Rangers' Barclay Goodrow on Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy: 'We have to take away his eyes'
Barclay Goodrow #21 of the Rangers skates against the Carolina Hurricanes during Game Six of the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, May 28, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Barclay Goodrow won the last two Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, which gives him a good perspective on the challenge that now faces the Rangers, who take on the Lightning in the Eastern Conference final beginning Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
Goodrow was asked Tuesday to compare Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, the presumptive winner of this season’s Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender, with Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has been widely regarded, for years, as the best goalie in the world.
“I think it's pretty unanimous they're the two best goalies in the league,’’ Goodrow said. “I don't think anyone can put up an argument for that.’’
Goodrow said the way to attack Vasilevskiy is to send bodies to the net, and try to screen him.
“It's pretty cliche saying, but I think if Vasilevsky can see pucks, he's going to save them,’’ he said. “If we make the job easy on him, then he's going to thrive. So I think, you know, we’ve got to get the blue paint, we’ve got to take away his eyes. We have to make life extremely hard for him, creating second chance shots, and being around the crease and just making his job difficult.’’
But when asked which goalie was better, Goodrow didn’t waffle. He picked his current teammate, Shesterkin, over his former teammate.
“I'll take ‘Shesty’ all day,’’ he said.
1st round pick to Jets
When the Rangers beat Carolina in Game 7 Monday to advance to the Eastern Conference Final, the conditional second-round draft pick the Rangers had sent to the Winnipeg Jets at the March 21 trade deadline as part of the return for forward Andrew Copp got upgraded to a first-round pick, leaving the Rangers without a first-rounder in this summer’s NHL draft.
GM Chris Drury said the cost was worth it.
“I did come down after the game [Monday] night was going around and seeing the players, and ‘Copper’ looked up at me and said, ‘Sorry about your first,’’’ Drury told reporters Tuesday. “Which is no problem at all.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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