Rangers clinch Presidents’ Trophy, Metropolitan in shutout of Senators

NEW YORK -- Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, and the New York Rangers won the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the most points in the regular season by defeating the Ottawa Senators 4-0 at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

"The boxes are checked," New York coach Peter Laviolette said. "You've got to do well in this part of the process in order to get a chance to play for the Cup. We were able to do that. We're looking forward to that, getting on to the playoffs.”

The Rangers finished the regular season with team records for points (114) and wins (55). They won the Presidents' Trophy for the fourth time (1991-92, 1993-94 and 2014-15), joining the Detroit Red Wings (six) and Boston Bruins (four) as the only teams to win it at least four times.

The Presidents' Trophy has been awarded since the 1985-86 season.

"It's obviously an accomplishment," New York defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "Whenever you're playing for something, for a trophy, it's never something you take lightly. I think it's kind of good for us to have that mentality, the extra sense of urgency going into the playoffs. Now it's a quick turn of the page and get ready for the real stuff."

Artemi Panarin scored his 49th goal and had an assist, Adam Fox had a short-handed goal and an assist, and Chris Kreider had two assists for the Rangers (55-23-4), who have won five of seven and also clinched first place in the Metropolitan Division.

New York opens the Stanley Cup Playoffs against one of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings or Philadelphia Flyers, who all remain in contention for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.

The Rangers went 26-7-1 in their last 34 games.

"We did a good job of just staying focused and staying consistent and playing hard inside of those games, trying to do the right things," Laviolette said. "Down the stretch we were good. We stayed pretty solid with our game. That's good because now you're heading into why you did all that work. Now it's the first round of the playoffs."

Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves for the Senators (36-41-4), who had won two in a row.

"The unfortunate part is we gave them the first two goals," Ottawa coach Jacques Martin said. "We talked about it this morning, puck management. The first goal, turnover. The second goal, a short-handed goal. Take those two goals aside, it's a pretty good game.

"They've got a good team and I thought we battled hard, but when you play these good teams, you can't afford to give them freebies."

The Senators end their season at the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

"One left," Ottawa forward Drake Batherson said. "We would have liked to win the last two, but look forward to [Tuesday] against another good team and hopefully finish on a good note."

Jack Roslovic gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 5:55 of the first period after scoring on a 2-on-1 with Kreider, an odd-man rush he created by forcing the Senators into a turnover at the defensive blue line.

Fox's short-handed goal off a 2-on-1 with Kreider made it 2-0 at 8:58 of the second period. Mika Zibanejad started the rush and Kreider joined, setting up a give-and-go with Fox. Kreider's pass eluded Thomas Chabot and Fox knocked it past Korpisalo.

"I thought the team played well," Laviolette said. "I thought we just competed hard. Ottawa played hard, they were ready at the start and they competed for 60 minutes, so it wasn't a layup by any stretch, but over the course of time we were able to keep chipping away at it."

Panarin made it 3-0 at 4:34 of the third period off a deflection from between the circles of Ryan Lindgren's shot from the point.

Panarin ended the regular season with a 13-game point streak (11 goals, 15 assists). He had 18 shot attempts Monday.

"I feel like I had the chance to hit 50 [goals]," Panarin said.

Alexis Lafrenière pushed it to 4-0 at 13:00 on a one-timer off the rush from the bottom of the right face-off circle. Panarin started the rush down the left side and fed Erik Gustafsson in the middle, who found Lafreniere in the circle.

Panarin's final chance at becoming a 50-goal scorer for the first time in his NHL career came when the Rangers went on the power play at 17:16. He stayed on the ice for the full two minutes, had two shots on goal and five total attempts, but had to settle for 49 goals.

"Trying at the end there just to see if we could put him in the right spot and a couple looks," Laviolette said. "I know it's a number, but regardless of that it doesn't change what he's meant to us and what he's done this year."

NOTES: The Rangers previous record for points in a season was 113 in 2014-15, also the last time they won the Presidents' Trophy. … Laviolette joined Scotty Bowman (four times), Alain Vigneault (three times), Mike Babcock (twice), Terry Crisp (twice), Ken Hitchcock (twice), Mike Keenan (twice), Joel Quenneville (twice), Glen Sather (twice) and Barry Trotz (twice) as the 10th head coach to win the Presidents’ Trophy multiple times. Laviolette, Bowman, Keenan, Quenneville and Vigneault won it with two different franchises.