New York Rangers vs Colorado Avalanche: Igor Shesterkin a 5-3 winner in debut

The game

The game off to a quiet start. The Rangers actually won the opening faceoff so there was immediate progress.  The teams were even until a Colorado shift when the Rangers were guilty of running around in their own end.

J.T. Compher scored on a deflection of a puck that Samuel Girard just threw at the net and it was a helluva deflection.  Shesterkin was screened by the traffic in front and he didn’t have much of a chance.

Less than two minutes later Adam Fox overskated the puck and it was recovered by a wide open Nathan MacKinnon who broke in on Shesterkin.

MacKinnon went five hole and beat Shesterkin who was probably wondering what happened to defense in the NHL.

You have to give the Rangers credit as they struck right back with a power play goal by Chris Kreider.

It was a beautiful tip-in on a Tony DeAngelo pass as Kreider continues to build his trade value.  It brought the Rangers right back into the game and it was Mika Zibanejad who tied the score with just under four minutes left in the first period.

It was an incredibly risky pass by Tony DeAngelo to Zibanejad who was in the slot and it was almost deflected, but the Swede got to it and was able to beat Philipp Grubauer.

With just under four minutes left in the first period,  Ryan Lindgren absolutely leveled Joonas Donskoi with a hard check.

https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1214721485002203137

There was some doubt that it was a clean hit and the league will be sure to look at it and Donskoi never returned to the game. Nazem Kadri took exception to the hit and went after Lindgren who took the worst of the fisticuffs.

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1214724987115970561

Lindgren never returned and the team announced that he was out with an upper body injury.  The Rangers ended up outshooting the Avalanche 11-9 in the first period.

The second period got off to a promising start as the Rangers wasted two golden scoring opportunities.  Brett Howden beat Grubauer but his shot hit the crossbar.

Brady Skjei found himself wide open on a two-on-one with Mika Zibanejad , but looking at the wide open net instead of the puck, he whiffed on the shot.  Just as the “Skjei stinks” muttering was getting loud, he redeemed himself by firing a shot from the blueline that found net.

Skjei fired the one-timer on a feed from Adam Fox and Grubauer never saw it.  Artemi Panarin got the second assist, ending a two game scoring drought.

Three minutes later at 11:32, the Avalanche tied the score when the Rangers were guilty of chasing them in the defensive zone.

J.T. Compher scored his second goal when he was one of two Colorado players left alone in front of the Ranger net.  Shesterkin never had a chance on this one.

The comeback kids came right back two minutes later when Ryan Strome scored on a beautiful feed from Jesper Fast.

The play came off a Strome faceoff win that led to a Panarin shot from the blueline that Fast got to and fed Strome who had a wide open net.  The Rangers went into the locker room after two periods with a 4-3 lead.

The Rangers record going into the third period this season is 13-0-2 and they didn’t disappoint, though Shesterkin was called on to make some tough saves including this one on Pierre-Edouard Bellmare.

It was nail biting time until Artemi Panarin found the open net with 28 seconds left in the game.  He patiently set up the shot from his own blue line and there was no doubt it was going in as he fired it  150 feet into the middle of the net.

The Rangers ended with a well-deserved 5-3 win and Igor Shesterkin was the beneficiary of the good wishes from his teammates.  All in all, it was an impressive performance by the rookie netminder, especially after the bad start.  He showed a strong ability to track the puck and a good glove hand.

Shesterkin got the Broadway hat for his efforts.