Rangers win Metropolitan Division and Presidents' Trophy with victory over Ottawa Senators
Artemi Panarin of the Rangers celebrates his third-period goal against the Ottaa Senators with teammates Vincent Trocheck, Adam Fox and Alexis Lafreniere at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
For weeks, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette has been deflecting questions about the importance of winning the Metropolitan Division title and finishing first overall in the NHL. Focus on the two points at stake every game, he’s been saying, and if you win enough games, you’ll “check some boxes along the way.’’
Well, the Rangers won enough games, including a 4-0 decision over the Ottawa Senators on Monday night at Madison Square Garden in the regular-season finale. And with that, all of the desired boxes were checked in a record-breaking regular season for the Blueshirts.
They finished with the best record in the league, earning the Presidents’ Trophy, and snatched the Metropolitan Division title from Carolina while securing home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. Along the way, they established franchise records for wins (55) and points (114) in a season.
“The boxes are checked,’’ Laviolette said. “It was a good regular season. You’ve got to do well, in this part of the process, in order to get a chance to play for the [Stanley] Cup, and so we’re able to do that. And I think the guys are really excited to move forward. We’re looking forward to that and getting going in the playoffs.’’
While the team goals were met, maybe not every box was checked. Artemi Panarin scored his career-best 49th goal of the season but couldn’t get to 50 despite launching seven shots on goal and taking a whopping 18 shots. After being named the team’s Most Valuable Player earlier in the day, he finished with a career-high 120 points.
After the game, a smiling Panarin acknowlegedged that he indeed was thinking about getting to 50 goals.
“But I’m glad we won it,’’ he said. “We played a great regular season, so I’m proud of our team. But we don’t have much time to relax. We have to be ready for the playoffs. Game 1.’’
Actually, the Rangers (55-23-4) do have a day or two to relax. The playoffs won’t start for them until the weekend, most likely on Sunday. Their opponent is still to be determined, but it won’t be the Islanders, who beat the Devils in Newark on Monday night to clinch third place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Islanders will open the playoffs in Raleigh against the second-place Carolina Hurricanes; the Rangers could face either Washington, Detroit, Philadelphia or Pittsburgh.
Goals by Jack Roslovic in the first period, Adam Fox (shorthanded) in the second period and Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere in the third period provided the necessary offense for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves to earn his fourth shutout of the season.
The Rangers broke the franchise record of 113 points set by the 2014-15 team. Carolina, which will finish its season Tuesday in Columbus, has 111 points.
Of course, the goal at the start of the season was to win the Stanley Cup, not to capture the Presidents’ Trophy, but the Rangers nevertheless wanted to have the league’s best record.
They got off to a blazing start — 18-4-1 in their first 23 games — came back to the pack a little in January and then tore through the league after the All-Star break, finishing 25-7-1 in their final 33 games, beginning with a 7-2 win over the Senators on Jan. 27 in Ottawa in the final game before the break.
But Carolina was just as hot as the Rangers were down the stretch, going 25-7-2 in its last 34 games, also starting with a win Jan. 27, and a Rangers loss on Monday would have left the door open for the Hurricanes to steal the division title. Carolina, Dallas or Boston also could have finished first overall.
Roslovic’s goal at 5:55 of the first period opened the scoring and Fox made it 2-0 at 8:58 of the second, with both goals assisted by Chris Kreider. Panarin scored at 4:34 of the third, deflecting in a shot by Ryan Lindgren, before Lafreniere scored at 13:00 to make it 4-0.
When Brady Tkachuk was called for cross-checking with 2:44 left, Panarin stayed on for the entire two-minute power play, but he couldn’t score.
Notes & quotes: Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick was named the Players’ Player — the one who “best exemplifies what it means to be a team player’’ — as voted by his teammates.
Quick was 18-6-2 with a 2.62 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage and earned himself a one-year contract extension that will bring him back next season. He became the winningest American-born goaltender in NHL history with a victory over Arizona on March 30.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
