SUNRISE, Fla. — It’s pretty rare for a winning goaltender to allow four goals and still be one of the heroes.
But on the flip side, overcoming a 21-4 scoring chance deficit in the final period to ultimately win the game is pretty rare.
The Rangers did just that on Sunday in their 5-4 overtime win over the Panthers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals, relying on Igor Shesterkin to save the Rangers from a near collapse in the third period.
Shesterkin, the only thing standing between the Rangers and that infamous defeat, played his role to perfection, stopping 33 shots and acting as a wall on the penalty kill late when the Panthers pushed the Rangers’ goal to their limits.
The puck didn’t leave the Rangers’ zone for nearly 90 seconds.
And the Blueshirts survived thanks in part to their goaltending, who thwarted two chances from Carter Verhaeghe.
“It’s been busy,” Ryan Lindgren said. “Of course. [Jacob Trouba] “When you go to the penalty box, he’s a really good penalty killer. But in that game, they got their chances. Shesty came up big time again. They had a lot of zone time. We were pretty tired at the end.”
This wasn’t the first time Shesterkin saved his team late in a game.
The Post follows Rangers coverage in the NHL playoffs
After the penalty kill, he made the best save of the night, when Panthers superstar Matthew Tkachuk had the puck on his stick and a chance to shoot with 39 seconds left, beating Tkachuk from just eight feet away.
This save, and others like it, is why the Rangers acquired Igor Shesterkin.
Those saves made him the team’s most valuable asset in these playoffs.
Incidentally, in the matchup of Russian goalies that made up the conference finals, Shesterkin far outshone Sergei Bobrovsky, who allowed just five of 23 shots on goal Sunday but didn’t have to face the same extended pressure as Shesterkin.
Considering the analytics are in the Panthers’ favor in this series, it’s safe to say Shesterkin is the biggest reason the Rangers hold a 2-1 edge after three games.
“At the end of the day, we needed our goalie’s help and he helped us out not once, twice but multiple times,” said Alex Wennberg, the star of the night with the winning goal in extra time. “It feels good to make that save and it made a difference.”
