Chichester: Rangers Must Be Cautious Not to Squander Another Legendary Goalie’s Prime
The Rangers are not done. They are not buried. They are still just one road win away from sending the Eastern Conference Final back to Madison Square Garden for a decisive game seven, where they would be one win away from a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
But much will have to change to make that a reality, starting with somebody, anybody, getting Igor Shesterkin some help as he continues his quest to carry this team to a place they haven’t been in 10 years. The Blueshirts netminder has been nothing short of spectacular all postseason. His play in the Eastern Conference Final has been downright heroic. Yet here the Rangers are, hopping a flight to Florida on the brink of elimination despite boasting the clear best goaltender in the playoffs, a likely Conn Smythe lock should New York’s run continue through the Cup Final.
The last time the Rangers were playing for the Stanley Cup, Henrik Lundqvist was in the midst of a prime that would eventually be wasted, diluted by a failure to surround him with consistent defense or stars at the forward positions. Despite being the clear best goalie of his generation, the Rangers could never do better than the likes of Marc Staal and Dan Girardi as defensemen and struggled to bring in 30-goal scorers to take pressure off of the Hall of Famer in net.
As Shesterkin continues to play out of this world, posting a .928 save percentage in the Eastern Conference Final and keeping the Rangers in every game despite the ice being tilted towards him, those in front of him that are supposed to be fellow stars have shrunk. Artemi Panarin has been effectively neutralized while suddenly becoming much more passive than he was in the regular season. Mika Zibanejad hasn’t been able to get anything going himself. On defense, Adam Fox, clearly limited due to injury, has offered little to no resistance against the Panthers attack. Captain Jacob Trouba hasn’t been much better. The only line of defense has been Shesterkin, somehow keeping the Rangers in every game despite a relentless Florida attack in seemingly every third period of this series.
Shesterkin won’t be able to play at this level forever. Who knows if he will be able to maintain it for the rest of this postseason, however long it lasts? Shesterkin is still just 28 years old, with theoretically multiple years left in his prime, but the Rangers need to start capitalizing on some of these playoff runs and finishing the job with a Stanley Cup, or else it will be another beloved franchise centerpiece whose career is sadly looked back on with a sense of what could have been, and none of it will be his doing.