{"id":481876,"date":"2025-12-31T07:26:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T07:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/481876\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T07:26:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T07:26:11","slug":"igor-shesterkin-still-elite-for-rangers-as-he-turns-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/481876\/","title":{"rendered":"Igor Shesterkin still &#8216;elite&#8217; for Rangers as he turns 30"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 Igor Shesterkin stole his team a point <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/12\/29\/sports\/rangers-cant-hold-on-versus-hurricanes-as-they-hit-disappointing-halfway-point\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">against the Hurricanes on Monday<\/a> behind a 33-save performance in Raleigh.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, the Rangers star goalie celebrated his 30th birthday in the first season of the record-breaking eight-year, $92 million deal he signed just over a year ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think age is a relative term,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan said after the Rangers practiced at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia on Tuesday. \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot involved with that. Some players age out sooner than others. I think lifestyle, training habits, work ethic, passion for what you do \u2014 all of those things play into it. I think Shesty is a guy that controls a lot of those things. You look at the game he played last night, it was an elite performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a 30-year-old goalie in this league, he\u2019s got a lot of experience. I think he\u2019s one of the elite goaltenders in the league, and he has the benefit of wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38059178\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/goaltender-igor-shesterkin-31-new-118006830.jpg\" alt=\"New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin defending the net.\" class=\"wp-image-38059178\"  \/>Igor Shesterkin looks to control the puck during the Rangers\u2019 overtime loss to the Hurricanes on Dec. 29, 2025. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Before Tuesday\u2019s slate of games, Shesterkin was one of just three goalies in the NHL with at least 30 starts.<\/p>\n<p>The Russian netminder got a run of seven straight games at the end of November into early December, when backup Jonathan Quick was on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n<p>Of the three goalies, which includes the Predators\u2019 Juuse Saros (.898) and the Flames\u2019 Dustin Wolf (.899), Shesterkin\u2019s .910 save percentage and goals-against average (2.51) is the best.<\/p>\n<p>Among the 29 goalies with at least 20 starts, Shesterkin\u2019s 817 total saves are also the most. <\/p>\n<p>The next goalie with the most saves, Saros, has more than 70 fewer (746).<\/p>\n<p>Adam Edstrom is set to miss his 15th consecutive game Wednesday against the Capitals.<\/p>\n<p>According to Sullivan, the big-bodied fourth-liner has yet to resume skating as he continues to rehab a lower-body injury. <\/p>\n<p>There is no update on a timeline for his return.<\/p>\n<p>Rookie Noah Laba was sporting a stitched and wrapped pinky finger at practice Tuesday after taking a slash from Alexander Nikishinin Raleigh on Monday. <\/p>\n<p>He was wearing a sort of protective guard as well.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\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<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The Rangers are scheduled to practice at loanDepot park in Miami, home of MLB\u2019s Miami Marlins, Thursday afternoon ahead of the Winter Classic against the Panthers on Friday. <\/p>\n<p>After practice, the team will get to have their families join them on the ice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Igor Shesterkin stole his team a point against the Hurricanes on Monday behind a 33-save performance&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":481877,"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-481876","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\/115812996510025948","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481876","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=481876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}