3 shutouts in a row & 50 wins as Rangers beat Jets 3-0

This is getting ridiculous.  The New York Rangers beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-0 and in the process, posted their third shutout in a row, the first time that they have done that in 49 years. This one wasn’t as easy as they allowed too many good chances to a Jets team desperate to avoid playoff elimination.  Igor Shesterkin was outstanding and kept the Jets off the scoreboard in a game that was closer than it needed to be.

Guess who has the best defense in the entire NHL?  The New York Rangers are in a tie with the Hurricanes, allowing 2.44 goals per game, the fewest in the NHL.  They haven’t led the league since 1970-71.

The Rangers have won six of their last seven and have allowed six goals in those seven games. If shutdown defense and great goaltending wins playoff games, the Rangers are on a roll.

Gerard Gallant was generous in his praise for his goaltender. “He earned that shutout tonight, he played really well. Made some key saves at key times for sure.”

This game answered any questions about Shesterkin who had gone into a bit of a slump.  This game was reminiscent of the goaltending he provided earlier this season.  He was in perfect position for every shot, didn’t give up any bad rebounds, froze the puck when it made sense and was excellent when he needed to be.  The Rangers allowed too many good looks for the Jets, the perfect example being the breakaway by Mason Appleton just seven seconds into the third period with the Rangers clinging to a one goal lead.

With the win, Shesterkin moved into a tie for second with 36 wins, one behind Juuse Saros.  He lowered his league leading goals against average to 2.01 and improved his NHL best save percentage to .936.

How good is that?  In the post-expansion era, that .936 save percentage would be the fourth best among the 385 NHL goalies who appeared in at least 40 games in a season.  His 2.01 goals against average would be the 11th best among the 172 goalies who have played at least 40 games in a season since the 2004 lockout.

Shesterkin complimented his team saying “the guys have been playing a lot harder defensively and really trying to clean up the zone so I can see what’s going on…they’ve been blocking more shots.”

It’s hard to get excited about these games, except for the fact that by winning, the team is preserving the dream of finishing first in the Metropolitan Division. While in an intermission interview, Andrew Copp admitted that finishing first is on their minds, coach Gallant said it doesn’t matter. “I just want to play well. Wherever we finish we finish.  Would you like to finish first?  Everybody tries to finish first but play the game, see where we go, see how good we play and make sure we’re ready for the playoffs.  It’s definitely a goal. We want to finish first but we’re not gonna go crazy to finish first, play one game at a time and see what happens.”

About the game

The first period featured barely any hitting and a steady stream of good scoring opportunities for both teams.  Both goalies were solid with Shersterkin havin the tougher saves although Eric Comrie was also very good for the Jets. The Rangers outshot the Jets 9-6 and had more shot opportunities (17-9)  though each team had only one high danger opportunity.

The second period was much the same though at even strength the Jets had the better opportunities.  The tide changed when Morgan Barron took a high sticking penalty 14:19 into the period and the Rangers troubled power play went to work.

The first unit couldn’t get much going, but they didn’t change when they could have and the Rangers finally scored with just 22 second left on the power play.  Ryan Strome scored on a rush into the Jets zone.

Artemi Panarin got the puck to Mika Zibanejad who laid a pass into the slot to a waiting Chris Kreider, though it was Strome who got to the puck first and put it past Comrie.

Comrie had to be concerned that “Mr. tip-in” Chris Kreider was lurking in the crease when Zibanejad made the pass. The period ended with the score 1-0, thanks to the power play as the Jets had more shot attempts at even strength.

The third period was not a cakewalk.  Mason Appleton had a breakaway just seven seconds in and a desperate Jets team worked hard.

It took an excellent shift by Artemi Panarin to get the Rangers their second goal at 11:47.  Panarin was a magician with the puck in the attacking zone, keeping possession and giving and receiving passes.  He finally got the puck to Adam Fox who took the shot that eluded Comrie.

The goal was assisted by a screen from Andew Copp and the Rangers could heave a sigh of relief with the two goal lead.

The Jets pulled the goalie with over two minutes left and Ryan Strome was able to convert into the empty net for his second goal of the game.

Overall, it was a great effort in a game that didn’t have a whole lot of meaning to the Rangers.  It makes the last five games more significant as they battle the injury ridden Hurricanes for first place.

Here’s a video recap of the game:

Notes on the game

• The Rangers won their 50th game, only the fifth team in franchise history to do that and the first since 2014-15.  With five games left, the Rangers have a chance to equal the franchise record of 53 wins, set in 2015.
• Gerard Gallant has something in common with Mike Keenan.  They are the only Rangers coaches to win 50 games in ther first season as coach. He and Keenan are the only coaches to win 50 games in their first season as coach with two different teams. Gallant did it with Vegas and Keenan with the Flyers.
• The Rangers are tied with the Hurricanes for first place, though Carolina owns the ROW tiebreaker  They moved nine points head of the Penguins. Their magic number to clinch second place is two points over Washington and one point over Pittsburgh.
• The 106 points for the Rangers is the sixth most in franchise history.  Their points percentage of .688 is fourth best in team history.
• The last time the Rangers had three shutouts in a row was February 1973 when Ed Giacomin and Gilles Villemure did it.  The team has had three shutouts in a row four times before tonight. The 1927-28 Rangers posted four straight shutouts.
• The Ranger penalty kill stopped the only Jets power play and have now stopped 20 in a row and have not allowed a power play goal in nine straight games.
• The power play is showing signs of life going 1-2 and they have now scored in two straight games, going 2-6.  They are fifth in the NHL at 25.7%.
• Ryan Strome’s two goals gave him 19 on the season, tying his career high set in 2018-19. It was his fifth game winning goal of the season, second most on the team.
• Artemi Panarin had his 19th multi-assist game of the season, setting  a new team record.  He had been tied with Brian Leetch, Jean Ratelle and Mark Messier with 18.
• Panarin how has 92 points, three away from his career high of 95. He needs eight points in five games to get to 100 points for the first time.  He is ninth in scoring in the NHL.
• Panarin has 70 assists, tied with Johnny Gaudreau for second most in the NHL. It’s the seventh time a Ranger has reached 70 assists in a season with it achieved only by Brian Leetch, Mark Messier, Sergei Zubov and Wayne Gretzky.  It’s the most since Gretzky had 72 assists in 1996-97.
• Mika Zibanejad got his 50th assist, the first time he reach that mark.
• Adam Fox scored his 11th goal, giving him 69 points, fourth most among defensemen. It’s the most points for a Rangers defenseman since Brian Leetch had 79 points in 2000-01.
• Andrew Copp added two assists against his former team and he now has five goals and 15 points in 14 games as a Ranger.
• Igor Shesterkin registered two consecutive shutouts last season against the New Jersey Devils.   His streak this season has reached 133:18.  His personal best is 152:37, set last season. Lorne Chabot holds the franchise record of 297:43 minutes set in 1927-28.
• With six shutouts, it’s the most in a season for a Ranger netminder since Henrik Lundqvist had eight shutouts in 2011-12.   Lundqvist, Ed Giacomin and Shesterkin are the only Ranger goalies to get six shutouts in a season in the expansion era.