SUNRISE, Fla. — It’s pretty rare that the winning goaltender allows four goals and ends up being one of the heroes.
But then again, it’s pretty rare that a team survives a 21-4 scoring chance deficit over the final period and ends up winning the game.
That is just what the Rangers did in Sunday’s 5-4 overtime victory in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final over the Panthers — relying on Igor Shesterkin to bail them out for much of a third period in which they nearly succumbed to collapse.
Shesterkin, the only thing between the Rangers and an infamous loss, played his part perfectly, stopping 33 shots and operating as a wall during a late penalty kill in which the Panthers threw absolutely everything at the Rangers’ net.
For nearly 90 seconds, the puck did not leave the Rangers’ zone.
And the Blueshirts, with some help from their goaltender, who denied a pair of chances from Carter Verhaeghe, survived.
“That one was hectic for sure,” Ryan Lindgren said. “Obviously it hurts that it’s [Jacob Trouba] going to the box — he’s such a good penalty killer. But that one, they got chances. Shesty came up huge again. They had a lot of zone time. We were pretty gassed there at the end.”
It wasn’t the only time Shesterkin bailed out his team late in the game.
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It wasn’t until after the penalty kill that he made the save of the night, stoning Matthew Tkachuk from a mere 8 feet out when the Panthers’ superstar had the puck on his stick and time to shoot with 39 seconds left in regulation.
That save — and others like it — are the reason the Rangers have Igor Shesterkin.
That save is why he is their most valuable asset in these playoffs.
And by the way, in the duel of Russian netminders that makes up these conference finals, Shesterkin has far outplayed Sergei Bobrovsky, who let in five of the 23 shots he saw on Sunday and did not have to deal with nearly the same kind of extended pressure.
Given the way the analytics favor the Panthers in the series, it’s not at all a stretch to say Shesterkin is the biggest reason the Rangers hold a 2-1 advantage after three games.
“At the end of the day, you need the goalie to help out and he does it more than once or twice,” said Alex Wennberg, who made himself the star of the evening with the overtime winner. “It’s a good feeling to have those saves and it makes a difference.”
