Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin named top Russian goalie in NHL by friend, local rival
Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers and Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders are rivals on the ice but friends off it, dating to their days growing up and playing in Russia. Maybe that’s why when Sorokin was asked in a recent interview back home who was the better goaltender, he had a simple, one-word answer.
“Shesterkin.”
To be sure, Shesterkin has the better resume. He won the Vezina Trophy as the top NHL goalie in 2021-22 and led the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final in 2022 and 2024. He’s also entering the first season of an eight-year contract with an average annual value of $11.5 million, the highest for a goaltender in NHL history. Sorokin was an NHL Second-Team All-Star in 2022-23, when he was a Vezina finalist, and teamed with fellow Russian Semyon Varlamov to get the Islanders to Game 7 of the East Final in 2021.
When asked to compare some Russian goaltenders, Sorokin quickly took Varlamov ahead of Ilya Samsonov. He wasn’t so quick to answer when asked to choose between his teammate and Sergei Bobrovsky, who has led the Florida Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
“I can’t betray Varlamov. Varlamov,” he finally answered.
But when asked to compare Varlamov to Shesterkin, he replied, “I can do it here. Shesterkin,”
The final question was whether he or his buddy is the better goalie, and he replied “Shesterkin.”
The numbers are on Shesterkin’s side, though not by a lot. In the regular season, he is 162-88-22 with a 2.52 goals-against average, .917 save percentage and 21 shutouts. Sorokin, who came to the NHL a year after Shesterkin, is 125-89-36 with a 2.58 GAA, .917 save percentage and 22 shutouts.
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Shesterkin is 23-20 with a 2.41 GAA and .928 save percentage. Sorokin is 6-6 with a 2.83 GAA and a .921 save percentage. Neither has had a postseason shutout.
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Rangers rival finds way to tweak Igor Shesterkin with fun jab
One thing Sorokin did do before his old friend was join the list of goaltenders credited with a goal. It happened on March 1, after he made a save in the final 20 seconds against the Nashville Predators at UBS Arena.
The puck came to Nashville’s Steven Stamkos in the left corner, but Stamkos’ pass to the left point missed ex-Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei and slid down the ice into the empty net.
“I knew I’d do it before Igor,” Sorokin joked after the game.
During a recent interview, conducted in Russian, Sorokin said his buddy wasted little time chirping him.
“When they interviewed me, I said straight up that I’d do it before Igor,” Sorokin said. “And he texts me, ‘Congrats on the goal.’ Then he read the interview and said, ‘You’re going to have to answer for those words.’”
A lot of the chirping had to do with the fact that Sorokin didn’t actually shoot the puck into the net, with Shesterkin joking that it wasn’t a “real goal.”
The Islanders’ netminder didn’t mind.
“I totally agree, and I’m cool with it,” he said. “Of course it wasn’t a real shot. I didn’t even shoot it. Just a technical ‘own goal.’ But in hockey, we don’t have own goals, so I’m not stressing, it doesn’t bother me at all that he says it’s not a real goal.”
No Rangers goalie has ever been credited with a goal, although Hall of Famer Ed Giacomin, arguably the best puck-handler of his era, did become the first goalie to have two assists in a game on March 19, 1972, more than seven years before Billy Smith of the Islanders became the first NHL goalie to be credited with a goal. On Nov. 28, 1979, Smith, like Sorokin, was the last Islanders player to touch the puck before Colorado Rockies defenseman Rob Ramage missed connections on a pass from behind the Isles’ goal line and the puck slid back into Colorado’s net.
Shesterkin, who scored a goal in 2013 when he played junior hockey in Russia, has come within inches of doing it several times in the NHL and is considered one of the League’s best stick-handlers among goalies. He missed by a few feet wide left against Utah on Jan. 16.
That wasn’t his first near-miss. He barely missed wide left against the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 21, 2022, and again against the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 23, 2023.
“I was mad at myself,” Shesterkin said after the miss against the Panthers. “I thought I would get a chance — and scoring in Madison Square Garden, I think it’s the dream for everybody, not only for goalies.”
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