Igor Shesterkin comes up big as Rangers defeat Devils
Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers makes a save during the second period against the Devils at Madison Square Garden on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
How good was Igor Shesterkin, Gerard Gallant?
The Rangers’ coach laughed.
"Yeah, he’s been unbelievable,’’ Gallant said after his team’s 3-1 victory over the Devils on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. "I mean, seriously. Tonight, how many great saves, Grade A chances again? The rush chances they got, the Grade A chances, breakaways — he’s unbelievable.’’
Shesterkin (32 saves), who is 27-6-3 with a league-leading .940 save percentage and a 1.96 goals-against average (second in the league) has gone from the odds-on favorite to win the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie to a legitimate candidate to win the Hart Trophy as the league’s Most Valuable Player.
As resilient and resourceful as the Rangers have been, it’s hard to imagine them being 35-15-5 if Shesterkin wasn’t playing as well as he has.
"We are happy we have Igor in the net, because he’s unbelievable,’’ forward Filip Chytil said. "He’s out of this world, and it’s incredible what he’s doing every night.’’
Chytil scored what turned out to be the winning goal at 8:57 of the second period. It was his sixth of the season, first since Feb. 15 and second since Jan. 15. He re-entered the lineup Wednesday after being a healthy scratch in the previous two games.
Mika Zibanejad opened the scoring for the Rangers in the first period with his 21st goal of the season at 11:11, but the Devils tied it when Nico Hischier drove up the middle of the ice, splitting two defenders, and lifted a shot over Shesterkin’s catching glove at 13:56 of the period.
That goal, Hischier’s 16th, came after Shesterkin foiled the Devils’ captain earlier in the period on a semi-breakaway and then the rebound of that shot.
Chytil scored when he called for a drop pass from Ryan Lindgren, got it and whipped a shot past Devils goalie Nico Daws (29 saves). Chris Kreider added his 36th goal at 11:23 of the third period.
But the player who did the most for the Rangers clearly was Shesterkin. And Gallant seemed frustrated by the fact that has been the case so many times this season.
"It’s not that often,’’ he said. "But it’s more times than I like.
"We talked about it before the game — you know they create a lot of chances,’’ Gallant said of the Devils, who lost to the Rangers for the eighth consecutive time and fell to 19-31-5. "They’re a good team, but . . . some of [their scoring chances] were chances that were created by our stuff. And I didn’t like the way we played in the neutral zone at all.
"I just thought we could have been better in a lot of ways. I hate to critique a win, but I know we can be better than that. And Shesty was outstanding.’’
The Rangers now will go on a four-game road trip to Winnipeg, Minnesota, St. Louis and Dallas — four games in seven days — beginning Sunday. It is their last extended road trip of the season.
"It’ll be nice to spend some time on the road and be around each other . . . go to some dinners and spend some good time together,’’ defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "We’ve been kind of local for the most part, I guess, playing games. So it’ll be nice to get on a road trip.’’
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.
