Shesterkin makes 20 saves, Rangers shut out Senators

NEW YORK -- Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves for his second straight shutout and the New York Rangers defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-0 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

Shesterkin extended his shutout streak to 164:03, the second longest of his career behind the 166:30 he had last season from March 4-14. He also made 27 saves in a 1-0 shootout win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

"We had a great game tonight," Shesterkin said. "Defensively, I think one of the best games of the season, and offensively too. (We) boxed out really well and (we) didn't let them do anything in the neutral zone. They just rimmed the puck. We were first everywhere."

Alexis Lafreniere had a goal and an assist, Adam Fox had two assists, and Matt Rempe scored his first goal of the season. Thirteen of New York's 18 skaters had at least one point. The Rangers (23-20-4) extended their season-long point streak to nine games (6-0-3).

"It was really good, but it's been fairly consistent," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. "I thought tonight we were real sharp defensively out of the gate in the first period, able to get a lead. Even through some things that weren't going our way we were still able to stay focused and continued to play pretty solid defense."

Ottawa goalie Leevi Merilainen allowed two goals on 16 shots before he was replaced by Anton Forsberg at 4:59 of the second period. Forsberg made 10 saves.

The Senators (24-19-4) lost in regulation for the first time in seven games, but this is the fourth time in the past 10 games they have been shut out, including a 1-0 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

"Not good enough to win," Senators coach Travis Green said. "Quite simple. We've been playing some good hockey, but we weren't good enough to win. I thought we fought the puck all night. I didn't think we were good enough with the puck."

Ottawa also played without center Josh Norris for the final two periods and for an eight-minute stretch in the first period. The team announced he was being held out for precautionary reasons and Green did not have an update on Norris following the game.

"He's a big part of our team for sure, but guys have got hurt all year," Green said. "That's not an excuse for not winning."

Lafreniere gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with 1:12 remaining in the first period, scoring with a backhanded shot off a rebound of Fox's shot from the right point.

The goal came 77 seconds after the Rangers had a would-be goal from Sam Carrick taken off the board because of Ottawa's first of two successful coach's challenges for offside.

Arthur Kaliyev made it 2-0 at 1:50 of the second period. Urho Vaakanainen's shot from the right point was blocked by Matthew Highmore. The puck bounced to Kaliyev in the right face-off circle. His shot from there snuck in over Merilainen's left shoulder.

"I saw just a shot got blocked, I saw the puck in front of me and I was like, 'Why not take a chance from there,'" Kaliyev said. "It was a good idea."

Kaliyev appeared to score again with 14:29 remaining in the second, but again the Senators challenged for offside and it was ruled in their favor.

The clock was reset to 15:01 remaining.

Forsberg replaced Merilainen before the ensuing face-off.

"A little bit tough, but it's OK," Kaliyev said. "We just kept going as a team at that point."

Rempe made it 3-0 at 3:34 of the third period. He started the rush in the defensive zone, joined Adam Edstrom, who went around Nikolas Matinpalo and got the puck to Rempe in the slot. He went to his backhand and roofed it over Forsberg's blocker.

"Making smart plays in the 'D' zone is one of the big things I've worked on," Rempe said. "I see a pass, make it, don't think too much and then get on my horse. 'Eddy' made a great play. I screamed for it to get it back to me. I've always had a move to go to my backhand. I've always done that. It worked."

The game briefly got heated at 7:09 of the third period, when Brady Tkachuk skated into Shesterkin, starting a scrum that eventually led to the Rangers' goalie leaving the crease to go after Tkachuk behind the net.

The Rangers ended up on the power play, which became a 5-on-3 when Michael Amadio took down Shesterkin behind the net and was whistled for goalie interference at 8:37.

Artemi Panarin scored on the 5-on-3 to make it 4-0 at 9:01. It was his 20th of the season.

Will Cuylle extended the lead to 5-0 with a power-play goal at 9:57.

"There's not much that went our way," Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot said. "We created some stuff, but at the end of the day it's just not the hockey that we've been playing lately. You can be frustrated with the loss and everything, but at the end of the day you've got to be realistic. We've been playing some really good hockey, a lot of it on the road. You know what, you've just got to look forward to the next game at this point."

NOTES: The Senators have scored two or fewer goals in 11 of their past 14 games. … Shesterkin has back-to-back shutouts for the fifth time in his career, making him one of three goalies in Rangers history to have as many as five sets of back-to-back shutouts, joining Lorne Chabot (six) and Ed Giacomin (five).