In New York, the Rangers had hit a bit of stale stretch after winning 10 straight in February.
On Saturday, they got right with the playoff chase in a 4- win over the visiting St Louis Blues.
New York scored three power play goals on six chances in the win.
Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves in his second shutout of the season.
“When he’s on top of his game, there’s not a goalie in the League better than him,” the Rangers’ Adam Fox said. “In 200 games, you’re not going to be perfect for all of them. But even when he’s not perfect, he’s a pretty good goalie, too. We try and help him out as much as we can. He bails us out a lot. So, you know, it’s not surprising how many wins he has early into his career.”
The Rangers improved to 41-18-3.
“He’s been really dialed lately in the last 45 days or so, but watching him his whole career, just an elite goaltender,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “I knew about the 200 (games), but I did not know about the number before it. That’s a pretty remarkable number and stat … That speaks volumes to him.”
The Rangers got scoring from the front line and back lines of the roster.
In the opening stanza, the Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
Vincent Trocheck hit for first power play marker for New York at 5:51 of the first, scoring off a deflection of a shot by Artemi Panarin.
Jimmy Vesey scored with 23 seconds left in the first to extend the advantage to 2-0 headed to the middle frame. He scored off a breakaway on a nifty from Barclay Goodrow.
“I thought we came out great,” Vesey said. “Started the game really well I thought. Obviously, it was nice to get the first goal and then be up two after one. I thought it was a good team effort.”
Newly acquired Alex Wennberg had an assist in his debut.
“It’s a dream come true playing as an away team (at Madison Square Garden), but being on the home team, Saturday night, and getting the win. Can it get better than that? No,” Wennberg said. “The first couple of shifts, maybe a little rusty, but for me, it felt great. Obviously coming to a great team as well. At the end of the day, all that matters is the win and the points.”
The Blues dropped to 32-29-3 off their third straight loss.
“We’re not scoring,” the Blues’ Brayden Schenn said. “… If you’re losing, you at least want to go down swinging, and right now, we’re just not generating enough offensively.”
After a scoreless second period, the Rangers padded their lead with two more power play strikes.
“We took too many penalties,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “[The Rangers] are too skilled. Two of those penalties, we negated our own power play. When you give that team six power plays, they’re going to capitalize, and they did.”
Chris Kreider hit for the second power play of the game at 6:23 for a 3-0 lead to New York. He scored off a rebound of a shot by Panarin.
Kaapo Kakko potted his eighth of the campaign at 11:23, also scoring off a rebound at the right side of the net, for the 4-0 final count on the scoreboard. The initial shot on goal was from Erik Gustafsson.
“I thought everybody played a pretty solid game tonight,” Laviolette said. “… I thought the guys were sharp.”
Jordan Binnington made 35 saves in the loss.