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.
“Everyone played the right way, great game,'' said Shesterkin, who has a career record of 126-55-17.
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.
The Rangers converted three times on six power-play chances.
“We took too many penalties and they are too skilled,'' Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said.
The Rangers lead second-place Carolina by four points in the Metropolitan Division. New York's 60-minute effort pleased coach Peter Laviolette.
“I thought everyone played a solid game tonight,'' Laviolette said. ”I thought the guys were sharp."
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. Rempe, who had several notable fights in his few week with the Rangers, again heard his name chanted by the Garden crowd.
"He's done a good job of playing his game,'' Laviolette said of the 6-foot-8 forward, who skated on a new-look line with Vesey on left wing and center Barclay Goodrow and had 14 shifts with just over 11 minutes of ice time.
“It was a solid effort. Our forechecking was great,″ Vesey said. ”Our line could have had a bunch of goals.”
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.
“It felt great. All that matters is the win,'' said Wennberg, who assisted on Kakko's goal. ”It will be exciting to see what we can build on."
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.
“Mika's got such a creative mind, it's really fun to be a sponge. And Kreids has a lot of ideas,'' Roslovic said of his new high-scoring linemates. “It's good to listen to those guys and try to get them the puck.”
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. Rangers captain Jacob Trouba also missed the game with a lower-body injury.
The Blues won this season’s previous meeting, 5-2 on Jan. 11 in St. Louis.
“They have a lot of good players, a lot of weapons,'' Blues defenseman Justin Faulk said. ”We gave them opportunities and good teams will take advantage of that."
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