McDonagh, Miller lift Rangers past Sharks

SAN JOSE -- Defenseman Ryan McDonagh scored his first two goals of the season, and the New York Rangers ended a three-game losing streak with a 6-5 win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Thursday.
McDonagh scored his goals 1:12 apart in the second period, and defenseman Brady Skjei scored shorthanded to give New York a 5-3 lead entering the third.

WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Sharks highlights]
"It's huge," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said of getting three goals from defensemen. "But six goals on the road is not something you're going to get on a regular basis. But there's no doubt that having [McDonagh] score his first two tonight, that was important for our team. And to have Brady step up and get that shorthanded one.
"We'll take the two points, go on an All-Star break and get ready for after the break."
Kevin Hayes and Jesper Fast scored, and J.T. Miller had a goal and two assists for the Rangers (25-20-5). Ondrej Pavelec made 23 saves.
Logan Couture scored two goals, and Barclay Goodrow, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Tomas Hertl scored for the Sharks (26-15-7), who lost their second straight. Aaron Dell made 23 saves.
"Just bad defensive hockey," Couture said. "Don't know if we're cheating there for offense, but we gave them way too much."

The Sharks played without center Joe Thornton, who underwent arthroscopic surgery Thursday on his right knee to repair damage to his medial collateral ligament and is out indefinitely.
"Obviously, he's a big piece, he means a lot to the guys in here," San Jose captain Joe Pavelski said of Thornton. "We've spent a lot of time whether it's on the power play or on our line together. So, there's a little adjustment at times, but guys found ways to battle, make some plays. But you just can't give up that much."
Couture scored his second goal of the game at 2:36 of the second to put the Sharks ahead 3-2.
McDonagh took a cross-ice pass from Hayes and beat Dell with a snap shot inside the left post at 11:04 to tie it 3-3. He gave the Rangers a 4-3 lead at 12:16 with a power-play goal from the high slot.
With New York's Brendan Smith in the penalty box for holding Chris Tierney, Skjei scored when Kevin Labanc's clearing attempt went off his right leg and between Dell's pads at 17:09 to make it 5-3.
Vlasic cut the Rangers lead to 5-4 at 10:51 of the third period with a goal from the left face-off circle.
Miller, who was benched late in the first period of a 6-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday, scored from the low slot at 18:10 to increase the Rangers lead to 6-4.

"It's amazing sometimes, you sit back and look at how simple you have to play," Miller said. "That's when the ice seems to open up. When you stop your feet, keep looking for plays and making something out of nothing is when you get yourself in trouble."
Hertl scored from close range with 50 seconds left to make it 6-5, but the Sharks did not have another shot on goal the rest of the game.
Hayes returned to the lineup after missing six games with a leg contusion and gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 5:45 of the first period when he scored on a slap shot from the left circle.
"Legs were a little heavy, but it was nice to get some offensive opportunities early to get the confidence back," Hayes said.
Goodrow scored on the rebound of a Brent Burns shot to tie it 1-1 at 6:45, and Couture scored with a sharp-angled wrist shot from below the left circle at 10:56 to give San Jose a 2-1 lead.
Fast beat Dell with a wrist shot with 2:07 left in the first to tie it 2-2.
"We needed a win," Vigneault said. "After another good start, we were able to have a real strong second period, and I think that was the difference in tonight's game."

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Goal of the game

McDonagh's goal at 12:16 of the second period.

Save of the game

Pavelec stopping Joakim Ryan at 15:30 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Miller's goal at 18:10 of the third period.

They said it

"I'll be honest, I got nothing to do with the win tonight. The guys battled so hard, scored six goals. It would be kind of a crime to lose the game with the six goals on the road. It was one of those games I couldn't make that save, I couldn't help the guys to kind of take a breath and then regroup." -- Rangers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec
"It was a pretty sloppy game in general. There were chances at both ends. We could have scored 10, and they could have scored 10 as well." -- Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic

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Need to know

Rangers forward David Desharnais played his 500th NHL game. ... Labanc had three primary assists.

What's next

Rangers: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG, TSN4, NHL.TV)
Sharks: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ATTSN-PT, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)