Associated Press
Henrik Lundqvist made 42 saves for his NHL-leading seventh shutout of the season, and the Rangers beat the Boston Bruins 3-0 on Tuesday night to widen the gap between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference.
The Rangers won their fourth straight game and opened a nine-point lead over Boston in the East.
Ryan Callahan scored for the sixth time in four games, and Ryan McDonagh and Artem Anisimov also had goals for the Rangers, who were outshot 42-20. It was Lundqvist's 42nd career shutout.
Tim Thomas made 17 saves for the Bruins, who are 6-7-1 in their last 14 games.
The Rangers won their second straight game in Boston this season, and Lundqvist has been a big reason why. He also beat the Bruins 3-2 in overtime on Jan. 21, and he is 18-5-2 against them in his career, with six shutouts.
Lundqvist is now 7-1 in his last eight games with three shutouts, and he hasn't allowed more than two goals in any of those games. His 42 saves were a season high.
Callahan opened the scoring midway through the first period with a power-play goal when he deflected a pass from Michael Del Zotto past Thomas. That gave Callahan 23 goals for the season, tying the career high he set last season.
McDonagh made it 2-0 with just 12 seconds left in the first. It stayed that way until Anisimov skated in on the right side, faked the crossing pass to Del Zotto and snapped off a quick wrist shot past Thomas' glove to make it 3-0 with 17:07 left in the game.
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STAT OF THE GAME
This was the 12th time in Henrik Lundqvist's career that he has posted 40 or more saves in a game, and he is now 7-0-5 with a 1.37 goals against average, .968 save percentage and four shutouts in those 12 games. Lundqvist is now 7-1-0 with a 1.10 goals against average, .960 save percentage and three shutouts in his last eight games.
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| (selected by the local media) |
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| 1. Lundqvist |
2. Callahan |
3. McDonagh |
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[51-24-7]
[49-29-4]