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Not only did the Rangers clinch their first playoff berth in five years, but they strutted to the finish line and punched their ticket to the tournament with nine games left in the regular season.
There was something special about the Rangers getting to secure their spot in the postseason all by themselves with a 5-1 win over the Senators on Saturday night at the Garden, as opposed to accomplishing the feat on account of another team’s results. It was fitting for this Rangers team.
For all the opinions that surrounded the Blueshirts’ unforeseen and immediate success this season under new leadership, the wins never stopped piling up. And now, sitting at the top of the Metropolitan Division tied with the Hurricanes for first place, the Rangers are looking like the real deal.
Behind Artemi Panarin’s three-point night, a two-goal effort from Chris Kreider and a strong offensive showing from the top six, the Rangers cruised to their third win in a row. Over that span, the Rangers have outscored their opponents 11-2 despite some roster turnover.
Kaapo Kakko and Kevin Rooney returned to the lineup Saturday after both forwards endured extended absences on injured reserve with upper-body injuries. The Rangers were fortunate to get those two back when they did, considering Filip Chytil and Tyler Motte just went down with their own upper-body injuries.
The Rangers broke open a 1-1 game in the second period with three goals from Andrew Copp, Kreider and Ryan Strome. But the flurry of scores came after a big-time save from Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin on the Senators’ top-line center Josh Norris, who was denied on a three-on-two rush.
Copp then took a cross-ice pass from Panarin and picked the top corner on Ottawa netminder Anton Forsberg at the other end to give the Rangers their first lead of the night.
The Senators, who are second to last in the Atlantic Division and are on the outside looking in at the playoffs, didn’t put up much of a fight. With lots of time and space, Kreider made it a 3-1 game from the top of the circle at 9:05 of the middle frame.
To cap off the scoring, Panarin’s backhanded feed teed up Strome for the three-goal edge before Kreider’s 49th goal of the season put the game out of reach later in the period.
Shesterkin ultimately turned aside 21 of the 22 shots he faced to secure his 34th win of the season.
The Rangers may have outshot the Senators by a significant margin, including a 9-0 edge in high-danger chances, but the game was knotted 1-1 after the first period. Ottawa struck first after the Rangers failed to pick up Austin Watson coming through the slot just under 2 ¹/₂ minutes in.
Panarin evened the score roughly 10 minutes later, taking a loose puck off the faceoff and sweeping it home to extend his point streak to four straight games.
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