Win the 82nd match of the regular season. Check
Score three goals on 5-on-5 situations. Check
Win the Metropolitan Division, Check
Win the Eastern Conference. Check
Win the President’s Trophy. Check
“It’s obviously an accomplishment,” New York’s Jacob Trouba said. “Whenever you’re playing for something, for a trophy, it’s never something you take lightly. I think it’s kind of good for us to have that mentality, the extra sense of urgency going into the playoffs. Now it’s a quick turn of the page and get ready for the real stuff.”
Win home ice for however long you last in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Check.
Now, except for the second and final in the list, the New York Rangers can forget everything else and get to work on the post season preparation.,
In New York on Monday night, the Rangers shut out the visiting Ottawa Senators, 4-0, thereby achieving the top NHL trophy, not called Stanley.
Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves in the win, it was his fourth shutout of the campaign. “The boxes are checked,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “You’ve got to do well in this part of the process in order to get a chance to play for the Cup. We were able to do that. We’re looking forward to that, getting on to the playoffs.”
The Rangers improved to 55-23-4, setting marks for points and wins on a season.
They went 26-7-1 in their final 34 games.
“We did a good job of just staying focused and staying consistent and playing hard inside of those games, trying to do the right things,” Laviolette said. “Down the stretch we were good. We stayed pretty solid with our game. That’s good because now you’re heading into why you did all that work. Now it’s the first round of the playoffs.”
The Rangers took a 2-0 lead through the second period.
Jack Roslovic scored off a nifty pass from Chris Kreider on an odd man rush at 5:55 of the opening stanza.
Adam Fox’ scored shorthanded at at 8:56 of the middle frame for a 2-0 lead.
Fox finished off another neat pass from Kreider on an off man rush again.
“I thought the team played well,” Laviolette said. “I thought we just competed hard. Ottawa played hard, they were ready at the start and they competed for 60 minutes, so it wasn’t a layup by any stretch, but over the course of time we were able to keep chipping away at it.”
The Senators dropped to 36-41-4 with one more game on the schedule.
“The unfortunate part is we gave them the first two goals,” Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. “We talked about it this morning, puck management. The first goal, turnover. The second goal, a short-handed goal. Take those two goals aside, it’s a pretty good game.
“They’ve got a good team and I thought we battled hard, but when you play these good teams, you can’t afford to give them freebies.”
Artemi Panarin hit for his 49th of the season at 4:34 of the third period to give the Rangers a 3-0 advantage. He scored off a deflection of a shot from Ryan Lindgren at the point.
“I feel like I had the chance to hit 50 [goals],” Panarin said.
Alexis Lafrenière scored from the bottom of the right circle on a great pass from Erik Gustafsson for the 4-0 final score with seven minutes left on the clock.
Laviolette pushed Panarin onto the ice for most of the final minutes to give him a chance at 50 goals.
“Trying at the end there just to see if we could put him in the right spot and a couple looks,” Laviolette said. “I know it’s a number, but regardless of that it doesn’t change what he’s meant to us and what he’s done this year.”
Use CodePHN15 Rangers share #PHNChairoftheNight for the President’s Trophy
Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves in the loss. He was spectacular at times, keeping the Rangers off the board early, and preventing a blow out.
“One left,” Ottawa’s Drake Batherson said. “We would have liked to win the last two, but look forward to [Tuesday] against another good team and hopefully finish on a good note.”
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