Marcos Cannizzaro
nhl
Published June 2, 2024 at 3:34 am ET
SUNRISE, Fla. – No player wearing a Blueshirts sweater deserved a Game 7 at the Garden more than Igor Shesterkin.
No player was more deserving of a chance to advance to the Stanley Cup Final than the Rangers goaltender, who was excellent in the Eastern Conference final against the Panthers but never had enough wins to show for it.
But on Saturday night, after a disheartening 2-1 loss to the Panthers in Game 6 at Amerant Bank Arena, there will be no more chances for Shesterkin and the Rangers, who were eliminated two tantalizing victories away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final. .
Igor Shesterkin, who had 32 saves, stops a breakaway shot in the second period of the Rangers’ season-ending 2-1 loss to the Panthers. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
There will be no Game 7 at the Garden, and that means there will be no justice for Shesterkin, who deserved better.
“He’s been our best player since he put on a Rangers jersey,” Chris Kreider said. “We certainly wouldn’t be here without him.”
The 28-year-old Russian may not show much of his personality in public or say much. But if you take off his uniform and pads, you’ll undoubtedly find sores on Shesterkin’s back from carrying his teammates during the 16 games they played this postseason.
Without Shesterkin, the Rangers would have been playing golf on Saturday, not in Game 6 against the Panthers, two wins away from a cup final.
Shesterkin was the Rangers’ best playoff player… and second place in that race is a long way off.
“I thought Igor Shesterkin was off,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He was brilliant in this series.”
Igor Shesterkin congratulates Sergei Bobrovsky, his goalkeeper counterpart, after the Rangers’ season-ending Game 6 loss. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“It gives us the opportunity to win every game, and that was very noticeable in this series because of how close it has been,” Mika Zibanejad said.
“We wouldn’t be in this position without him and I don’t think anyone in this room thinks otherwise,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “The best player on our team in all series and throughout the year.”
Shesterkin stopped 32 of 34 Panthers shots Saturday night, but none of those saves mattered in the end because they weren’t enough to save the Rangers’ season.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Rangers in the NHL Playoffs
Late in the second period, Shesterkin made what, at the time, was the save of the night when Matthew Tkachuk slipped behind the Rangers defense on a breakaway, attempted to lift a backhand shot over his left pad and He was stopped with a save to the leg. That kept the score 1-0 Panthers with 4:30 left in the second period.
Then, two minutes into the third period, Shesterkin actually improved on the save he made on Tkachuk’s breakaway when he made an acrobatic stop on Vladimir Tarasenko on a rebound while he was lying on the ice.
That wouldn’t matter in the end either because the Panthers would take a 2-0 lead on a goal by Tarasenko with 10:52 left in the game off a center pass from Anton Lundell.
Igor Shesterkin makes one of his 32 saves during the Ranger’s season-ending Game 6 loss. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“We’re down 1-0 and he had to make a couple of really big saves to keep the game within one goal and allow us to keep pushing,” Rangers coach Peter Laviollette said. “Igor was extraordinary. He was fantastic throughout the series.”
The difference Shesterkin made was particularly stark in the series, during which he faced 200 shots in the six games (an average of 33.3 per game) and made 187 saves.
Too many Panthers players got behind Rangers defenders, leaving Shesterkin alone to clean up the mess. In the end, there were simply too many messes for him to clean up.
Igor Shesterkin skates away from the net after conceding a goal to Vladimir Tarasenko
during the third period of the Rangers’ season-ending loss. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
And now that this special season of promise is over, to hell with the Presidents’ Trophy.
Make no mistake, the Rangers’ offensive players have also had a big hand in letting their goaltender down, managing just 12 goals in the six-game series.
The three one-goal games the Rangers lost in this series would have been much more lopsided if not for Shesterkin’s brilliance when he was needed most.
“Igor was incredible,” Barclay Goodrow said. “He made stop after stop after stop. It’s amazing what he does for our team.”
From a broader perspective, the Rangers players around Shesterkin have been playing the role in an alarmingly similar pattern to those who played opposite Henrik Lundqvist before him in Lundqvist’s 15 fantastic seasons in goal for the Blueshirts.
Lundqvist’s No. 35 sweater hangs from the rafters of the Garden as a result of his brilliant career. But the one thing Lundqvist never got to do was drink from the Stanley Cup as a champion.
While Shesterkin certainly has many more years in good health left, it would be the same shame if his career ended like Lundqvist’s did, without a Stanley Cup to show for it.
As the final seconds bled into the hourglass, the home crowd mockingly chanted, “Igor, Igor, Igor,” in their joy.
But you couldn’t help but think there was a certain level of admiration for the way Shesterkin played in this series, even from opposing fans.
He was that good.
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