Rangers open roadswing with shutout win over Jets

Chris Kreider continued his surge with two goals, Igor Shesterkin survived an injury scare to make 42 saves and the New York Rangers opened a three-game road trip with an impressive 4-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets Tuesday night. Kreider recorded his second two-goal game of the season and 17th of his career, giving him 10 goals in his last 13 games as the Rangers weigh whether to trade the unrestricted free agent before the Feb. 24 trade deadline. He scored in the final minute of the first period and then got his second goal on a power play 7:30 into the second.

Shesterkin survived a scare in his road debut when he left the game for the final 6:04 of the opening period. With 11:48 to go, he was knocked over when New York defenseman Tony DeAngelo pushed Andrew Copp into the crease but stayed in the game for the next five-plus minutes. Henrik Lundqvist replaced Shesterkin and made one save. Shesterkin came back for the final 40 minutes and made 30 more saves to improve to 6-1 since making his NHL debut Jan. 7.

Ryan Strome and Mika Zibanejad each collected a goal and an assist as the Rangers won for the ninth time in 14 games. Strome and Zibanejad set up Kreider's second goal and then scored 35 seconds apart early in the third. Nikolaj Ehlers scored the lone goal for Winnipeg, which was unable to get a point for a season-high sixth straight game.

Winnipeg goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves. The Rangers took a 1-0 lead with 34.1 seconds on an extended shift.

Defenseman Adam Fox chipped the puck out of the defensive zone to Pavel Buchnevich, who absorbed a hit near center ice but was able to find Kreider. Kreider made a slick move through the slot, warded off a check by defenseman Sami Niku and slid the puck inside the right post. Kreider got his second goal with 12 1/2 minutes left when he swept the rebound of a Strome shot into the vacated left side of the net.

Strome upped the lead to 3-0 when he made a spin move to sweep a rebound into the net and Zibanejad made it 4-0 by capitalizing on a turnover behind the net by Hellebuyck. 

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