Going into this season, the New York Rangers and their fans had no reason to worry about their All-Star goaltender Igor Shesterkin.
Shesterkin, 28, was coming off another strong season last year and despite losing in seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to the New Jersey Devils, he was outstanding in the postseason. Shesterkin was easily the team’s best player in the playoffs and had the rest of the team showed up around him, things could have turned out a lot differently.
Fast forward to January and things were not looking good regarding Shesterkin. He was struggling to keep the puck out of the net, was allowing a lot of soft goals, and was getting outplayed by the team’s backup goaltender Jonathan Quick.
Speaking of Quick, 38, the Blueshirts were lucky to have him while Shesterkin struggled. Quick more than got the job done by coming up with big saves, winning many hockey games, and putting up statistics that were up there with the best goaltenders in the league.
Now that we are into March, things are very different regarding Shesterkin. The truth of the matter is that things have been different since the start of February.
Shesterkin was the league’s third star for February. Here is what he did that month:
- Seven wins in seven starts
- Had a 1.72 goals-against average
- Posted a .953 save percentage
- Allowed one or fewer goals in five of his seven starts
- Made at least 30 saves five times
Not only did Shesterkin have a great February, but he has carried his strong play into March. Here is what he has done in his four starts this month:
- March 2nd vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs: Stopped 31 of 34 in a shootout loss.
- March 4th vs. the Florida Panthers: Stopped 26 of 29 shots in a loss.
- March 9th vs. the St. Louis Blues: 26-save shutout win.
- March 12th vs. the Carolina Hurricanes: 28-save shutout win.
Going into his team’s game against the Hurricanes on March 12th, he was 27-13-0-2 with a 2.60 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage, and two shutouts. Well, those numbers are going to look even better as his win total goes up to 28, his save percentage will go up with the 28 saves on 28 shots, his shutout total goes up to three, and his goals-against average will go down.
Those numbers are a far cry from where he was at the end of January. At that time, his goals-against average was over 3.00 and his save percentage was under .900, which are not very Shesterkin-like numbers.
It is very easy to see why Shesterkin is playing so well. For starters, he is playing with a ton of confidence.
He is challenging shooters, beating shooters on east-to-west opportunities, controlling his rebounds, and stopping second and third opportunities. When Shesterkin is on top of his game, these are things that one notices.
Secondly, he is not allowing any soft goals. He is stopping shots he should stop, not putting himself out of position on plays, and is doing a great job of controlling his movements between the pipes.
Lastly, it looks like he is having fun out there. He is smiling a lot more, is being funny with the media after games, and just looks like he is a lot more relaxed than he was two months ago.
If the Rangers continue to play the way they are right now and Shesterkin continues to get stronger, they are going to be an extremely tough team to play against come playoff time.
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