SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- The San Jose Sharks matched the worst home start in franchise history but have to be happy they did it with a tie.
Marco Sturm scored a power-play goal with 9:01 left in the third period and Vesa Toskala made several spectacular saves late as the Sharks rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 2-2 tie with the New York Rangers.
San Jose is winless in its first nine home games (0-3-5-1) for just the second time in its 13-year history. It lost nine consecutive home games to start the 1992-93 season.
"It's not discouraging at all, but it's something that we need to change, especially at home," Sharks center Vincent Damphousse said. "We should be taking charge of the game here and instead, we seem to be waiting to see what kind of game they're going to give us and adjust later in the game. We've got to set the tempo in our building."
The Sharks failed to record a win but salvaged a point after Alex Korolyuk and Sturm scored six minutes apart in the third period.
"I wasn't pleased at all with the way we played," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "But in the third period, I guess when your back is against the wall, we started playing with the passion that we needed for 60 minutes, not 25."
San Jose got on the scoreboard when Korolyuk tallied at 4:58 and tied it when Sturm took a pass from Damphousse along the boards and backhanded the puck over New York goaltender Jussi Markkanen's right shoulder.
"It's not that we didn't try in the third, it's just that they picked up their game a little bit," Rangers center Bobby Holik said. "Playing at home, they have that edge for whatever reasons. I think it was a combination of them doing something about it and us not doing enough in the third period."
Toskala allowed a pair of second-period goals but stopped seven shots in the third period and three in overtime, denying New York on several key opportunities.
Toskala thwarted a 2-on-1 chance with five minutes left in the third, stopping Alexei Kovalev's wrist shot with his left pad. He made two saves in the final 30 seconds of overtime, stifling point-blank attempts from Kovalev and defenseman Brian Leetch.
"We had a chance to win it in the overtime," New York coach Glen Sather said. "Alex and Brian both had great opportunities. I thought we played for 60 minutes, we just didn't protect the lead for 60 minutes."
Both teams remained winless in overtime this season. San Jose fell to 0-2-7, recording its league-leading eighth tie, despite having a power play in the final 80 seconds of the extra period.
"It's tough to get wins but at the same time, we get points and we don't have too many losses compared to the other teams," Damphousse said. "We got millions of ties and we've got more than half our games that went into overtime. It's pretty unusual."
Bobby Holik and Chris Simon scored 17 seconds part in the second period for New York, which had won its three previous meetings with San Jose.
