Shesterkin, Rangers shut out Canes, 1-0 Shesterkin pitches second straight shutout, third of season

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In Raleigh, the New York Rangers faced off with their closest challenger i the Metropolitan Division on Tuesday night.The Hurricanes and Rangers put on a playoff hockey show in a 1-0 win for the Rangers.

Igor Shesterkin made 28 saves in his second consecutive shutout.

“It’s a huge win for us,” Shesterkin said. “We did a great job. Well deserved.”

After going through a miserable stretch of games, Shesterkin has rediscovered his game and seeing beach balls not BBs in net.

The Rangers came into the game after a hard 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Monday night at home.

“They were awesome tonight,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said of his players. “Traveling here and playing a team that’s playing as well as they are and (after) playing the night before, the guys really stepped up and played a terrific game. Heck of a win against a good hockey team.”

The Rangers improved to 43-18-4, off their third straight win.

“We played really well defensively,” the Rangers’ Vincent Trocheck said. “Playing with the lead is something you need to be able to do going into the playoffs, and I think we did a good job getting a goal early. Then we limited their chances, limited them through the neutral zone with their speed and kept most of their offensive-zone play to the outside.”

The victory over the Canes pushes the Rangers six points clear atop the Metro ladder for first.

“I think it’s more easy for me (to protect a 1-0 lead) because you concentrate more on the puck,” Shesterkin said. “And to be honest, today was my mom’s birthday, so I couldn’t play a bad game tonight.”

Adam Fox was the game’s lone striker. He scored with eight seconds left in the opening stanza, scoring off a sharp angle one timer from the right circle.

“I knew it was the end of the period,” Fox said. “You’re always looking to see if you can pinch in as the defenseman as the time winds down. I was kind of looking to maybe hit [Jack Roslovic], bank it off him or something [but] I got a good bounce off the D-man.”

The Canes dropped to 39-20-6, snapping a three-game streak.“The first period, we were not ready for what they threw at us,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “There’s a reason they’re one of the top teams and they showed it. In the third, we didn’t generate enough to really put the heat on them.”

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Pyotr Kochetkov made 23 saves in the loss.