers on a 5-on-3 advantage, Gretzky beat goaltender Kelly Hrudey with a sharp-angle slap shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle for his 18th goal of the season. New York converted the 5-on-4, as well, when Adam Graves beat Hrudey with a snap shot from the high slot that caught the upper right corner for his 19th goal of the season.

"That changed the whole mood of the game," said Rangers coach John Muckler.

The mood swing was at the direct expense of San Jose coach Darryl Sutter.

"Five-on-five we had a lot of chances," said Sutter. ``It's usually symptomatic of winning and losing."

"The Gretzky goal is a bad goal. It's a smart play by Wayne, but he shoots and scores on the short side. That can't happen. Next one is Graves in the slot, a hell of a shot."

Vladimir Vorobiev scored his second goal of the season at 7:46 of the third period and Niklas Sundstrom followed with his 15th. Nolan then pulled San Jose to 5-3 with his second of the night.

San Jose took a 1-0 lead on Tony Granato's 11th goal. Granato, standing just to the left of goaltender Mike Richter, backhanded the rebound of his own shot over the prone Richter.

Alexei Kovalev made it 1-1 with a power play goal at 19:08. Kovalev beat Hrudey with a wicked slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle.

"Alex played very well," said Muckler, who benched Kovalev in the third period of the last game. "He played with a little emotion tonight. He pursued the puck very well, created some opportunities for himself, played well on the power play, on the point. He did an excellent job."

San Jose regained the lead 2-1 at 3:28 of the second period when Nolan converted the rebound of Patrick Marleau's shot.