Shesterkin has 41 saves, Rangers beat Stars 3-1 for 8th straight win

NEW YORK (AP) — Igor Shesterkin made 41 saves and the New York Rangers beat the Dallas Stars 3-1 for their eighth straight win on Tuesday.

Adam Fox, Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers in the matchup of division leaders.

Miro Heiskanen scored for Dallas, which lost its third straight game. The Stars lost to the Bruins 4-3 on Monday in a shootout.

The Rangers are 9-1-1 in their last 11 contests. They were coming off a dramatic 6-5 overtime win against the Islanders in an outdoor game on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

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Shesterkin improved to 23-12-1 and has allowed two or fewer goals in 17 of his wins.

“He did everything he had to do to get the win,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “Shesty was fantastic.”

Shesterkin made an acrobatic glove save on Wyatt Johnson at 17:28 of the second, stopped Jamie Benn with a sliding pad stop at 13:57 of the third, then smothered several chances in the crease at 16:42 of the third.

“I thought their goalie was their best player,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “Our goalie was really good too. Considering the back-to-back situation, that was a 2-1 game and we played right to the buzzer. We gave them everything they could handle.”

New York has won four of their last five games against Dallas.

Fox opened the scoring at 7:46 of the first, one-timing a pass from Artemi Panarin past Stars netminder Scott Wedgewood, who made 23 saves. Defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who needed stitches under his left eye during Sunday’s game, also assisted on Fox’s ninth goal.

“I thought we battled hard,” Fox said. “They are a good team over there. We were ready from the start. Obviously a nice win.”

Fox has points in nine of his last 12 games. Despite missing 10 games with injury, he is seventh among NHL defensemen with 46 points. Panarin leads the Rangers with 75 points, including 32 goals, and has points in 45 of New York’s 56 games.

Kakko made it 2-0 at 8:23 of the second, finishing off a passing play with defensemen K’Andre Miller and Erik Gustafsson. Kakko fired a high shot past Wedgewood from the left wing for his seventh goal. The 23-year-old Finnish forward has points in five straight games.

“Kakko had another strong game,” Laviolette said. “He looks confident on the ice. That was a really nice goal.”

Heiskanen put the Stars on the board 47 seconds later with his seventh goal on the power play with assists from Benn and Joe Pavelski. The 39-year-old Pavelski is in his 18th NHL season. He is third on the Stars with 47 points, including 19 goals.

Trocheck added an empty net goal at 18:19 of the third to seal the win.

The last time the Rangers had a winning streak of eight or more games was during the 2015-16 season, when they won nine straight. The franchise record is 10, accomplished in 1939-40 and 1972-73.

The Rangers are 33-2-2 this season when permitting three goals or fewer. They had to smother the Stars, who have the second-best record in the Western Conference behind the Canucks.

“They are a slick team,” Laviolette said.

UP NEXT

Rangers: Visit New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

Stars: Visit Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL