PHILADELPHIA — There hasn’t been much, or really anything at all, stopping the Rangers since the All-Star break. Not the Avalanche, who won the Stanley Cup two years ago.
Not the Lightning, who won the previous two Stanley Cups prior to that.
Not even the Devils, who ended their quest for a postseason run last year before it even reached the second round.
And that didn’t change Saturday, when the Rangers tied a franchise record with a 10th consecutive win by defeating the Flyers, 2-1, at Wells Fargo Center.
They’ll have a chance to set the record — previously held by the 1972-93 and 1939-40 teams — for a franchise that’s been around since 1926 when the Blueshirts face the Blue Jackets on Sunday, with Matt Rempe’s first NHL goal in the third period sealing their latest win.
Rempe’s night started with an old-school fight in the first period against Nicolas Deslauriers, where the pair dropped the gloves and exchanged punches for nearly 40 seconds.
It marked Rempe’s second fight in four games since getting called up.
And again, his presence emerged as a spark, both in the first period and then again in the third when he deflected Braden Schneider’s shot into the Flyers net.
With each win, and the streak that materialized when those stacked on top of each other, the Rangers alleviated concerns about their mid-season stretch of sub-.500 hockey that served as anything but a reassuring encore to their 24-8-1 tear to start the year.
At the crux of the Rangers’ streak has been Shesterkin, who entered the All-Star break with numbers teetering on the brink of being career-worst marks.
That prompted the Rangers to give him a reset after the break.
Jonathan Quick, their best goaltender based purely on numbers and results, kept winning.
But the Blueshirts’ support for Shesterkin never wavered, and his save percentage has crept back over .900 (.907) with wins in his past five starts before head coach Peter Laviolette turned to him again Saturday.
He won his sixth consecutive start, making 40 saves — including 17 in the first period.