Shesterkin makes 30 saves, Rangers shut out Flames for 5th straight victory

NEW YORK -- Igor Shesterkin made 30 saves for his first shutout of the season, and the New York Rangers won their fifth game in a row, 2-0 against the Calgary Flames at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

It was Shesterkin's 12th career shutout, the previous coming April 8, 2023, when he made 20 saves in a 4-0 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"Honestly, I felt great all night, from the starting face-off until the end," Shesterkin said.

Will Cuylle and Jimmy Vesey scored for the Rangers (34-16-3), who have shutout wins this season against the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 26 (3-0) and Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 22 (1-0), each with Jonathan Quick in net.

"You could see he was on point tonight," New York coach Peter Laviolette of Shesterkin. "Even when there was a breakdown or something was happening in a different part of the ice he was there on time, he arrived on time, in position and was there. I thought he was good."

Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves, including 11 in the first period for the Flames (25-23-5), who had a four-game winning streak end.

"Jacob kept us in the game in the first period for sure," Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. "I thought we got a little bit better as the game went on, but their goaltender played well too tonight. He made some good saves at key times for them."

Calgary ended a four-game road trip coming out of the All-Star break with a 3-1-0 record, losing in New York after picking up wins against the Boston Bruins (4-1), New Jersey Devils (5-3) and New York Islanders (5-2).

"Obviously, we had a chance to sweep the road trip and put ourselves in a really good spot, and for whatever reason, it wasn't our night tonight," forward Blake Coleman said. " 'Marky' gave us a chance in a game we didn't deserve, but we'll take three wins on the trip. We won't sit on this one. We'll go home and take care of business."

Shesterkin had a rough January, going 4-5-1 with a 3.25 goals-against average and .863 save percentage in 10 starts.

He represented the Rangers at NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto from Feb. 1-3, but coming out of the break, they gave him extra time to work with goalie coach Benoit Allaire by starting Quick in the first two games.

New York won each game, 2-1 in overtime against the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 5 and 3-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning two nights later.

Shesterkin got back in the net against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, making 28 saves in a 4-3 overtime win at United Center. He followed it with arguably his best performance of the season Monday.

"Everybody knew he was going to get back to how he plays," Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "I think every player goes through slumps, it's just more noticeable when it's the goalie and everybody's eyes see it more. But everybody goes through a stretch of games that they don't like. I would just say it's easier to hide at times when you're a [skater].

"He works hard in practice, took that time to reset and he was great tonight."

Cuylle gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 12:31 of the second period off a rebound of Kaapo Kakko's shot.

Jonny Brodzinski chipped the puck up the ice, sending Kakko and Cuylle in on a 2-on-1. Kakko carried the puck through the right face-off circle and made a move on Markstrom, who made the save. The puck got loose under Markstrom's left pad and Cuylle banged it in for his first goal in seven games.

"Just trying to get to the net, trying to simplify," Cuylle said. "I knew it was going to be a rebound goal, something dirty in the crease, so I was just trying to get to the net."

Shesterkin made a windmill glove save on Nazem Kadri off the rush at 9:17 of the first period, a point-blank save on Connor Zary from the bottom of the left circle at 14:50 of the second and another windmill save on Rasmus Andersson from the right circle at 2:53 of the third.

He kept it 1-0 with back-to-back point-blank saves on Coleman from in tight late in the third period less than a minute after Markstrom stopped K'Andre Miller on a breakaway at 16:47.

"I just needed to open up quicker," Coleman said. "I didn't like my first shot, but the rebound I thought I could get up over him. He's a good goalie, he's quick, but if I open up a little bit quicker, I knew that [Noah Hanifin] could make that play. It's on me. It should be in the net."

Shesterkin was feeling it enough that he tried to score by firing the puck down the ice, but missed the empty net wide left for an icing at 19:01.

Vesey eventually scored into the empty net to make it 2-0 at 19:41.

"It was an important night for me, important shutout," Shesterkin said.

NOTES: Shesterkin moved into 11th on the franchise’s all-time shutout list. He ranks fourth in shutouts with more than 30 saves (seven), trailing Henrik Lundqvist (28), Gump Worsley (12) and Ed Giacomin (nine). … Flames forward Jakob Pelletier sustained an upper-body injury after getting hit by Trouba at 7:45 of the first period. He went to the dressing room with 10:52 remaining and did not return. Huska said he did not have an update on him after the game. ... Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck had five shots on goal and was 12-for-14 on faceoffs.