For well over a decade, the New York Rangers trusted its crease to Swedish star Henrik Lundqvist.
King Henrik needs no introduction. Arguably the most outstanding goalie of the 2010s was a seventh-round pick in the 2000 NHL Draft and soon became the greatest goalie to suit up for “The Broadway Blueshirts.” His 459 career wins are the most in franchise history and sixth all-time and won the 2012 Vezina Trophy to boot.
There’s only one thing missing from his future Hall of Fame resume, that elusive Stanley Cup.
Together, they made it to the Eastern Conference final three times in four years, 2012, ’14 and ’15. The Rangers only advanced to the finals once during that span, losing to the Los Angeles Kings in 2014.
Now, the Rangers are back in the Eastern Conference final for the first time in seven years but boasting a new star: Igor Shesterkin. And, to a point, there are some similarities between them.
The two goalies both showed tremendous potential during their rookie campaigns. Winning at least half the games they started and have the two best save percentages amongst all rookie goaltenders in Rangers history. Lundqvist is ranked first with a .922 during the 2005-06 season, followed by Shesterkin’s .921 this year.
When Lundqvist eventually began to approach the end of his career, the Rangers spent the past few seasons splitting the starts in net between Shesterkin and Alexander Georgiev to see which goalie would take over. The Rangers ultimately passed the goalie torch on to Shesterkin, and he quickly harnessed and embraced the responsibilities that were once handled by “The King.”
Playing in his first full season in the NHL, Shesterkin started 52 games, winning 36 of them. He posted a .928 save percentage and a league-best 2.07 goals-against average with a minimum of 10 games played. It’s also the second-best single-season goals-against average amongst Rangers goaltenders among those with 50 or more starts in a season. The only goaltender with better numbers was Lundqvist during his 2011-12 Vezina winning campaign when he finished the season with a 1.97 GAA.
A decade later, Shesterkin is the favorite to win it as he looks to become the first Rangers goaltender to win the award since then.
Now, the Rangers are back in the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2015 and just like their last appearance seven years ago, New York has once again met the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Conference Finals, losing to the defending cup champs in Game 7 last time around.
That post-season, Lundqvist went on to win 11 of his 19 appearances with a 2.11 goals-against average and a save percentage of .928, which was second-best amongst goalies with at least 10 starts.
The Rangers once again have relied heavily on their goaltender. Igor has been excellent in his first playoffs, winning 9 of his 15 games played with a 2.64 GAA and a save percentage of .929.
Now it’s not every day that a goalie’s best game comes in a loss, but a franchise-record 79 saves in their 4-3 triple-overtime loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the first round has been the highlight of Shesterkins playoffs thus far.
On top of that, Shesterkin has also contributed on the offensive end, assisting on three goals in the playoffs thus far, setting a new Ranger franchise record for points by a goalie in a single post-season. There’s only one goaltender to score more points in a single post-season: Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, who had four points with the New Jersey Devils during the 2012 playoffs en route to the Stanley Cup finals.
Now let’s be honest, there will never be another King Henrik, and those skates are hard to fill. However, the screams of “I-GOR” heard from the Ranger faithful throughout this season seemed to bare the same tone as the “HEN-RIK” chants that once flooded Madison Square Garden. It’s almost leading you to believe that Igor is going to fill those pads nicely as he attempts to help New York re-write the history books, advance to the finals and help them win the Cup for the first time since 1994.
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