It had been long enough for Mika Zibanejad. The struggling center snapped an eight-game goal drought by scoring his third goal of the season to spark the Rangers past the Sharks 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.

Zibanejad’s game-tying goal came with 8:19 left in the second period. His rebound of an Adam Fox shot helped the surging Rangers get untracked. They would score three straight goals within a 4:40 span to go from being a goal down to 3-1 up on the Sharks. Most importantly, the goal from Zibanejad allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief. It energized the Blueshirts, who bounced back from a 6-3 loss to the Jets with a better all-around effort.

That wasn’t evident early on. Instead, it was the Sharks who got the game’s first four shots. It marked the return of Barclay Goodrow. Unceremoniously dumped on waivers by Rangers team president and general manager Chris Drury in the off-season, Goodrow played on the Sharks’ first line with 2024 top pick Macklin Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli. He received a warm ovation from appreciative fans during the first stoppage after they showed a video tribute on Garden Vision.

By that point, the Sharks had already gone ahead. Timothy Liljegren scored on a fluky shot that deflected off Jimmy Vesey’s stick and went up in the air through a maze past Igor Shesterkin at 2:51. Luke Kunin and Nico Sturm drew the assists.

After a sluggish start, the Rangers got going thanks to a strong shift from the third line. Almost everyone touched the puck before Ryan Lindgren had a good shot from the slot that Mackenzie Blackwood stopped. They applied more pressure on the next shift. But Alexis Lafreniere was denied by Blackwood, who was sharp throughout the opening period.

On a play in transition, William Eklund came close to putting the Sharks up two. But his shot hit the from distance hit the goalpost. In a period that the Rangers didn’t show much energy in, that was a break.

Lindgren got an even better opportunity on some good work from Lafreniere, Vincent Trocheck, and Artemi Panarin. But Blackwood robbed him. Before the first concluded, the Sharks hit another goalpost. The Rangers were fortunate to get out of the period only down one.

The Rangers started quickly in the second period. On a strong shift from the first line, Zac Jones made a good pinch and rang a shot off the goalpost. But on the opposite end, he grabbed Kunin in a board battle to go off for holding. The Sharks’ power play was negated right away by Goodrow after his skate knocked down Jacob Trouba for interference.

On the four-on-four, Celebrini got a dangerous chance in transition. Using his speed, he skated into the Rangers’ zone and fired wide. On the other end, Kreider was stopped by Blackwood. He also missed wide on a better chance.

With the Sharks looking for a backdoor play, Braden Schneider took down Ty Dellandrea to go off for holding. Eklund again nearly put them ahead by two. But his shot hit the goalpost.

The Rangers were able to kill the penalty off. As the period moved on, they spent more time in the San Jose end. They began to dictate the action with strong puck possession. Eventually, the hard work paid off.

On a good Smith cross-ice pass in the slot, a pinching Fox took a low shot that rebounded off Blackwood right to Zibanejad for an easy put away into an open net with 8:19 remaining. That tied the score.

Finally with momentum, the Rangers swarmed the Sharks’ end. Filip Chytil had a backhand denied by Blackwood. He couldn’t prevent them from eventually taking the lead. Prior to that happening, Chytil ran into K’Andre Miller in the offensive zone. He never saw him and was shaken up at the Rangers bench. He went to the locker room for concussion protocol. He did return before the period ended.

https://twitter.com/DaveyUpper/status/1857233022287798297

It was the fourth line that produced the go-ahead tally. Sam Carrick moved the puck to Jimmy Vesey. He had his pass bounce back to him in front. Vesey whipped a backhand past Blackwood to make it 2-1. It was his second goal in three games.

On the following shift, Fox thought he had his first goal of the season. However, a video review confirmed that Trocheck knocked out Blackwood’s stick for goalie interference. It was incidental contact. There was no penalty on the play.

Later on, Trocheck wouldn’t be denied. Lafreniere made a good outlet across the ice to Panarin, who gained the Sharks’ zone. With the San Jose defense backing up, that gave Panarin enough time to make a nifty backdoor feed for a cutting Trocheck to redirect in for a 3-1 lead. It was a superb pass from Panarin.

Moments later, Schneider had a point shot hit the goalpost. On that same shift, Adam Edstrom just missed putting them ahead by three. At the conclusion of the second, Lafreniere drew a hooking minor on Eklund to give the Rangers a full two-minute power play to start the third.

When they returned for the period, one thing was different. No Chytil. He was ruled out with an upper-body injury. Obviously, nobody knows with concussions. There’s no way they would have cleared Chytil to return if he didn’t pass the protocol. After what happened against the Hurricanes a year ago, the Rangers know how tricky head injuries are. Hopefully, keeping him out was only precautionary.

On the man-advantage, they were unable to extend the lead. Blackwood made a pair of stops on Panarin and Smith. In between that, Goodrow got a clean shorthanded breakaway from center ice. He came in and narrowly missed beating Shesterkin. If he scored, the game might’ve swung.

The Rangers were able to play a more structured third period. Edstrom nearly put them ahead by three. But his shot from in front was stopped by Blackwood, who outside of a bad rebound that allowed Zibanejad to score, played a good game.

Panarin would late come close on a rocket that again drew iron. He was flying. When he plays with Trocheck and Lafreniere, they know where each other are. It never made sense for Peter Laviolette to break them up. That’s a line that shouldn’t be touched the remainder of the season. You don’t fix what isn’t broken.

Zibanejad looks more comfortable with Kreider and Smith. They were more effective after being reunited. In particular, Smith was noticeable. He does a lot of good things during shifts. He’s very active. That line should also stay together.

Without Chytil, Trocheck was double shifted. He took some shifts with Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko. During one, Cuylle had a good shot right on Blackwood. He continues to play well.

In the second part of the period, Shesterkin came up with some key saves. That included one on Celebrini and another on Goodrow. With Blackwood on the bench for an extra attacker, Zibanejad took down Mikael Granlund to put the Sharks on a six-on-four advantage with a minute left.

On some quick passing, Eklund made a good feed from behind the net that Fabian Zetterlund buried with less than 27 seconds remaining. That pulled the Sharks within 3-2.

There wasn’t much time left. Zetterlund sent in a long shot on Shesterkin that led to a rebound. The Sharks nearly set up one final shot in the slot. Good thing it didn’t connect. The Rangers hung on for the victory.

They now will embark on a four-game road trip. The first stop is at Seattle on Sunday night. They’ll also visit Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton.