Igor Shesterkin turned back 30 shots for his first shutout of the season as the New York Rangers recorded a 2-0 victory over the Calgary Flames on Monday in a clash of teams sporting extended winning streaks.
Shesterkin out-dueled counterpart Jacob Markstrom to lead the Rangers to a fifth consecutive victory and halt Calgary's four-game winning streak.
Markstrom was sharp in defeat, as he stopped 29 of 30 shots to keep the Flames in it until Jimmy Vesey sealed New York's win with an empty-net goal with 19 seconds remaining.
The Calgary goaltender came up with 11 saves during a scoreless first period, but his lone blemish came when Will Cuylle knocked in a rebound with 6:29 left in the second to give the Rangers a 1-0 advantage.
Shesterkin protected the lead with 13 second-period saves and 11 more in the third to finish off his 12th career shutout.
The win increased New York's lead over the second-place Carolina Hurricanes to six points in the Metropolitan Division standings.
Flyers rally to top Coyotes, extend winning streak to four games
Travis Konecny had a goal and two assists and helped spark a third-period rally that lifted the surging Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes.
The Flyers trailed 3-2 after two periods before getting goals from Jamie Drysdale, Scott Laughton and Owen Tippett that kept them unbeaten since the All-Star break. Philadelphia is now 4-0-0 since the stoppage.
Laughton added an assist on Konecny's 25th goal of the season, while both of Konecny's assists came during Philadelphia's third-period comeback.
Drysdale began the rally when his shot deflected off Arizona defenseman Matt Dumba and trickled past goaltender Karel Vejmelka to tie the game at 3-3 with 6:12 elapsed in the third period.
Laughton put the Flyers ahead just over four minutes later by beating Vejmelka on a wraparound attempt, and Tippett's empty-net goal with 1:21 left put the game out of reach.
Dumba scored the lone goal of an otherwise quiet first period, but the action picked up in the second as both teams scored twice.
Morgan Frost successfully converted a penalty shot 4:23 into the period to get the Flyers on the board, but Matias Maccelli sent the Coyotes back ahead by sneaking a shot past Philadelphia goaltender Samuel Ersson just 3:34 later.
Philadelphia answered on Konecny's goal midway through the second before Alex Kerfoot scored on a partial breakaway to give Arizona a 3-2 edge heading into the third.
Vejmelka stopped 29 of 33 shots in the Coyotes' sixth consecutive loss (0-5-1), while Ersson finished with 20 saves.
Eriksson Ek's two goals help Wild down Golden Knights
The Minnesota Wild lengthened a winning streak of their own with Monday's 5-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights that was sparked by a pair of goals from Joel Eriksson Ek.
Minnesota scored three times in the third period to snap a 2-2 tie and record its third consecutive win and sixth in eight games. Matt Boldy netted the eventual game-winner with 12:31 left to play and added two assists on the night.
The Wild's Marco Rossi broke the deadlock by knocking in a rebound 6:28 into the third period. Just 61 seconds later, Boldy fired a loose puck over the shoulder of Vegas goaltender Adin Hill to give Minnesota a 4-2 advantage.
Mark Stone's goal with 10:20 remaining got the Golden Knights within one, but the Wild held on before putting the game away on Eriksson Ek's empty-net tally with 22 seconds left.
Vegas started the game strong, taking a 1–0 lead just 22 seconds in when Jonathan Marchessault's chip attempt deflected off a Minnesota skater and trickled past goaltender Filip Gustavsson.
Mats Zuccarello and Eriksson Ek scored 81 seconds apart later in the first period to put the Wild on top before the Knights' Michael Amadio scored on a power play to forge a 2-2 tie.
Gustavsson finished with 27 saves while Hill stopped 24 of 28 shots for Vegas, which was dealt just its second regulation loss in its last 10 games. The Knights entered the contest 7-1-1 over their last nine outings.