New York Rangers shutout the Calgary Flames in a cagey game at Madison Square Garden

A comfortable 2-0 win over the Calgary Flames, nice and simple right? Like anything is ever simple for this team. However, they won a cage game against the Flames and came out on the right side of a goaltending duel. It had the feel of a playoff game at times and it is the kind of game the Rangers needed to prove they could win if they are going to be taken seriously in the playoffs.

New York would deny a zone entry from the Calgary Flames in the second period, which allowed Kaapo Kakko to pick the puck up and bring it back the other way. Kakko's shot was stopped by Jacob Markstrom as Will Cuylle was able to smack the rebound home as Markstrom couldn't find the puck. It allowed the Rangers to score first a little after the halfway mark of this game and take the momentum in what had been a goalie duel to this point.

Jimmy Vesey would put the bow tie on this one when he was able to bowtie on this one as he stole the puck from Noah Hanifin in the Calgary zone when the net was empty, and he was able to spin and fire the puck into the yawning cage to seal a 2-0 win on Broadway and extinguish the hot flames. With less than a minute to go, it sealed the game and left just one story line in this one, but a very important one for the netminder.

Igor Shesterkin would shut the door the rest of the way, allowing the Rangers to shutout the Flames, and grab the Russian netminders first shutout of the year. Igor has had a rough season to this point, but this felt like a redemption game for him. He was the better netminder against Jacob Markstrom, who is one of the more respectable netminders in the NHL. I don't know if it's too soon to say he's back, but this felt like our Igor again.