Igor Shesterkin’s start to the season had been sublime. On Friday night against the Capitals, things suddenly took a scary turn.
In the Rangers’ 3-1 loss, the star goaltender injured himself with 11:40 remaining in the second period while the Capitals were on a power play.
Shesterkin jammed his right leg hard into the goalpost while trying to recover after aggressively challenging a Pierre-Luc Dubois chance in the slot. The Russian netminder immediately fell to the ice in pain and reacted as if something was seriously wrong.
Shesterkin stayed down for several minutes before being helped back to the Rangers’ dressing room, unable to put any weight on his injured leg.
“It’s awful,” Rangers captain JT Miller said per the New York Post’s Mollie Walker. “He’s a pillar of this team. It stinks. Obviously, it’s young. We don’t even know what’s going on, but to see him leave the game is a shock to all of us. At the same time, it means we got to step up to a man to try to get the job done, especially for G [Dylan Garand].”
The Rangers later announced early in the third period that Shesterkin would not return. The Russian netminder, who recently scored a goalie goal, finished with 13 saves on 14 shots in 28:20 of ice time.
Igor Shesterkin (lower-body) will not return to tonight’s game.
— NY Rangers PR (@NYR_PR) October 10, 2026
“Igor is, in the goalie world, probably the face of it,” Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson said after the game. “So I hope it’s nothing serious, and I hope to see him back in the net here soon. But you never want to see anyone go down with an injury like that.”
Backup goaltender Dylan Garand finished the game in net for the Rangers, stopping 11 of 12 shots he faced. Garand ended up with the loss after surrendering the game-winning goal to Capitals forward Boone Jenner with 2:22 remaining in the second period.
Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan had no update on Shesterkin when speaking to reporters afterward.
Shesterkin entered Friday 3-1-0 with a .926 save percentage and roughly a 1.75 goals-against average, allowing two or fewer goals in each of his first four starts. He was also named the NHL’s First Star of the opening week after scoring a goalie goal against Tampa Bay. He would be a major loss for the Rangers if he’s out for a significant amount of time.
The team’s goaltending depth is already being tested as Finnish netminder Joonas Korpisalo is already out due to a lower-body injury. Spencer Martin is also dealing with a lower-body injury of his own with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack and is considered day-to-day.
“We’re not going to let [Igor’s injury] take the wind out of our sails,” Miller added. “We still competed our asses off today.”