Igor Shesterkin misses fourth straight game, Jonathan Quick back in net for Rangers
Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick makes a save against the Red Wings during the second period on Tuesday. Credit: Noah K. Murray
GREENBURGH — Igor Shesterkin missed his fourth straight game Sunday when the Rangers hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets, but the Blueshirts did get Jonathan Quick back. He had missed Thursday’s win over the Minnesota Wild.
Louis Domingue, who started in the win over Minnesota, served as Quick’s backup on Sunday.
Playing musical goalies hasn’t seemed to affect the Rangers, who entered Sunday on a nine-game point streak (8-0-1). They were 2-0-1 since Shesterkin started sitting out with an undisclosed injury.
“I think all of our goalies have been doing a great job with communication,’’ defenseman K’Andre Miller said after the Rangers’ morning skate. “I think that’s one of the biggest things when you have a new guy back there is just to be talking and making sure he knows where to go with the puck.
Where his pressure is and where his ‘outs’ are . . . All the goalies seem to be playing the puck well and helping us break the puck out of the zone. So they’ve all been really good.’’
The trickiest part of playing behind different goalies probably occurred Thursday. Domingue is a lefty, meaning he holds his goal stick in his left hand and wears his catching glove on his right. When he played Thursday, he became the first righthanded-catching goalie to play a game for the Rangers since Glen Hanlon in 1985-86.
But that wasn’t such a big deal, according to the Rangers’ defensemen.
“It’s just a different hand,’’ said Ryan Lindgren, whose older brother, Charlie, is a lefty goalie for the Washington Capitals. “A lot of goalies like to ring [the puck] up the wall, so obviously, [Domingue] likes to go on his forehand side. The calls are a little different, too.
“I remember early, Jonesy [defenseman Zac Jones, who played with Domingue last season for AHL Hartford] was saying he’s very active with the puck, too. So that’s something you just want to be aware of. But besides that, there’s not much difference.’’
Knoblauch hired by Oilers
Hartford coach Kris Knoblauch left the organization to take over as head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, who fired coach Jay Woodcroft on Sunday.
Knoblauch was in his fifth season with Hartford, having been hired in the summer of 2019. Before joining the Rangers’ organization, he served as an assistant with the Flyers. Before that, he coached major junior hockey in Canada, including five seasons with the Erie Otters of the OHL, where he coached Oilers star Connor McDavid.
Knoblauch twice came up to coach the Rangers for a short stint in place of former coaches David Quinn (2021) and Gerard Gallant (2022), both of whom had bouts with COVID-19.
Knoblauch had a 119-90-18-14 record in 241 games with Hartford. The Rangers named Hartford assistant Steve Smith interim coach of the Wolf Pack.
Blue notes
Shesterkin participated in the morning skate . . . Mika Zibanejad played in his 500th game with the Rangers on Sunday. He played 281 with Ottawa.
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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