Rangers seal President's Trophy with 4–0 win over Sens

The New York Rangers needed a win tonight to lock up the President's Trophy. Not only did they get a win, they looked like the much, much better team, controlling all the offence in a 4–0 win. Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves in the win, while Joonas Korpisalo had 30 in the loss.

The first period was fairly sloppy for the Sens. On the one hand, Joonas Korpisalo kept them in it, but on the other hand, his own bobbles led to him having to make big saves. The only goal was for the Rangers, off the stick of Jack Roslovic. It felt like a microcosm of the season, with some pinching and no covering giving the Rangers an almost 2-on-0.

The second period also wasn't great for Ottawa, and they gave up the only goal, this one a shorthanded goal that I'm not sure what Korpisalo was covering with his pad off the ice.

The third period saw Igor Shesterkin actually forced into a couple good saves before the Rangers got their third of the game. It was Artemi Panarin's 49th on the year, and Korpisalo's body language after the goal gave away what a defeating season this has been.

The Sens were really just pushing to not get shut out, but were struggling to even get shots on goal. The next goal was the Blueshirts' again, this time off the stick of Alexis Lafrenière on a tic-tac-toe passing play. The Sens were falling apart at the seams. Matt Rempe gifted the Sens a late powerplay, but the Sens decided to Sens and give Jimmy Vesey a penalty shot, but he couldn't get the shot he wanted so the Sens didn't give up a second shortie of the game. The Rangers tried really hard to get Panarin his 50th goal at the end, but they couldn't quite find a way through; really the only Sens victory of the night. The game ended 4–0, and somehow this depleted, dejected, demoralized Sens team still has one more game tomorrow. Honestly this stinks.

Game Thoughts:

• The Sens mostly seemed done in this game. Guys like Drake Batherson and Erik Brännström were still trying to get some offensive stats, and Joonas Korpisalo likely knows he's fighting for his NHL career, but most of the team seemed checked out. It was kind of a sad game to watch.
• It says a lot about how much this team has grown defensively under Jacques Martin that this felt like a throwback with the lack of defensive coverage.
• It's hard to remember that at one point we were upset Jiri Smejkal didn't make the opening night roster. He has 1 assist in 19 games this season, and took another unfortunate penalty tonight. A good reminder that for every Zub you find overseas, there's dozens of Smejkals, guys who aren't in the NHL because they just aren't quite good enough.
• Panarin finished the game with 17 shot attempts, 7 of which were on goal. He's gotta be the quietest near-50-goal-scorer in a while, right? Probably because Matthews is 20 ahead.

Game Flow: