In his sixth start in eight games this season, Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin turned aside all 31 shots he faced to blank the Blue Jackets for his third career shutout in a 4-0 victory Friday night.
“[The team] definitely played very well in front of me,” the 25-year-old said through a translator after the win, which improved the Rangers to 5-2-1. “Happy to have their support all game. They did a great job getting in lanes and helping out a lot. I’m very thankful for their effort tonight.”
Shesterkin saw the bulk of the game’s action in the first period, when the Rangers were a bit flat-footed. Shesterkin stifled Blue Jackets forward Gregory Hofmann at 6:05 on the way to a 12-save first period.
As the Madison Square Garden crowd chanted “I-GOR!” in the final seconds of the game, Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins raised his stick to salute Shesterkin from the other end of the ice.
Ryan Reaves, who suffered an undisclosed lower-body injury within the first minute of the Rangers’ loss to the Flames on Monday, was put on injured reserve Thursday night.
Head coach Gerard Gallant said Reaves will travel with the Rangers on their upcoming four-game road trip, which begins in Seattle on Sunday. Barring a setback, the Rangers are hopeful Reaves will be able to return to the lineup as soon as the seven-day stint on IR is over.
“He’s a big guy, he’s played well for us,” Gallant said. “He’s done a good job. It’s a part of the game and injuries happen all the time. So we’re just going to put somebody else in there and go play the game.
“But he’s an important player, he’s played well for us and done his job really good.”
Kaapo Kakko returned after a four-game stint on IR with an upper-body injury and Julien Gauthier was scratched despite receiving high praise from Gallant following the Rangers’ loss Monday, in which the big-bodied winger saw time on the top line.
“He made some mistakes the other night, but he did some things I like too,” Gallant said of Gauthier. “So it was a combination of both. And then sometimes we’re looking at [penalty kill] guys, a guy like [Greg McKegg] and those types, so there’s different situations that go into it.”
The start time for the Rangers’ game against the Oilers on Nov. 5 has been changed to 9:30 p.m.
The Rangers celebrated Essential Workers Night on Friday, calling for a collective “thank you” to those who have been on the front lines during the coronavirus pandemic.
Among those who were honored were first responders, healthcare personnel, nursing home attendants, MTA employees and sanitation workers. The Rangers wore custom warm-up jerseys, which were auctioned off after the win, and had a commemorative Essential Workers patch sewn on their practice jerseys.