Igor Shesterkin is perfect as New York Rangers top Blue Jackets 1-0 in shootout

NHL: Columbus Blue Jackets at New York Rangers
Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images

Igor Shesterkin was flawless on Saturday night, and the New York Rangers needed him to be just that in a 1-0 shootout victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden.

Shesterkin (27 saves) and Columbus goaltender Daniil Tarasov (26) matched shutouts through 65 minutes. Tarasov excelled in overtime, twice stopping Mika Zibanejad on clean breakaways to get the game into the tiebreaker.

Vincent Trocheck scored in the second round for the Rangers, and Shesterkin closed out the victory by stopping Adam Fantilli and Kirill Marchenko, triggering cries of “Igor, Igor” from the full house at Madison Square Garden.

“He tried to score. I tried to stop him,” Shesterkin said of Marchenko, who came in slowly and threw multiple dekes but couldn’t get the puck past him.

The victory was the Rangers’ second in three days and extended their points streak to seven games (5-0-2). The shutout was Shesterkin’s second of the campaign and first since a 6-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on opening night.

“He’s played really well for us, and we need that,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “We’re in a position where we’ve got to win games, win points. He had to be sharp with his game tonight because we weren’t able to get the run support he needed to get out ahead.”

The Rangers (22-20-3) moved within three points of the Ottawa Senators, who hold the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets (22-17-7) lost for the first time in five shootouts this season. They saw their six-game winning streak end but have points in seven straight games. With 51 points, they hold the first wild-card spot.

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New York Rangers 1 – Columbus Blue Jackets 0 (SO)

Grade A chances were few and far between in a scoreless first period that saw the Blue Jackets outshoot the Rangers 15-4, including 6-0 in the final 5:16.

The Rangers needed 4:23 to get their first shot on goal. Columbus had the first good chance 17 seconds later, but Shesterkin got his pad all the way across to rob Cole Sillinger with his toe at the left post on a bang-bang play.

Chris Kreider nearly gave the Rangers the lead after Fantilli was called for slashing Reilly Smith at 11:06 — following a stretch that saw the teams play 6:40 without a whistle. Kreider tipped Adam Fox’s shot off the post, but Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski beat Artemi Panarin to the puck and got it out of danger.

Columbus kept Shesterkin busy for most of the latter part of the first period, forcing him to make three saves in a four-second span during a delayed penalty situation before Zibanejad was called for slashing at 17:31.

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The Rangers outshot Columbus 12-5 in the second period and had the better of play – including a 5-0 margin in high-danger chances at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick — but the goaltenders were again perfect. It was the first time since a 2-1 victory on Oct. 26 against the Anaheim Ducks that the Rangers played a scoreless tie through 40 minutes.

“The first period was a little bit too much,” Laviolette said. “We had some chances, but I thought they outdid us a little bit. But then we addressed some things in between periods and I thought we were much tighter in the second and third periods.”

The Rangers had the best scoring chance at 14:22 when Adam Fox deflected a shot by Smith, but Tarasov got a piece of the puck and kept it out. Tarasov also denied K’Andre Miller on a rebound chance earlier in the period after stopping a long shot by Zibanejad.

The most notable player on the score sheet was Rangers forward Will Cuylle, who was credited with six of his seven hits in the first 40 minutes — matching the total of the entire Blue Jackets team.

Cuylle nearly gave the Rangers the lead in the first 20 seconds of the third period after a rare Blue Jackets defensive breakdown left him alone in front. But Tarasov got his left pad on the second-year forward’s backhander and denied him again on the rebound.

“I thought, as the game moved on, we got more looks and more chances,” Laviolette said. “In overtime, we had chances. The third period we had chances.”

Zibanejad took his second penalty of the night, a holding the stick call at 10:36. But the penalty-killers limited Columbus to one shot and actually had better scoring chances than the Blue Jackets. Shesterkin preserved the scoreless tie with less than two minutes to play when he got to his left post just in time to deny Damon Severson.

The Rangers won’t have any time to enjoy the outcome of this game. They headed straight for the airport and a flight to Montreal for their third and final game of the season against the Canadiens on Sunday night. The Canadiens blew a 3-0 lead and lost 7-3 at home to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

John Kreiser covered his first Rangers game (against the California Golden Seals) in November 1975 and is still going ... More about John Kreiser
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