For New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, the best way to break out of a frustrating stretch was to pitch a 30-save shutout against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
"Obviously, the last few games didn't go as planned, and I was really trying to get my grasp on the game," he told reporters via a translator after the Rangers' 3-0 victory. "But we'll keep moving forward from there. I'll work with the coaches, and we'll try to move on."
Heading into Thursday's contest, Shesterkin went 5-4-1 in his previous 10 appearances while logging a .902 save percentage and 2.88 goals above average. Both metrics were far below his overall season averages of .935 and 2.10, respectively. During that run, his save percentage dipped below .900 on five different occasions.
However, Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant wasn't fazed by the star netminder's dip in performance.
"People were worried about him. I wasn't. He played real well tonight, made some real key saves at key times," he said postgame.
Gallant added, "He's had a so-called 'tough stretch' a little bit lately - more the team for me than it was him. Tonight, he made three or four outstanding saves."
Teammate and fellow Russian Artemi Panarin has had a front-row seat to Shesterkin's greatness this season, but he joked that he wants to see even more from the Vezina Trophy contender.
"If he learned how to score as well, I think he'd really be there, but right now, we'll keep him at the salary he's got," Panarin said through a translator.
Shesterkin was quick to reply.
"(Panarin) promised that if I started scoring, he'd share a little bit of his contract," Shesterkin said.
The 26-year-old leads all NHL goaltenders with 36.88 goals saved above average and 34.87 goals saved above expected at all strengths this campaign, according to Evolving-Hockey.
The Rangers have 10 games left in the regular season for Shesterkin to cement his case as the league's top goalie.
Copyright © 2022 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.