- The 114 points and 55 games are both the most in the team’s long history
- Now the Rangers will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs
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The New York Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy for the NHL’s best regular season record Monday night with a 4-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators.
Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist, Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for his fourth shutout of the season in the win.
Goals were also scored by Jack Roslovic, Adam Fox and Alexis Lafreniere, while Chris Kreider had two assists as Rangers won their 55th game, the best in the league, to finish with 114 points (both franchise records) and will have home field advantage during the play-offs. .
New York won for the fifth time in seven games, going 26-7-1 in their last 34 games. They previously won the Presidents’ Trophy in 1991-92, 1993-94 (when they won the Stanley Cup for the only time since 1940) and 2014-15.
Roslovic, acquired from Columbus on March 8, scored his third goal with the Rangers and ninth overall this season at 5:55 of the first, beating Ottawa goalie Joonas Korpisalo on a 2-on-1 passing play with Kreider finalize.
The Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy by posting the best record in the NHL this season
Artemi Panarin had a goal and an assist in a 4-0 win over the Ottawa Senators
Fox made it 2-0 with a short goal at 8:58 of the second. Fox banked a pass from Kreider past Korpisalo for his 17th goal of the season, while Kaapo Kakko – playing his 300th NHL game – was in the box for heeling.
Fox scored the most goals by a Rangers defender since Brian Leetch scored 21 goals in 2000–01.
Panarin made it 3-0 with his 49th goal at 4:34 of the third. Panarin finished with 120 points – the second most in Rangers history – and with points in a franchise-record 67 of his 82 games this season.
Panarin had a chance at his 50 on a late Rangers powerplay, but Korpisalo denied him twice. Lafreniere made it 4-0 with seven minutes left in the third with his 28th, capping off a nice line-up from Panarin and defender Erik Gustafsson.
Shane Pinto (57) of the Ottawa Senators controls the puck against Mika Zibanejad (93)
Kreider finished with 75 points, including 39 goals, for the second-highest point total of his career.
Shesterkin won seven of his last nine starts and finished the regular season at 36-17-2. In 22 games since Feb. 12, the 28-year-old Russian netminder is 16-5-1 with four shutouts.
The Rangers finished 30-11-0 at home and won 15 of their last 19 games at Madison Square Garden. The 30 home wins tied the 1970-71 team for the most in franchise history.
The Senators will miss the playoffs for the seventh straight season. The last time Ottawa reached the postseason was in 2017 when they defeated the Rangers in six games in a second-round match.