Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin will be placed on IR, source says
New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin skates to the net after a break in the action aCarolina Hurricanes in the second period of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
As if things weren’t bad enough for the Rangers, who have lost four straight games and 15 of their last 19 to close out calendar year 2024, now the team will begin 2025 without No. 1 goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who a source said Tuesday is going on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
Shesterkin, who turned 29 on Monday, was bowled over early in the third period of Monday’s 5-3 loss to the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers when teammate Ryan Lindgren body-checked Panthers forward Sam Bennett into the goaltender. Shesterkin stayed down on the ice for a moment, but he got up without needing any assistance, continued to play, and finished the game.
The Rangers recalled veteran Louis Domingue from its AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, to replace Shesterkin.
Going on IR means Shesterkin must miss at least seven days, which would mean he will miss at least three games – Thursday’s home game against Boston, and the two-game road trip over the weekend in Washington and Chicago Saturday and Sunday. The earliest he would be eligible to return would be next Tuesday, Jan. 7, at home against the Dallas Stars.
The 16-19-1 Rangers can ill afford to lose their best player for any amount of time, and they will certainly be concerned about an injury to the goaltender they signed earlier this month to an eight-year, $92 million contract extension that makes him the highest-paid goaltender ever, and the second-highest paid Ranger ever. But if the injury is not serious, a week off might not be a bad thing for Shesterkin’s mental health.
As the team has struggled mightily for more than a month, Shesterkin (11-15-1 with a 3.10 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage) has taken his lumps as well of late. In Saturday’s 6-2 loss in Tampa Bay, he was pulled for the second time in five starts after allowing five goals on 13 shots over 28 minutes and eight seconds. And in his last six starts, he has allowed 19 goals on 165 shots, playing to a 3.99 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage.
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, asked Sunday if he had spotted something in Shesterkin’s game that led to replacing him Saturday night, brushed it off, saying, “It was the game we were playing. It was the score (5-1, Tampa, at the time). Just to make a change and try to send the game in a different direction.’’
In Shesterkin’s absence, backup Jonathan Quick will be called on to try and help the Rangers dig their way out of the hole they are in. However, Quick, the Connecticut native whose 398 career victories are the most among American-born goaltenders, has cooled off after a hot start to the season.
He is 5-4, with a 2.69 goals-against average and .907 save percentage, but after winning five of his first six starts, with two shutouts, he has lost three in a row. And he has allowed 15 goals on 98 shots over his last five appearances – two of which were in relief of Shesterkin – for a 3.75 GAA and an .847 save percentage.
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.
More Rangers
