After shaky start, Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin has showed his stuff in playoffs

RALEIGH, N.C. — When Igor Shesterkin was pulled from the net after one period in which he allowed four goals in Game 3 of the Rangers’ first-round playoff series against Pittsburgh, it was almost shocking.

To see it happen again two nights later, when he was pulled after two periods in Game 4, that was almost unbelievable.

But since then, entering Game 7 against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night at PNC Arena, everything the Hart Trophy finalist and likely Vezina Trophy winner had done was totally believable.

After the Rangers rallied to win three straight games to get past the Penguins in seven games, Shesterkin again has been the star the Rangers have always known him to be.

Through the first six games against Carolina entering Monday, Shesterkin had allowed 10 goals on 195 shots, good for a 1.67 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage. Since being pulled in Game 4 against Pittsburgh, he had a 2.11 GAA, a .937 save percentage and, most important, a 6-3 record.

“I think he’s been great,’’ forward Ryan Strome said after Monday’s 15-minute optional morning skate. “He’s been our best player all year. Any little hiccups, ups and downs, it doesn’t really last too long with him. And we know what he’s capable of. And he knows how good he is.’’

Shesterkin led the NHL in GAA (2.07) and save percentage (.935) in the regular season. And so many times, particularly in the first two months of the season, he was the biggest reason the Rangers won games, saving breakaways and two-on-ones and making so many remarkable saves that kept the Rangers in games in which they were being outplayed. He stole games that the Rangers probably didn’t deserve to win.

The 26-year-old Russian was so good that he made the spectacular seem routine, and as appreciative as the Rangers were to have him, they eventually came to rely on him doing superhuman things.

“I mean, I don’t think about it,’’ coach Gerard Gallant said Monday when asked how much confidence he has knowing Shesterkin is his goalie. “I know what I’ve got. And I relied on him all year long . . . So it doesn’t cross my mind.’’

Before Game 5, Gallant was asked if he thought the fact that Shesterkin got pulled from those two games in Pittsburgh actually might have helped him.

Looking back, the Rangers had opened that series with a three-overtime game in Game 1, and Shesterkin had looked at 83 shots on goal, stopping 79, the second-highest save total in NHL history. For a goaltender appearing in his first real NHL playoff action, it’s possible that game took something out of him.

The crowd in Pittsburgh was particularly loud in Games 3 and 4, and the fans sarcastically chanted, “EE-gorr! EE-gorr!’’ in an effort to rattle Shesterkin. That, Gallant thought, might have had more to do with the goalie’s performance than any sort of physical fatigue.

“I think it was more of a mental thing than a physical thing with Igor, to be honest with you,’’ Gallant said. “First time through the playoffs, and a young goalie, and the way that crowd was roaring and cheering against him . . . I think it was more that than anything else. And you learn. You get better from that.

“And you know, Benny [Allaire, the Rangers’ director of goaltending] talked to him a couple times [reminding him] you have to focus on the play. You can’t worry about what the crowd’s doing or a bad goal. You’ve got to get by one bad goal. He’s played great. He’s a big guy and he’s a big part of our group, and I think he’s ready for that now.’’

He was ready for it after winning the last three games against Pittsburgh, with the Rangers coming back in each game. And he was ready for it after making 43 saves in a must-win Game 3 at Madison Square Garden against the Hurricanes, preventing the Rangers from falling into a 3-0 series deficit.

And whatever was about to happen Monday night in Raleigh in his second Game 7 in his first NHL postseason, he will be able to bank the experience for the next round of the playoffs or a new campaign next season.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.