Entering play, the Rangers knew what was ahead of them. In what’s become a logjam for the wild card, they have to take care of business. Coming off a disappointing 5-4 overtime loss at Montreal, they posted a dominant 5-0 win over the Senators to keep pace with the Canadiens (3-2 winners over the Lightning).

Facing an opponent that’s currently in wild card position with 52 points – they made this one easy on themselves. Rather than get frustrated over having two goals reversed due to successful coach’s challenges by Senators coach Travis Green, they kept attacking. Along with playing a tight checking system that forced the Senators into turnovers, they methodically outplayed the Senators to get an important victory in regulation. Considering that they started Tuesday four points behind Ottawa, it came at the right time.

Alexis Lafreniere broke open a scoreless game when he put in a rebound of a Vincent Trocheck shot to score for a second straight game. The goal was a good response to having a Carrick goal wiped out due to Matt Rempe being offside with 2:31 left in the first period. Over a minute later, Lafreniere kept a play alive behind the net for Adam Fox. Eventually, Fox had a shot redirected by Trocheck off Senators goalie Leevi Merilainen right to Lafreniere, who sent a backhand into an open net for a 1-0 lead with 72 seconds remaining.

Less than two minutes into the second period, Arthur Kaliyev notched his second goal as a Ranger. Off a Filip Chytil faceoff win, Braden Schneider fed Urho Vaakanainen for a shot that deflected right to Kaliyev, whose turnaround shot beat Merilainen from a sharp angle to make it 2-0.

The Rangers continued to dictate the terms by leading in shots 16-5 at one point. Igor Shesterkin wasn’t tested until Brady Tkachuk got to the rebound of his own shot only for it to be snapped up by Shesterkin. He continues to be dialed in this month. Although he didn’t face many tough chances, he stopped all 20 shots to pick up his second straight shutout. He also didn’t allow a goal in a 1-0 shootout win over the Blue Jackets on Jan. 18. He’s heating up at the right time.

Kaliyev nearly had his second of the game on his next shift. On some splendid work from Chytil, Kaliyev came off the wall and fired a pea by Merilainen. Green again challenged for offside. On the Rangers’ entry, Chris Kreider was just ahead of the play to negate the goal. Despite the score remaining 2-0, Green decided to pull Merilainen for Anton Forsberg. The rookie netminder had provided the Senators with good goaltending in a recent win over the Devils. However, he was way off on Tuesday night. That made it the right move from Green, who was hoping putting in Forsberg could spark his team.

After Tkachuk initiated the contact to draw a weak interference call on Will Borgen, the Rangers easily killed off the penalty. Back at even strength, Tkachuk finally got a good look, but his shot was gloved out of mid-air by a sharp Shesterkin, who heard the chants of “Ig-or, Ig-or” from the crowd.

Following serving a penalty, Chytil put on a couple of moves to get in on Forsberg, who made two superb saves including one with his stick on a rebound to keep it out. The great individual effort drew a penalty on Tim Stutzle. Peter Laviolette opted to go with his first power play unit. Outside of Forsberg stopping Panarin, they were brutal. There was too much passing and not enough shooting. The best chance came when Mika Zibanejad had a one-timer blocked by a diving Nick Jensen.

Entering the third period, it was still a two-goal game. Following a key Shesterkin save on Tkachuk, the Rangers got a big contribution from the fourth line. Humming throughout the night, they finally got rewarded. After Carrick made a good play in his own zone to Adam Edstrom, Edstrom passed the puck ahead to himself to break ahead and lead to a two-on-one. He then sent Rempe in on Forsberg for a breakaway. On it, Rempe scored a goal scorer’s goal by faking to the forehand and going to the backhand for a sweet finish that made it 3-0 at 3:34.

After Will Cuylle had a goal wiped out for a high stick, things got juicy when Tkachuk bumped into Shesterkin after he made a save in tight to get a stoppage. Tkachuk knew what he was doing, but probably didn’t expect a furious Shesterkin to leave the crease and connect with his blocker behind the net. Tkachuk then went after Rempe, who was ready and willing. They’d had a run-in earlier in the game. The scrum resulted in the teams combining for 14 penalty minutes. Shesterkin got two for leaving the crease. Rempe received four minutes for roughing. Ryan Lindgren got a minor for roughing. Tkachuk earned six minutes with four for roughing and two for goaltender interference. Shane Pinto also received two for roughing.

The refs got it right with Tkachuk getting the extra two for bowling over Shesterkin, who was okay after being in pain. That put the Rangers on the man-advantage. During it, Michael Amadio accidentally collided with Shesterkin behind the net. He also went to the penalty box for goaltender interference, which put the Rangers on a five-on-three.

On the two-man advantage, Panarin took a feed from Fox and rifled home his 20th past Forsberg to increase the lead to 4-0 at 9:01. Still on the power play, the Rangers connected again on the five-on-four thanks to the second unit. K’Andre Miller moved the puck over to Lafreniere, who got the puck down low for Cuylle, who came out and beat Forsberg for a power-play goal that made it 5-0 with 10:03 remaining. That gave Cuylle goals in consecutive games. If he can get going, it would really help the Rangers over this next stretch.

Rempe nearly had a second goal but had his backhand stopped by Forsberg. In the final minute, Laviolette made certain to have his fourth line out to keep things calm. The Rangers skated away with their third win in their last four.

Up next come the Flyers. They defeated the Red Wings in overtime 2-1 on an Owen Tippett goal with less than 26 seconds left. The Flyers and Rangers are tied in the standings with 50 points. But the Rangers are ahead due to having more regulation wins (21-13) and playing one less game. They remain two points out of the wild card, with both the Senators and Canadiens each having 52 points. The Bruins also have 52 but have played one more game and have only 16 wins in regulation. The Blue Jackets have 51 and 17 regulation wins. The Penguins, Red Wings, and Islanders are hanging around.

Even the Lightning aren’t out of the woods after falling to the Canadiens in overtime. They’re in third place in the Atlantic Division with 53 points. It’s anybody’s guess what will happen.