Vincent Trocheck’s description of Igor Shesterkin’s performance as “Igor-ish” felt fitting on Tuesday night. While 49 goaltenders have made more saves in playoff games than Shesterkin did Tuesday night, only two have stopped more than 75 shots.
And one of them happens to be Igor Shesterkin.
The Russian’s 54 saves Tuesday fell short of his 79 saves two seasons ago in a triple-overtime loss in Game 1 of the first round to Pittsburgh, but everyone involved said the tradeoff was 10. I would accept it more than twice as much.
The 4-3 victory gave the Rangers a commanding 2-0 series lead heading into North Carolina, but much of the blame rested on the shoulders of their goaltender, who played in the first overtime of the postseason. He achieved victory.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling every time,” Shesterkin said of the crowd that shouted his name with regularity Tuesday. “I almost cried every time.”
Playing 87 minutes, 24 seconds, he did most of the work in the second half of this marathon hockey game, turning down 17 shots in the third, 10 more in overtime, and five more in the second overtime. After that, he was sweating.
Carolina had almost created a Heidi Game 2.0 scenario late in regulation when ESPN called off the Rangers game while the Blueshirts were on a power play.
The Canes converted two short chances on the penalty kill.
Shesterkin dissed Seth Jarvis.
He then stopped Jalen Chatfield with a toe save.
It went to overtime.
“Their penalties, especially in situations like this, they’re trying to attack from there.” [Sebastian] There are idiots out there,” Trocheck said. “We have to know a little bit more about it and we know we have to be more careful and get our players back hard.
“But like I said before, Igor had an Igor type of game tonight. He was outstanding and kept us in the game, including 55 shots. It’s insane. But , whenever he gets into shape like that, it’s hard to beat him.”
Frederik Andersen finished with 35 saves and had a similar moment.
But playing two extra innings will only increase the workload in the playoffs for the netminder, who didn’t do that during the regular season after spending months injured.
That’s a concern for the Hurricanes, as Pyotr Kochetkov has yet to see action in the postseason.
Shesterkin has done more than this in the past, so the Rangers have no such concerns.
He’s like Igor, and that description tells you everything you need to know.
“We never give up,” Shesterkin said. “That’s why we play until the end. Everybody plays our game, so tonight was a deserved win.”
