Igor Shesterkin makes 29 saves and nearly scores as Rangers edge Senators

The Rangers’ 50th game of the season was played in front of a COVID-restricted 50% capacity crowd at Ottawa’s Canadian Tire Centre on Sunday night.

It also was the 50th victory in 79 career games for Igor Shesterkin as the Rangers beat the Senators, 2-1.

Shesterkin didn’t have to make 50 saves. Twenty-nine proved to be quite enough as the Rangers won in their first game in Canada since before Thanksgiving.

And he nearly scored his first career goal.

Shesterkin almost gave himself some breathing room when he shot one down the ice at the Senators’ empty net with 1:15 left. It looked good nearly all the way . . . until it veered left at the last instant and missed by inches.

"The sound was getting louder and louder as the puck got closer to the crease," Ryan Strome said. "But it’s just a matter of time. He’s going to stick with it. Maybe we can get him a couple of drills in practice working on it, but it’s just a matter of time before he gets one. Not just transferables, but the plays he makes in the breakout passes are just spectacular.

"He’s probably a better passer than 75, 80% of our team, and I think guys would openly admit that, too."

The miss caused an icing and a faceoff in the Rangers’ end, but coach Gerard Gallant said he wasn’t upset that Shesterkin took the chance to make it 3-1.

"He handles the puck real well," he said. "There was nobody in front of him. He had lots of room. We trust him. He’s won a lot of games for us. [If] they happen to knock one down and score on us, we’ll move on from that. But I enjoyed it. I wish it would have gone in the net like everybody else."

Shesterkin was helped by key third-period blocks by Mika Zibanejad and Strome as the Rangers protected a one-goal lead for the entire period.

The goalie faced only one power play, midway through the third, and Ottawa didn’t score on five shots on goal (which shouldn’t be a shock because the Senators are 1-for-23 and 3-for-42 on the power play of late).

Artemi Panarin gave the Rangers their first lead in three games when he scored on a slap shot on the power play at 9:14 of the second period to make it 2-1.

Panarin, who assisted on the Rangers’ first goal, drew the first penalty of the game when he was hooked by defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.

A few minutes earlier, Panarin was stopped by Ottawa goalie Filip Gustavsson on a clean chance. Panarin went back to the bench and rewatched the play on a tablet to get an idea of where to shoot the puck next time. It must have worked.

The Rangers fell behind less than five minutes into the game when a turnover in the offensive zone led to Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle ripping one over the right arm of Shesterkin at 4:52.

Strome tied it at 7:27 on a rebound of Braden Schneider’s shot. It was Strome’s 10th goal of the season and first in 10 games. Schneider, 20, earned his fourth assist in the last seven games.

The Senators were in the second game of a back-to-back and played their sixth game in nine days because of COVID postponements.

The Rangers hadn’t played a road game since Jan. 27, hadn’t played in Canada since Nov. 18 and hadn’t played in Ottawa since Oct. 23.

In the Oct. 23 game, the Rangers came back from 2-0 down with six minutes left in the third period and won in regulation, 3-2.

Defenseman Patrik Nemeth, who had been out since Jan. 22 and was placed on injured reserve on Thursday for what the Rangers called "a personal matter," returned to the lineup and played 15:10. Rookie Zac Jones was scratched.

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.