Excitement is muted when you start expecting something great, but this goes a long way to explaining why Igor Shesterkin didn’t headline Thursday night alongside Chris Kreider. ing.
Since the 2021-22 season, when Shesterkin made a big splash by winning the Vezina Trophy, he has been metronome in the regular season, and he has also been metronome in the playoffs. Nothing new.
His .923 save percentage in 10 games this playoffs is actually slightly shorter than his career record of .927, but anyone in their right mind would say the Russian is far behind. Probably not.
“You saw Igor make some great saves when we were trying to score, when we were trying to take advantage of the game,” Peter Laviolette said Thursday night as the Rangers defeated the Hurricanes. said after. “It happens a lot, you let your guard down, you let your guard down a little bit behind and you have to let the goalkeeper make some saves. I thought he made some great saves throughout the game, especially in the third period. Masu.”
Shesterkin was the Rangers’ trump card through six games in the second round, but Frederik Andersen was worn out in those games and was never at his best.
The Canes’ netminder posted an .878 save percentage over the series. In 38 career playoff games, Shesterkin has been under the save percentage just four times.
Whether the Rangers face Boston or Florida in the conference finals, Shesterkin will be their biggest asset in the series.
Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky has had a great run in the playoffs, including last season. The tandem of Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark has been great in Boston, and Swayman deserves credit for his current run in the playoffs.
However, concerns about inconsistency with Shesterkin persist, and there is no possibility of a goaltending dispute with the Rangers if the situation stalls.
The Rangers were down 3-1 on Thursday and looking to avoid a Game 7 against Carolina, but knowing they could trust him in net gave them momentum to push into the game.
As a result, they could have given up some breakaways, but that’s what they did. Shesterkin grabbed the knob of Jake Guentzel’s stick on an attempt. He stopped a sure-fire goal from Jordan Staal off a rebound. A highlight save against Andrei Svechnikov with 2:45 left was the Hurricanes’ last shot on goal before Barclay Goodrow’s empty-netter clinched a 5-3 victory.
“He was huge,” Goodrow said. “He made an incredible save against Svechnikov. A very difficult save. He does it time and time again when we need him the most, and he does it for us. I’ll be there.”
The success of the Rangers’ net greats should not be underestimated. Since 1990, there have been only three seasons in which Shesterkin, Henrik Lundqvist and Mike Richter did not start the majority of games: 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2019-20.
There isn’t a team in the league that hasn’t killed someone for 34 years.
“We have all the confidence in the world in him,” Jacob Trouba said. “You don’t have to say much to him and you can talk about him all you want, but he just does his job every day. Think about his competitiveness, his focus, his dedication. And as a group, there’s no player we’d like to see come back.”
Shesterkin is only 28 years old and in his fourth season as a full-time starter, but he pales in comparison to the other two. He’s on track to reach the same conclusion after all, but it’s a long road from here to there, and next season is the end of his current contract. There is no substitute for tenure in these discussions, but memories come close.
And he’s halfway to giving Rangers the ultimate memory.
