MIDAS CLUTCH
While his numbers have looked dull. Igor turns crunch time to gold
WHEN IT comes to goaltenders, crunch time is the only time. And through the first three weeks of the season, nobody has been better in crunch time for the Rangers than Igor Shesterkin.
That, though, is not exactly how the goaltender would appraise his own performance entering Thursday’s anticipated start at the Garden against Carolina with a 5-2 record, a 2.56 GAA and .905 save percentage that do not quite reflect his work.
“I keep trying to find my game,” Shesterkin told The Post following Wednesday’s practice. “I feel good but I’m not so happy with some goals I gave up. The team has helped me so much, so I am still working this out.
“I am just trying to be myself.” Maybe there has been the occasional wonky one to the short side. There might have been one in Winnipeg on Monday. There might have been one in Vancouver on Saturday plus a long one through layers of traffic. There may have been a surprising one in each of the first two home matches.
But with games on the line, Shesterkin has been resolute. He has made the difference just the way he did throughout his 2021-22 Vezina-winning season. If he is not playing with utmost confidence, that would be news to everyone else.
The Rangers were outplayed in overtime on Saturday in Vancouver, outshot 6-1 before winning the game with an odd-man strike. Two nights later, the Blueshirts were outplayed in OT in Winnipeg and were outshot 5-0 before Mika Zibanejad won it with 26 seconds to go.
That’s what we’re talking about instead of MoneyPuck having Shesterkin ranked 20th out of 33 goaltenders with at least five games in Goals Saved Above Expected per 60:00 at five-on-five. That’s what we’re citing instead of the NHL’s Edge database ranking Shesterkin below the 50th percentile in high-danger save percentage. That just seems wrong, doesn’t it?
“Of course, when there are big moments, I try to take some positivity away from that,” Shesterkin said. “I don’t really think about those moments in the game, I just try and save my net.
“But when you do something special in overtime and help your team stay in the game after you gave up what you know was a s---ty goal, that is what I need to do for my teammates because they got the one point for me already.
“If I am hard on myself the next day, I try to remember these [good] moments.”
Shesterkin is in the midst of his fifth season, one of nine current Rangers who participated in the August 2020 bubble tournament/round against Carolina. He is adapting to new head coach Peter Laviolette and his system just as are his teammates. The goaltender played his first year-plus for David Quinn before he was replaced behind the bench by Gerard Gallant.
“I never played 1-3-1 before, but my job is to stop the puck and always be ready for a shot,” said Shesterkin, who has been especially spry around the net and has, for the most part, eliminated second chances. “If my job can be easy because the guys are playing so well in front of me and let me see the puck, it helps everyone.”
The system is new, there is at least a modicum of structure, but goaltending coach Benoit Allaire remains in place. And though Laviolette said prior to the season that all goaltending decisions would go through him, Shesterkin still does most of his communicating with Allaire.
“My [routine] still is the same. The first four years I spoke to Benny more than almost anyone here,” said the Russian. “But I do talk with [Laviolette] sometimes. It’s nothing crazy. He’s always positive.
“There’s more communication with Benny, for sure. If I have a question, I ask him and he discusses with the coaches group.”
Laviolette makes it a point to check in with his players individually on a nearly daily basis, even if only for a stick tap or two on the ice. There is a person-to-person vibe about the burgeoning relationships between the coach and the athletes.
“I’ve grabbed him a couple of times on the ice or if I see him at the hotel or at the rink, I’ll grab him and spend a few minutes talking about different things; talk about TV shows, talk about the family or whatever,” Laviolette said. “You realize, too, that everybody’s a little bit different—not necessarily Igor, but inside of the team concept—so you have to figure out those conversations, where you want to go.
“I’ve had some with Igor, working on that relationship.”
The Rangers are going for their sixth straight victory Thursday. If Shesterkin’s numbers do not necessarily register as elite, his play with a point or two in the balance has been superior. He is the goaltender who gives his team the edge.
When it is crunch time, it is Shesterkin Time.