Shesterkin or Lundqvist? Let the debate begin

If Igor Shesterkin is healthy, who should start Game Two for the New York Rangers?

The three headed goalie monster is no more, it is now a choice between Igor Shesterkin or Henrik Lundqvist.  Of course, it all depends if Shesterkin is recovered from his undisclosed injury and is able to play on Monday.  If he is, New York Rangers Coach David Quinn has a tough decision to make.

The case for Lundqvist

Henrik Lundqvist didn’t lose game one, the Rangers did.  In fact, Lundqvist did his best to keep the Rangers in the game.  It would be tough to fault him on any of the three Carolina goals and he made some fabulous stops to keep the Rangers in the game.

This third period save on a wide open Jake Gardiner was the save of the game and vintage Lundqvist.

In the second period he made this stop on a Warren Foegele breakaway.

Lundqvist faced 37 shots of which 15 were high danger scoring chances.  He stopped 11 of 12 shots on the seven Carolina power plays.  His save percentage was .919.

Consider this, if the Rangers power play had connected on just one of their seven man advantages and if the Blueshirts had won this game, there would be no question as all about Monday’s starter.  It would be Lundqvist’s job to lose.

The case for Shesterkin

The fact that the Rangers lost the game makes it a more difficult decision for Quinn.  He had already designated Shesterkin as the starter for Game One so the decision had been made, the Russian is the Blueshirts’ number one netminder.  If so, if he is healthy, should the team’s top goalie be in net for the most important game of the season?

One major factor is emotion. Coming off a tough loss, will the insertion of Shesterkin provide an emotional lift to the team that will make them play better?  The only people who know the answer to that question are in the locker room, but if the team believes in Shesterkinis he the better choice?

There’s also the question of the Hurricanes and their collective psyche.  They came out loaded for bear, sick of hearing about the Rangers’ regular season domination and how Lundqvist “owns” them.  They were one of two teams to vote against the qualifying round format and everyone immediately assumed it was because they were “afraid” of the Rangers and Lundqvist.

They’ve slain the dragon and it would be a perfect time for the Rangers to change that equation by starting Shesterkin.

This isn’t the first time in his career that Shesterkin lost an opportunity to start in the playoffs. Last year, he was suspended for an illegal check  after starting the first three games for SKA St. Petersburg.  Magnus Hellberg took over in net for SKA and played superbly, holding onto the starting job until he lost the first game of the Finals.  At that point, Shesterkin was back in net for SKA  who lost the Finals to CSKA Moscow in seven games.

One of Shesterkin’s prime attributes is his ability to handle the puck. As the game went on, it was apparent that the Hurricanes had issues dealing with the Rangers’ speed and Shesterkin’s stickhandling ability will only help the Blueshirts.

Finally, no matter what the outcome of this series or these playoffs, this young Rangers team is gaining invaluable experience playing in the postseason for the first time.  If all things are equal, shouldn’t the team want Shesterkin to get a taste of NHL playoff hockey?  It will only make him better in the future and isn’t the future what the team should really be aiming for?

Who should it be?

The good news is that the Rangers have two (actually three) viable alternatives in goal.  Henirk Lundqvist did nothing to demonstrate that he cannot handle the starting assignment on Monday and in Shesterkin, they have their goalie of the future ready for prime time.

From this tweet on the MSG Network website, it looks like it will be Lundqvist.

The Rangers tweet from practice features Lundqvist in net. There’s no way of knowing who else is on the ice until the Quinn post practice Zoom call.

Here was the latest from the practice.

So, no decision until tomorrow.