WASHINGTON — At first glance, and even on replay, it sure looked like Igor Shesterkin simply whiffed on John Carlson’s knuckle puck in the first period.
The New York Rangers star goalie sure thought so, calling it a “really strange shot.”
“It goes up and down. Sometimes that happens,” Shesterkin said, still perplexed after a 3-1 win in which he recovered to be the Rangers’ usual backbone to help them take a 3-0 series lead over the Washington Capitals on Friday night.
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But, alas, Mika Zibanejad raised his hand after the game to volunteer Carlson’s shot looked so funky because it actually clipped his stick.
Maybe it did. Or maybe Zibanejad was being a great teammate.
JOHN CARLSON WITH A DREAM START FOR THE CAPS AT HOME 🦅 pic.twitter.com/e4vxTyrZJB
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 26, 2024
Regardless, it doesn’t — and didn’t — matter. Nobody on the Rangers’ bench had any doubt Shesterkin would rebound, and as he did throughout the stellar post-All-Star Game portion of his season, he sure did during a 28-save effort.
Shesterkin answered every Caps push, especially in the third period when the Rangers got into prevent mode and were outshot 13-5, including 11-2 at one point.
The Rangers paraded to the penalty box three times in the first period and six times in the game, yet the Rangers were a perfect 6-for-6 on the PK thanks to eight saves by Shesterkin and Barclay Goodrow’s first-period game-winning short-handed goal.
“Shesty was spectacular again,” said Vincent Trocheck, who continued his phenomenal series by assisting on Goodrow’s goal and scoring on the power play.
Against 38 unblocked shot attempts, Shesterkin saved 2.59 goals above expected. It’s the second-best performance of any goalie in the playoffs so far after Jeremy Swayman’s 3.49 in Boston’s Game 1 win over the Maple Leafs.
On the penalty kill, as good as the Rangers were at pressuring and scoring short-handed, they were fueled by Shesterkin. Washington had 13 unblocked shots on the power play and Shesterkin saved 1.71 goals above expected.
Shesterkin has 2.88 goals saved above expected through three playoff games after a regular season in which he had 18.4 goals saved above expected in total, which ranked 10th in the league.
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“He’s been there for us all year and the previous years,” Zibanejad said. “We know what kind of goalie he is, but just to see him play the way he did tonight was huge for us, and especially in the moments when they have a pushback and they have their push. I think that’s something that we’ve been obviously extremely lucky with all year.”
After one of the worst months by any goalie in the league, allowing 8.82 goals above expected with an .863 save percentage in January, Shesterkin rebounded after the All-Star Game with a .929 save percentage and 17.1 goals saved above expected in 23 games. There were stretches since early February where the Rangers started allowing more rush chances against and their five-on-five numbers dipped, but Shesterkin was consistently the difference.
Remember, even though the Rangers blew a 2-0 series lead against New Jersey last spring, Shesterkin was fantastic in seven games with 9.79 goals saved above expected plus 22.6 in 20 playoff games from 2021-22.
He shines in the playoffs — plain and simple — even though he has been less successful on the road.
Shesterkin entered Friday’s game 4-8-1 all-time in 14 road appearances with a 2.88 goals-against average and .914 save percentage. In 2022, he was pulled in his first two road playoff games against the Penguins.
But he gave Washington no shot in Game 3.
In the first period, he read an Alex Ovechkin one-timer perfectly on the power play and made a robbery. He did the same to Tom Wilson at his doorstep in the third.
But nothing compared to his post-to-post split and slide to his right to rob Max Pacioretty with his right pad.
“I was lucky,” Shesterkin said. “I saw an empty right post and go to the right.”
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette went to give Shesterkin a tap around the game, but he couldn’t get it out of his mind that especially at five-on-five, Shesterkin didn’t face a lot of shot volume.
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“There wasn’t a lot of chances, but there were a couple of big chances,” Laviolette said. “The ones that go across the crease and they happen really quick — there was one on the power play I think with Tom Wilson in the third, in the second period, there was a backdoor play, he had to be really sharp and you could tell that he was on point.
“He saw everything that was happening and he got over there to make the play. It wasn’t volume, but there was a couple big ones in there.”
As Trocheck added, “We need him to be the backbone of this team, and he’s been doing it for years now.”
Shesterkin said it wasn’t “a good start for me.”
He wasn’t happy with the Carlson goal and wasn’t about to take any solace in Zibanejad’s assertion that the puck nicked his stick.
“But a couple more shots breed confidence, and so I just find my game,” he said. “I just forgot about that (Carlson goal) and focused on the next shot. We play really good, but we need to win one more game and we focus on the next one.”
Teams that take a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven playoff series have won it 98.1 percent of the time (202-4). The Rangers own an all-time series record of 5-0 when leading 3-0 in a best-of-seven series.
The Caps are in trouble, especially with Shesterkin showing no signs of cracking.
“We know exactly what we have to do out there, how they gonna play, we have looks, but we still can’t get the puck in,” said Ovechkin, who has no points and four shots in the series.
— Shayna Goldman contributed to this story. All data courtesy of Evolving Hockey.
(Top photo: Tom Brenner / Associated Press)
