NEW YORK — Remember that chemistry the Rangers kept telling us they were searching for in the first few days after the NHL trade deadline?
They appear to have found it.
Playing their third game in a week against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had been chasing them for third place in the Metropolitan Division, the Rangers cranked up their high-powered offense and blew out the Penguins, 6-0, giving them three wins in a row, and their fifth win in the last six games (5-0-1).
Each member of the Rangers’ top line — Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Vladimir Tarasenko — scored a goal. Panarin had two goals and Zibanejad had a goal and two assists.
Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba each scored, while goaltender Igor Shesterkin turned in what may have been his finest performance of the season, making 34 saves to earn the 10th shutout of his career (and second of the season).
Patrick Kane had two assists for the Rangers (40-19-10), who extended their lead to 12 points over the Penguins for third place in the Metropolitan Division. They also pulled within five points of the Devils for second place with 13 games to go.
But the Rangers won’t get to savor this one for too long. They host the Nashville Predators on Sunday night.
The Rangers are close enough to clinching a playoff spot and they can taste it.
“Yeah, it's hard not to,’’ defenseman Braden Schneider said before the game. “Obviously, you're trying your best to stay in the moment … but I think we're trending in the right direction and it's exciting.
“Everyone's excited to get to that point, and it's the best time of the year to play hockey,’’ he continued. “But we’ve still got lots of work to do, and some games to finish here.’’
The Rangers got some work done Saturday in front of a national TV audience, taking a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Zibanejad at 5:10 and Panarin (on a power play) at 19:49. In between, Shesterkin was brilliant in making 15 saves, many of them of the top shelf variety.
Shesterkin, who improved to 32-11-7, made at least a half-dozen eye-opening saves in the game, perhaps the most impressive of which was the one he made on Mikael Granlund about five minutes into the third period, where he lay down flat on his left side and kicked his right pad up in the air to stop Granlund’s shot from point-blank range.
Meanwhile, the Rangers’ offensive onslaught continued in the second period, beginning with Tarasenko’s one-timer off Zibanejad’s return pass to finish a three-on-one break at 3:54. The goal was more evidence of the growing chemistry of the top line, with Zibanejad centering for the two Russians — Tarasenko and Panarin. It was Tarasenko’s 15th goal of the season, his first in seven games, and his fifth overall in 18 games with the Rangers.
Kreider’s third goal in two games — right after Vincent Trocheck exited the penalty box and passed to Kane, who relayed it to Kreider — made it 4-0 and ended the night for Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry, who was pulled at that point after allowing four goals on 17 shots.
Backup Casey DeSmith came in and was greeted by a sharp-angle shot from Trouba that snuck into the upper-right corner of the goal, between the side of DeSmith’s mask and his left shoulder.
Panarin’s second goal, off an assist from Kane, made it 6-0 at 16:38.
