{"id":534391,"date":"2026-04-01T08:47:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/534391\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T08:47:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T08:47:36","slug":"shesterkin-markstrom-have-rare-goalie-fight-at-madison-square-garden-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/534391\/","title":{"rendered":"Shesterkin, Markstrom have rare goalie fight at Madison Square Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin and his New Jersey Devils counterpart Jacob Markstrom had a lengthy fight<\/a> midway through the third period of the Rangers\u2019 4-1 win<\/a> Tuesday night. <\/p>\n

The netminders fought at 9:05 of the third period near the Rangers\u2019 net after Shesterkin was part of a larger scrum behind the goal involving most other players on ice. Both goaltenders removed their helmets and exchanged punches \u2014 with Shesterkin landing more blows to his Swedish opponent. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to thank my boxing coach,\u2019’ Shesterkin quipped after the game. <\/p>\n

In a mostly dismal home season for the Rangers \u2014 with just 12 wins in 37 games at Madison Square Garden \u2014 the spirited fisticuffs between goalies brought some of the loudest cheers of the year from the home crowd. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed that,\u2019’ Rangers captain J.T. Miller said. \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been, unfortunately, a lot to cheer about early this year. To have a moment like that, it\u2019s really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Markstrom left his crease and skated the length of the ice where he and Shesterkin brought the crowd to its feet with the rare goaltender-versus-goaltender battle. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows his character, shows he\u2019s a competitor,\u2019’ Devils captain Nico Hischier said of Markstrom\u2019s willingness to fight. \u201dIt\u2019s huge for us … I know Markie is an emotional guy. That\u2019s what you want to see in your team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shesterkin punctuated the fight by wrestling Markstrom to the ice, bringing even louder roars from the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great fight. I didn\u2019t know Shesty had that in him,\u201d Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said. <\/p>\n

Rangers fans continued to chant \u201cIgor, Igor,\u201d in support of their combative goaltender as play resumed, and the Rangers went on to win their third-straight home game in decisive fashion.<\/p>\n

Shesterkin and Markstrom each received five minutes for fighting and two minutes for leaving their creases. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I needed to do something,\u2019’ Markstrom said about entering the fracas at the other end of the rink. \u201dIt\u2019s adrenaline. You just go there and swing for the fences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller lauded his team\u2019s star Russian netminder, who has 186 victories in seven seasons as a Ranger \u2014 and now one prolonged fight \u2014 on his resume. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so rare, unexpected,\u2019’ Miller said. \u201dThat was just old-school … I think it was great for our team to see that. To see what a goalie can do \u2014 obviously goalies aren\u2019t fighting that often \u2014 to see him have him have our back and stick up for himself obviously sends a message that he\u2019s such a leader for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NHL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nhl<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin and his New Jersey Devils counterpart Jacob Markstrom had a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[5,2273,2685,512,1955,576,151,3328,7763,35,5190,5193,4,292,1602,36,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-534391","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-igor-shesterkin","10":"tag-j-t-miller","11":"tag-jacob-markstrom","12":"tag-mike-sullivan","13":"tag-new-jersey","14":"tag-new-jersey-devils","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-new-york-rangers","18":"tag-newyork","19":"tag-newyorkrangers","20":"tag-nhl","21":"tag-nhl-hockey","22":"tag-nico-hischier","23":"tag-rangers","24":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116328585218853346","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}