Rangers need Igor Shesterkin to lift his game if they want to be true Stanley Cup contenders
Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers looks on during the second period against the Kraken at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
LOS ANGELES — Igor Shesterkin was supposed to be the difference.
The Rangers’ star goaltender was supposed to be the ace in the hole for a Blueshirts team that hopes to compete for the Stanley Cup this season. But he hasn’t been that, at least not to this point. And if his results don’t get better in the final 38 regular-season games, it’s hard to see the Rangers as being true challengers for the Cup.
Most of the other pieces a true contender would need seem to be in place: A solid, experienced roster with a superstar, Artemi Panarin, who is having a career year and driving the offense. A lethal power play and a top 10 penalty kill. A new coach in Peter Laviolette, a veteran winner who is detail-oriented and came to New York with a system along with an ability and a willingness to make adjustments when necessary.
But if they don’t have elite-level goaltending, is all of that enough?
The Rangers have holes in their roster, the most glaring being the lack of a third-line center and the lack of a proven right wing to play with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
If Filip Chytil, who is in Czechia trying to make his way back from a suspected concussion, returns this season, that could solve the third-line center problem. Kaapo Kakko, who returned last Sunday after missing 21 games with a left leg injury, could solve the right wing problem.
Shesterkin, the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner and owner of a lifetime .921 save percentage, was supposed to help cover up all the Rangers’ holes. But with a .902 save percentage this season and a 2.83 goals-against average, the 28-year-old Russian is definitely not doing that.
After he turned in a brilliant performance in the Rangers’ 5-2 win over Seattle at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, it looked as if he’d turned the corner after what had been an up-and-down season. But then the Rangers opened their current four-game West Coast swing with a head-scratching 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, and Shesterkin (21 saves on 25 shots) didn’t look like the same guy who played Tuesday.
Laviolette was asked if the team maybe needed a save or two from Shesterkin that it didn’t get. Not wanting to throw his goalie under the bus, he predictably danced around the question. But what he did say was telling:
“I think we gave up two even-strength chances, three, maybe . . . in the first period,’’ he said. “And they score on two of them.’’
Steve Valiquette, the former Rangers goaltender and current in-studio Rangers analyst for MSG, was critical of Shesterkin’s performance against Vegas.
“The game [Thursday] night was a lot like what we’ve seen too much of this year, which is the team going really hard — and look, they could have scored a goal or two in the first 10 minutes, and they don’t — and what came back the other way was ‘we need our goalie to make a save there,’ ’’ Valiquette told Newsday on Friday. “When you don’t get a save on the first one [by Jonathan Marchessault], it sinks you psychologically, because you’re pushing so hard, you’ve done everything the way that you’ve really drawn it up to unfold, and you don’t get a save there.’’
Valiquette believes most of Shesterkin’s problem is mental. Shesterkin is known to be hard on himself, and he said at the start of training camp that he was too hard on himself last season. He resolved to not be that way this season, but that doesn’t seem to be working out.
“He’s getting rattled with not giving the team that next save, and believe me, he’s not getting past his goals [allowed] either,’’ Valiquette said. “For sure he’s beating himself up for the first one, and he probably doesn’t like the second one either, because it goes through his arm hole. Even though it goes off a skate, it still went through him.’’
Quick tributes
Speaking of goalies, likely future Hall of Famer Jonathan Quick was set to make his first return to Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night to play his first game there against the Los Angeles Kings, the team for which he starred for 15 seasons.
Quick, who signed with the Rangers as a free agent over the summer, was expected to start Saturday. He already has gotten a “Welcome Back’’ tribute video in Las Vegas after being traded there at the deadline last season; he played 10 games and helped the Golden Knights win their first Stanley Cup. He was likely to get a much more extensive tribute video from the Kings, for whom he won 370 regular-season games and two Stanley Cups.
Saturday’s video would figure to be more awkward for Quick if he was actually on the ice, trying to keep the puck out of the net and end a personal 0-3-1 streak. On Thursday he served as backup to Shesterkin and was able to smile and wave at the crowd while wearing a baseball cap after the video played. If he was on the ice Saturday against the Kings, he might not want to lift his mask up to let the crowd see his face, just in case there were tears rolling down his cheeks.
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.