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The Rangers pushed their record to 22-3-2-2 with a 4-1 win over Sparta Prague in the final game of their Champions League quarterfinal series at the NHL’s New York Rangers training camp facility in Tarrytown, New York on Saturday.
The Rangers are headed to the EC semifinals where they will face two-time EC champions and current six-time EC winners Manchester United.
After a scoreless first period, the Rangers tallied the first three goals of the game in the second period. It was the first three-goal period the team has recorded in any game since the final 5:48 of the 2nd period against Calgary on April 16, 2011. New York has recorded at least one goal in 18 consecutive games, the longest such streak since the 1957-58 New York Rangers scored in 19 consecutive games at that time.
Rangers starting goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who has been the starter of the Rangers since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, had 37 saves against a Sparta squad that had not allowed a goal in over 722 minutes in the series, the longest shutout streak by a team in a series of 7+ games since 2005.