The Sharks fell to 0-1 without Joe Thornton, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery before Thursday’s game.
San Jose nursed three one-goal leads early, but found the struggling New York Rangers just too much as New York rallied for a 6-5 win at SAP Center on the final night before the league pauses for NHL All-Star Weekend.
“Just bad defensive hockey,” said Sharks forward Logan Couture, who reached the 20-goal plateau by scoring twice. “Don’t know if we’re cheating there for offense, but we gave them way too much.”
Considering how busy San Jose has been lately, and toss the Thornton bad news on top of that, the break couldn’t come at a better time.
“I don’t know the long-term prognosis,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “I know he’s not going to be available in the near future. … I’m concerned with coming out of the break and going into Pittsburgh.”
First things first. The Sharks (26-15-7) enter the break with a one-point hold on second place in the Pacific Division while they trail first-place Vegas by nine. Los Angeles and Anaheim are one more point behind third-place Calgary.
San Jose has games-in-hand over the Flames, Kings and Ducks, but that is likely more games remaining they will play without Thornton, who went under the knife to repair an MCL injury sustained in the final minute of Tuesday’s game.
The team did not put a timetable on the alternate captain’s return. Typically, a return from Thornton’s procedure could take a minimum of six weeks. Thornton is 38 years old, and he already returned at the start of the season from offseason surgery to repair the ACL and MCL in his left knee.
San Jose will have 10 weeks remaining in the regular season when play restarts next week with the Sharks embarking on a five-game trip. If Thornton were to return after six weeks, he could conceivably be available to dress for San Jose’s final 14 games.
“I’m sure he’s not going to be back anytime soon,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “We’re not looking a month or two months ahead right now. We’re worried about getting a little rest on this break and we kind of jump right back in it.”
Thornton exits the lineup just when he was playing his best hockey of the season. After scoring two goals and recording 10 points in the team’s first 19 games, Thornton rebounded at nearly a point-per-game pace. He scored 11 goals and had 15 assists in 28 games as the Sharks went 16-6-6.
Until late last season, when Thornton sustained the serious knee injury he played through in the postseason, Jumbo Joe was as durable as they come. Wednesday was only the 13th missed out of a possible 974 regular-season games since he was acquired by the Sharks from Boston 13 years ago. Signed for this season for $8 million, Thornton is likely to miss at least 19 more games over six weeks.
“The guy’s a legend,” Sharks defenseman Brent Burns said. “It’s tough to lose a guy like that. Say whatever, but other guys get a chance for a bigger role, more ice. Teams lose top guys all the time. You’ve got to battle through.”
The Rangers used a three-goal second period to break a 2-2 tie after 20 minutes to snap a three-game losing streak.
Defenseman Ryan McDonagh scored his first two goals of the season just 72 seconds apart at mid-period to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead.
Disaster struck for the Sharks late in the period when San Jose’s first non-Thornton power play turned into a short-handed goal allowed. Brady Skjei provided the third straight New York goal scored by a defenseman when he punched a fat rebound left by Aaron Dell home at 17:09.
Ross McKeon is a freelance writer. Twitter: @rossmckeon