MSG broadcast cameras caught Igor Shesterkin obliterating his stick on his way down the tunnel after the Rangers lost to the Ducks Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
The highest-paid goalie in the NHL had just been hung out to dry by his teammates in the final seconds of a game that counted as the 10th time he was given one goal or fewer of score support.
“I felt really good until the last 20 seconds,” said Matt Rempe, who was on the ice for Pavel Mintyukov’s goal and smacked the puck against the boards in frustration after the fact.
Anaheim had already scored on an empty net to cushion their lead.
The goal from Mintyukov with 2.9 seconds left on the clock was only possible because the Rangers stopped playing.
Despite the Blueshirts’ struggles to score in front of Shesterkin this season, the star Russian netminder’s .908 save percentage is tied — with Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson and Boston’s Jeremy Swayman — for the sixth-highest amongst goalies who have made at least 20 starts this season.
Shesterkin, of course, is in the first season of an eight-year, $92 million deal that carries a cap hit of $11.5 million per year.
The Rangers extended the 29-year-old just over a year ago on Dec. 6, which essentially came in tandem with the club’s trading of their then-captain, Jacob Trouba, to Anaheim.
Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers leaves the ice following a loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Getty Images
While the Rangers defense has been much improved under head coach Mike Sullivan, so far, Shesterkin has still kept his team in many games they probably had no business being in.
That’s to be expected of a goaltender whose career save percentage (.917) ranks second in the NHL since he entered the league in 2019-20. With a record-setting average annual value attached to their No. 1 goalie, however, the Rangers could use a few more stolen games from Shesterkin.
Per Moneypuck.com, Shesterkin’s goals saved above expected of 14.4 is the sixth-highest amongst goalies who have made at least 20 starts.
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Shesterkin has appeared in 27 of the Rangers’ 35 games, which is approximately 77 percent of the season thus far. The workload has been influenced by Jonathan Quick’s stint on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
When Shesterkin appeared in back-to-back games on Nov. 28 and 29, it was only the sixth time in his career that he had done so.
Even when the Canadiens scored three goals on four shots in the Rangers’ eventual 5-4 overtime win this past weekend, Sullivan insisted that he never thought about pulling Shesterkin.
“I didn’t feel like any of the goals scored were bad goals,” Sullivan said that night. “They’re a little bit fluky on how some of them went in. I mean, give Montreal credit, they’ve got an opportunistic group. They can score. I never got the feeling behind the bench that, ‘Geez, it just wasn’t Shesty’s night,’ or, ‘He didn’t have it.’”
On the second night of a back-to-back slate, Quick got the starting nod Tuesday against the Canucks. It counted as his eighth start of the season.