Rangers say Igor Shesterkin injury minor; opportunity for Alexandar Georgiev
Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev combined for 28 saves and the New York Rangers defeated the visiting San Jose Sharks 1-0 on Friday night for their season-high fifth straight win.
Shesterkin started the game and was helped off the ice at 5:08 of the third period with an apparent right leg injury after making a save and diving on the rebound during a scrum in front of the net. He appeared unable to put weight on his right leg.
Shesterkin made 19 saves before he left. Georgiev came on to save all nine shots he faced to complete the combined shutout.
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Igor Shesterkin injured; “not as bad as it looked”
“They’re telling me it’s not as bad as it looked,” Gerard Gallant said after the game. “They told me not to worry.” Shesterkin will likely have an MRI with an update to follow this weekend.
“It’s not major yet,” Gallant continued. “The trainer just said don’t worry about it. That’s all he told me, minor lower-body (injury).”
Georgiev came into the game cold but he played calm, cool, and collected. He stopped all 8 shots that San Jose sent his way to combine for the shutout.
With Shesterkin and Georgiev teaming up for the shutout, it became just the second time in franchise history the Rangers have had a combined shutout. Henrik Lundqvist and Antti Raanta worked the feat against the Dallas Stars on December 15, 2016.
Rangers beat Sharks 1-0; opportunity for Georgiev
Ryan Strome scored the only goal of the game for New York. He has points in nine of his past 10 games.
Sharks goalie Adin Hill was stellar as well, stopping 26 of 27 shots. San Jose saw its three-game winning streak end. The Sharks have allowed just four goals in the first four games of a five-game road trip.
Strome gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 6:03 of the first period on a power play when he took a pass from Adam Fox, skated into the right circle and scored on a slap shot.
“I was just trying to shoot a little more,” Strome said. “I’ve got a tendency to try and look for passes too much. It’s nice to execute that one.”
New York was 1-for-3 on the power play. San Jose was 0-for-2.
Hill kept the Sharks’ deficit at 1-0 when he made a sparkling save on Dryden Hunt’s tip-in attempt at 6:45 of the third period. Hill then stopped Strome on a good opportunity at 15:49.
The Rangers were able to keep the puck in the Sharks’ end late in the period and San Jose was unable to get Hill off for the extra attacker until about 50 seconds remained.
Alexandar Georgiev was scheduled to play on Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks but depending on the extent of Igor’s injury could get an extended look.
This season Georgiev is 2-1-1 with a GAA of 3.89 and a SV% of .867. He’s noted that it hasn’t been easy with the lack of playing time to get things going, so now is his chance.
Adam Huska, who does not need to clear waivers is expected to be his backup.
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–Field Level Media contributed to this report.
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