Shesterkin makes 40 saves, Rangers hold off Senators

NEW YORK -- Igor Shesterkin made 40 saves, Alexis Lafreniere had a goal and an assist, and the New York Rangers held on for a 2-1 win against the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden on Friday.

It was the second straight game featuring at least 40 saves from Shesterkin, who had 41 in a 5-3 loss at the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. Shesterkin has consecutive games with at least 40 saves for the first time since Feb. 9 and 11, 2020, during his rookie season (42 saves each against the Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets).

He made 21 saves through two periods before stopping 19 of 20 shots in the third.

"I'm running out of things to say; just spectacular," New York defenseman K'Andre Miller said. "I mean, everybody is sitting there on the bench just praying that he somehow makes another one of those saves. He just keeps doing it. Obviously, we'd like to clean up our defense a little bit, but we love who we've got back there."

Artemi Panarin scored his seventh goal of the season for the Rangers (7-2-1), who had lost two of their past three.

"We know we can play better," Lafreniere said. "'Shesty' was unreal again. He made some massive saves for us, and I don't think we were that good defensively. We get two points, but we all know we can play better, for sure."

Adam Gaudette scored, and Linus Ullmark made 16 saves for the Senators (5-5-0), who lost for the third time in four games.

Ottawa outshot New York 41-18.

"I don't really know what to say, their goalie played unbelievable," Senators forward Tim Stutzle said. "We knew he was a great goalie and obviously we've got to find a way to get more behind him, but you've got to give him credit. He's a great goalie and he kept them in the game. If you outshoot a team like that by 20 shots, you know you played a pretty good game."

Panarin gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 3:03 of the first period.

Lafreniere forced Josh Norris into a turnover in Ottawa's defensive zone. Panarin then got the puck and used Travis Hamonic as a screen so his wrist shot from inside the left face-off circle could get past Ullmark short side.

"Just coming back trying to strip him, I got a stick on it and went right to 'Bread,'" Lafreniere said. "It was a nice shot. Every time he gets it in that area, in the slot, he's so dangerous. That was a good goal by him."

Shesterkin preserved the lead with a blocker save on Norris at 7:56 of the first, when he came out beyond the left post. He also stopped Claude Giroux with his glove on a point-blank shot from the bottom of the left circle at 17:10 of the second period.

They were two of his 21 saves in the first 40 minutes.

"First period, I like the way we came out," Ottawa coach Travis Green said. "They got the quick goal, but I like that it didn't faze us. I thought we got better as the game went on. Loved our second and I thought we left it out there in the third."

Lafreniere gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead at 2:56 of the third period, scoring a power-play goal on a pass that deflected in off his foot.

Reilly Smith played the puck off the wall with a pass through his legs to Filip Chytil in the right circle. Chytil then found Lafreniere in the slot after he came around the far post.

Shesterkin kept his shutout intact with three saves in a two-second span, one on Brady Tkachuk and two on Norris, during a Senators power play midway through the third.

"Those saves on the power play, that was crazy," Lafreniere said.

Gaudette, though, finally got a puck past Shesterkin at 12:28 to cut it to 2-1. He scored with a one-timer from the lower portion of the left circle off a hard pass from Tkachuk out of the far corner and through the slot.

Shesterkin stopped the final eight shots he faced with Ottawa outshooting New York 20-5 in the third.

"I thought we played an unreal game," Senators forward Michael Amadio said. "We just ran into a hot goalie."

Shesterkin's save percentage is up to .931 with 18 goals against on 262 shots in eight games. He started the night at .923.

"He's the best goalie in the League and we're lucky to have him," Lafreniere said, "but we don't want to give him that much work."

NOTES: Ottawa was 0-for-5 on the power play. It's the third time in 10 games the Senators have been held without at least one power-play goal. They were second in the NHL on the power play (42.9 percent) entering the night. … Shesterkin has made 40 or more saves in a game 15 times in his career; the Rangers are 13-1-1 in those games. … It was Lafreniere's second multipoint game this season. He also had a goal and an assist in a 6-0 opening night win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 9.