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Igor Shesterkin recorded his second straight shutout, making 20 saves as the host New York Rangers rolled to a 5-0 win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night.

Shesterkin had 27 saves on Saturday in a 1-0 shootout victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The shutout on Tuesday was his third of the season and the 18th of his career.

Alexis Lafreniere scored in the first period, Arthur Kaliyev had a goal in the second and Matt Rempe, Artemi Panarin and Will Cuylle added insurance goals in the third for the Rangers, who extended their point streak to nine games (6-0-3).

Leevi Merilainen was pulled after allowing two goals on 16 shots before Anton Forsberg made 10 saves in relief for the Senators, who had their six-game point streak (5-0-1) end.

The Rangers took control when their persistence was rewarded with a pair of goals over a span of 3:02 bridging the first two periods.

Adam Fox’s shot from just in front of the blue line glanced off Senators defenseman Artem Zub as he battled for position with Rangers center Vincent Trocheck. The puck then bounced off Merilainen and skittered to Lafreniere, who shoveled his shot into the net as Merilainen was stuck leaning the wrong way in the crease with 1:12 left in the first.

New York doubled its lead 1:50 into the second.

Claude Giroux won a faceoff against New York center Filip Chytil deep in the Senators’ zone, but a clearing pass by Nikolas Matinpalo was picked off by Braden Schneider. Teammate Urho Vaakanainen’s shot glanced off Ottawa center Matthew Highmore and trickled to Kaliyev, whose angled shot from the right boards clipped off the top of Merilainen’s glove and went into the back of the net.

Rempe began turning the game into a rout 3:34 into the third. The Rangers forced a turnover deep in their own zone to begin the end-to-end sequence that ended with Adam Edstrom feeding Rempe in stride before Rempe went to his backhand and beat Forsberg for his second career goal.

Panarin extended the lead to 4-0 with a five-on-three goal at 9:01, when his sizzling wrist shot from the left faceoff circle caromed off a post and went into the net. Cuylle added another power-play score just 56 seconds later.

–Field Level Media