It was the Igor Shesterkin show in the New York Rangers’ 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Friday night.
Shesterkin came into the night with a 4-2-1 record, 2.43 goals against average and .923 save percentage as the stats don’t even give his phenomenal play justice.
The game started with Alexis Lafrenière drawing a crucial offensive zone turnover, leading to Artemi Panarin’s seventh goal of the season.
After that, it seemed like the Rangers would cruise to a victory, but the Senators didn't make things so easy.
It really started in the second period when the Senators began to pressure the Rangers and New York suddenly couldn’t get anything going.
That’s also when Shesterkin turned up his game to a whole nother gear.
He made acrobatic save after acrobatic save and was truly putting the Rangers on his back throughout the entire night.
The 28-year-old goalie was bringing the crowd to their feet and breathing life into both Madison Square Garden and the entire Rangers team.
To end the night, Shesterkin recorded 40 saves on 41 total shots, leading the Rangers to a victory.
“Igor was fantastic tonight,” Peter Laviolette said. “He made a lot of big saves.”
For Shesterkin whether he was the star of the show or not, all the superstar cares about is getting the win for his team.
“It was an important two points for us, so it doesn't matter who plays good and who plays bad, we just need to stick together,” Shesterkin said. “We do one job for everyone, play good and get two points every night.”
Leaning on Shesterkin to propel the team may not be the best strategy in the long run for the Rangers.
Laviolette knows that his goaltender had a groundbreaking performance, but the Rangers as a whole need to play a much cleaner and consistent brand of hockey.
“It’s nice to have a goaltender who can make those saves, but that’s not what we are looking for,” Laviolette said. “It’s great he was on point, but we still need to do a better job.”
Shesterkin is proving that he’s worth every penny that he is currently seeking and Chris Drury may have no choice, but to give him a historic contract extension.
The Rangers will be back in action on Sunday afternoon when they play the New York Islanders.
