After the Rangers shut out the Capitals with a victory in Game 4 in Washington on Sunday night, Igor Shesterkin, who had already eliminated the first-round series, spoke to reporters as he boarded the team bus. I came out to do this.
The Blueshirts netminder was asked about his play shortly after the game started, and his answer reflected the same sentiment heard in the visitors’ locker room as his teammates reflected on Game 1. Ta.
However, Shesterkin’s evaluation was internal rather than an evaluation of the team as a whole.
“I could have played better,” he said stoically. [is] We won tonight and won the series. ”
That’s what the players agreed on: It didn’t diminish the importance of getting the sweep, but they also recognized that they didn’t have to play their best to get it.
The Capitals made it to the playoffs by a narrow margin, considering the fact that the Rangers led by just 3 minutes and 17 seconds through the four-game series, making them the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference who qualified in March. It was clear that .
What will happen next will not be so simple.
What is to come will require much more.
In that respect, Shesterkin is made for this period.
Never satisfied and always self-deprecating, the star goalkeeper holds himself to the highest standards.
Despite posting a 4-0 record with a 1.75 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage, and his 17th playoff victory, tying him with Dave Kerr for fourth-most postseason wins in franchise history, Shesterkin He said he wanted to reduce rebounds. , allowing you to play with more confidence not only at the net but also with the puck.
Shesterkin was difficult to defeat at close range.
He tracked the puck well throughout the series, firing tape-to-tape passes to Artemi Panarin at least twice during the series, but each time he did so.
And after allowing the first goal for the second straight game in Game 3, Shesterkin went lights out and was untouchable for the remainder of Friday night’s game.
“I think he was hard on himself, to be honest,” head coach Peter Laviolette said the day after Game 3. / A screwball twisted at least a foot in the air.It started here, it ended here, and it caught [Mika Zibanejad’s] Stick, that’s the motion, the puck sent.
“You don’t see that very often, but every once in a while it happens and there was a significant move on it. I think he was a little hard on himself. I thought he had a great game. [in Game 3]”
The Rangers didn’t have to bring their A game to infuriate Tom Wilson and end the Capitals’ season. It was just a byproduct of being a better team and not letting the Capitals’ agitators have the impact they once had on them.
They will surely take a page from Shesterkin’s book and follow his lead as they prepare for Game 2 against the winner of the Hurricanes-Islanders series.
Shesterkin left it to the imagination as to how good he thinks this Rangers team is.
“Let’s see,” he said.
