NEW YORK (AP) — Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for his 13th career shutout in his 200th career NHL game, Vincent Trocheck and Jimmy Vesey scored first-period goals and the New York Rangers defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-0 on Saturday night.
Chris Kreider and Kaapo Kakko also scored for the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers, who improved to 13-3-2 in their last 18 games. Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox each had two assists.
It was the second shutout of the season for Shesterkin, who played his first game for the Rangers in January 2020. He improved to 27-13-2 this season while helping the Rangers improve to 22-8-0 at home. They have won nine of their last 10 at Madison Square Garden.
The sinking Blues lost their third straight after falling 4-2 to the Islanders on Tuesday, then 4-1 to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. St. Louis is 3-7-1 in its last 11.
Trocheck opened the scoring on the power-play at 5:51 of the first, getting his 23rd goal of the season in his 700th career game.
Vesey made it 2-0 when he beat Jordan Binnington at 19:37 of the opening period
Rangers rookie forward — and fan favorite — Matt Rempe appeared to score his first goal at home at 7:39 of the second, but officials ruled that the rolling puck didn’t completely cross the goal line.
Kreider increased the lead to 3-0 with his 32nd goal of the season at 6:23 of the third with another power-play goal. Panarin, who assisted along with Fox, has 19 points in his last 10 games and leads the Rangers with 87 points, including 35 goals.
Kakko completed the scoring on the power play at 11:23 of the third.
Shesterkin robbed St. Louis' Brandon Saad at 15:22 of the first on a tip-in try. He made a sprawling stop on Kasperi Kapanen midway through the second and another on Blues leading scorer Robert Thomas in the first minute of the third period.
Wennberg and Jack Roslovic made their Rangers debuts.
The 29-year-old Wennberg who had nine goals and 16 assists in 60 games for Seattle, centered left wing Will Cuylle and Kakko on the right. Roslovic, 27, had six goals and 17 assists in 40 games with Columbus. He skated at right wing with center Mika Zibanejad and left wing Kreider.
Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, who arrived in a trade with Pittsburgh on Friday, took part in pregame warmups, but was scratched as defenseman Zac Jones played for the first time since Feb. 5.
The Blues won this season’s previous meeting, 5-2 on Jan. 11 in St. Louis.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Host the New Jersey Devils on Monday.
Blues: Visit the Boston Bruins on Monday.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
