So it’s right back to Igor Shesterkin for Saturday afternoon’s game in Philadelphia, which is the best possible indication of the goalkeeper’s health in the wake of his 41-save night Thursday in an 8-3 win over the Flyers that followed a three-week race. absence due to a groin strain.
“I thought he looked great,” said acting coach Kris Knoblauch. “I thought he had made some really big saves in the first period. Not sure what the score was at the time, it was absolutely tight, the save he made [Claude] Giroux. “
The one, in which the netminder exploded over the crease to deny Giroux from point-blank range, came over 5:18 in the period and the Rangers up, 3-0. Compared to 6-0, where the score at 2:42 of the second period became, or 9-0, which was the final score among the fighters in the Garden on March 17th, 3-0 could be considered “tight”.
But Shesterkin was tested, and especially during the last two periods when the Blueshirts, to varying degrees, went on the hunt for easy points when it turned 6-0. Shesterkin gave up 33 shots in the last 40 minutes and 44 overall, the most the Rangers allowed this season.
“He played really well,” said Knoblauch. “I thought we had given up some really good scoring opportunities. At the end of the day, the chances of scoring were very equal. So that says a lot about how well Igor played. “
The Blueshirts will go back-to-back with a game in Washington on Sunday afternoon, so Keith Kinkaid or Alexandar Georgiev will probably be ordered against the Capitals.
With Phillip Di Giuseppe off the COVID-19 protocol list, the Rangers are carrying an additional attacker on the roster. The line-up was not yet determined when Knoblauch held his press conference Friday afternoon.
“We haven’t made up our minds yet,” said Knoblauch. ‘I have spoken [heac coach David Quinn]of course, and we’re still on a few things. Everyone is healthy, but we don’t want to commit to the line-up just yet. “
It’s unclear whether the Rangers feel they need some sort of extra responder in the lineup in case the Flyers completely ignore coach Alain Vigneault’s mandate, as they did the entire game off Thursday.
Sam Morin, who was apparently fined for pulling Brendan Lemieux off by the hair during a fight the Flyer initiated at 18.34 of the third period, attempted to start a fight on almost every shift he was on the ice.
Of course, the Rangers’ best answer to the foolishness of scoring on the power play is what the Blueshirts did on each of their first three chances until the game’s first 9:15 pm, the last one coming with Morin in the box for a while. of folly that came after the whistle.
The line-up isn’t set, but it doesn’t sound like Vitali Kravtsov will be called up from the taxi crew to make his NHL debut in this one.
“I’m not sure what the plan is for Kravvy when he comes [up], ‘Said Knoblauch. “I don’t think he will come right away, but things can change.”