NEW YORK -- Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has been nothing short of outstanding this season. On Monday night, he also had some luck on his side.

Lundqvist made 31 saves and the opportunistic New York Rangers took advantage of the snake-bitten Nashville Predators in a 3-0 victory at Madison Square Garden that marked the Rangers' 11th win in their past 12 games.

One of the favorites for the Hart Trophy over the first quarter of the season, Lundqvist leads the league in wins (12), goals-against average (1.74) and save percentage (.946) on a team that has been getting outshot on a semi-regular basis.

That was the case again Monday, as the Predators had a 31-16 shot advantage that was at 25-7 through two periods.

But every time the Predators found themselves with a scoring opportunity, Lundqvist was there. He was especially important during four power plays in the first 21 minutes and five overall, as the Predators launched 11 shots on net during their man-advantages.

"We're not going to apologize for good goaltending," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "We got in penalty trouble in the first period. To have good penalty killing, you need (great goaltending). We got some big blocked shots."

"You look around the league and you see some guys putting up huge offensive numbers," said center Derek Stepan, whose goal early in the third period gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead. "It's no different what (Lundqvist) is doing for our team."

The league-leading Rangers (16-3-2) held a 1-0 lead midway through the second period on left winger Rick Nash's sixth goal of the season and fourth in two games. That's when Lundqvist proved to have luck and skill on his side, as he ventured about 40 feet from his crease and misplayed a puck, but Predators left winger Filip Forsberg missed an open net.

"When I took the first step, it seemed like a good idea," Lundqvist joked. "I really thought I would beat him to the puck but he pushed it to the side. You just hope for the best there. You need a couple bounces and we got a few tonight."

If there were ever a team that needed a bounce, it was the Predators (11-6-3), who were shut out for the third straight game and have not scored a goal in 213 minutes, 47 seconds. They had numerous chances Monday; the Predators fired 75 pucks toward the net.

Three games worth of frustration appeared to boil over in the final minutes with the game out of reach, as center Mike Ribeiro received a 10-minute misconduct and defenseman Roman Josi and left winger James Neal earned a roughing and slashing penalty, respectively.

"If it happens once, you try to work through that," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said of being shut out, "but if it happens three times in a row, you're getting pretty frustrated. We were on the attack all night. We didn't give up much and generated a whole lot, but it didn't go our way."

Nash's goal was the result of a 4-on-1 rush after Josi was trapped in the offensive zone and center Mike Fisher was more like a traffic cone at the blue line. Nash buried a wrist shot to the short side to make it 1-0 on the Rangers' fifth shot of the contest.

The remainder of the game saw the Predators firing shots either into Lundqvist or the bodies in front of him; the Rangers blocked 26 shots.

The Rangers saved their best for the third period, as Stepan and left winger Kevin Hayes beat goaltender Pekka Rinne, who allowed three goals on 16 shots.

Rinne could hardly be faulted on any of the goals he allowed, nor could he be blamed for Lundqvist continuing his MVP-caliber season.

"He's one of the best goaltenders in the world, so you know you are going to get his best effort every night," said defenseman Shea Weber, who had eight shot attempts. "We talked about that this morning. We wanted to get as many pucks and shots as we could as well as bodies to the net. We knew it was going to a tough night here.

"It wasn't any less tough than we thought."

NOTES: Predators LW James Neal played in his 500th career NHL game. ... Predators G Pekka Rinne made his ninth consecutive start. ... The Predators scratched D Anthony Bitetto, D Victor Bartley and RW Miikka Salomaki. ... Rangers D Dan Girardi played in his 672nd career game with the club, moving him into 13th place on the Rangers' all-time list. ... The Rangers scratched D Dylan McIlrath and RW Emerson Etem.