Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin comes close to scoring empty-net goal
Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin makes a save on a shot by Florida Panthers center Colin White in the second period of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Rangers coach Gerard Gallant has been around hockey a long time, so he was fairly sure he has seen a goalie score a goal at some point, though he couldn’t immediately remember who it might have been and when.
He thought he was going to see Igor Shesterkin do it Monday night against Florida when the Rangers goaltender corralled a puck and fired it high and down the middle toward an empty net with 5:25 left in the third period. The puck went just wide of the left post, by less than a foot.
“I thought it was in,’’ Gallant said. “From the angle on the bench, we thought it was in. And it was a great time to do it . . . Too bad it didn’t go in for him.’’
“Before that shot, I felt like I had a chance,’’ Shesterkin said. “But Lindy [Ryan Lindgren] told me I cannot score before him.’’
Shesterkin is perhaps the best goalie in the league at handling the puck, and he has come close to scoring before. The last NHL goaltender to score a goal was Nashville’s Pekka Rinne, who did it against Chicago on Jan. 9, 2020.
Artemi Panarin was asked what he thought about Shesterkin coming so close. “He’s going to have to practice that shot tomorrow probably,’’ he said with a laugh.
Adam Fox said he got excited when he saw Shesterkin shoot the puck at the empty net.
“I was standing on the crease by the time it hit the boards,’’ he said. “I thought it was going in, so I had a long way to skate when I realized it wasn’t in.’’
Blue lines
Julien Gauthier was activated off IR and returned to the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury. Sammy Blais was scratched for the second straight game and Libor Hajek was scratched for the 17th straight.
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.
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