{"id":452988,"date":"2025-12-17T10:16:22","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T10:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/452988\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T10:16:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T10:16:22","slug":"igor-shesterkins-rangers-frustration-boiled-over-into-stick-smashing-meltdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/452988\/","title":{"rendered":"Igor Shesterkin’s Rangers frustration boiled over into stick-smashing meltdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

MSG broadcast cameras caught Igor Shesterkin obliterating his stick on his way down the tunnel after the Rangers lost to the Ducks<\/a> Monday night at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

The highest-paid goalie in the NHL had just been hung out to dry by his teammates in the final seconds of a game that counted as the 10th time he was given one goal or fewer of score support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt really good until the last 20 seconds,\u201d said Matt Rempe, who was on the ice for Pavel Mintyukov\u2019s goal and smacked the puck against the boards in frustration after the fact.<\/p>\n

Anaheim had already scored on an empty net to cushion their lead.<\/p>\n

The goal from Mintyukov with 2.9 seconds left on the clock was only possible because the Rangers stopped playing.<\/p>\n

Despite the Blueshirts\u2019 struggles to score in front of Shesterkin this season, the star Russian netminder\u2019s .908 save percentage is tied \u2014 with Minnesota\u2019s Filip Gustavsson and Boston\u2019s Jeremy Swayman \u2014 for the sixth-highest amongst goalies who have made at least 20 starts this season.<\/p>\n

Shesterkin, of course, is in the first season of an eight-year, $92 million deal<\/a> that carries a cap hit of $11.5 million per year.<\/p>\n

The Rangers extended the 29-year-old just over a year ago on Dec. 6, which essentially came in tandem with the club\u2019s trading of their then-captain, Jacob Trouba, to Anaheim.<\/p>\n

\"IgorIgor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers leaves the ice following a loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Getty Images<\/p>\n

While the Rangers defense has been much improved under head coach Mike Sullivan, so far, Shesterkin has still kept his team in many games they probably had no business being in.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s to be expected of a goaltender whose career save percentage (.917) ranks second in the NHL since he entered the league in 2019-20. With a record-setting average annual value<\/a> attached to their No. 1 goalie, however, the Rangers could use a few more stolen games from Shesterkin.<\/p>\n

Per Moneypuck.com, Shesterkin\u2019s goals saved above expected of 14.4 is the sixth-highest amongst goalies who have made at least 20 starts.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Shesterkin has appeared in 27 of the Rangers\u2019 35 games, which is approximately 77 percent of the season thus far. The workload has been influenced by Jonathan Quick\u2019s stint on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n

When Shesterkin appeared in back-to-back games on Nov. 28 and 29, it was only the sixth time in his career that he had done so.<\/p>\n

Even when the Canadiens scored three goals on four shots in the Rangers\u2019 eventual 5-4 overtime win this past weekend, Sullivan insisted that he never thought about pulling Shesterkin.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel like any of the goals scored were bad goals,\u201d Sullivan said that night. \u201cThey\u2019re a little bit fluky on how some of them went in. I mean, give Montreal credit, they\u2019ve got an opportunistic group. They can score. I never got the feeling behind the bench that, \u2018Geez, it just wasn\u2019t Shesty\u2019s night,\u2019 or, \u2018He didn\u2019t have it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On the second night of a back-to-back slate, Quick got the starting nod Tuesday against the Canucks. It counted as his eighth start of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MSG broadcast cameras caught Igor Shesterkin obliterating his stick on his way down the tunnel after the Rangers…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":452989,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[149242,1302,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-452988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-igor-shesterkin","9":"tag-new-york-rangers","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115734393561797920","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}