Did Igor Shesterkin just hint at what happened with Tony DeAngelo?

After standing tall to a tough Washington Capitals team, New York Rangers’ goaltender Igor Shesterkin appeared to poke fun at what ‘went down‘ last Saturday between Alexandar Georgiev and Tony DeAngelo.

Directly after the game, as the team headed off to the locker room, Shesterkin appeared to start a “mock altercation” with Artemi Panarin.

https://twitter.com/dcblanda/status/1357519911820677123?s=20

Considering what just happened between Georgiev and DeAngelo, it’s far too coincidental. Shesterkin didn’t just come up with the idea to “play fight.” What’s great about this is that Shesterkin and the rest of the team are ready to laugh about this, but more on that later.

It’s been a rocky road for the Rangers to start the season, but spirits seem to be up after that difficult press conference involving General Manager Jeff Gorton and President John Davidson on February 1st. There’s been a bit more off-ice media attention than usual and the Rangers have been looking to get back to the business at hand – hockey.

It appears that the New York Rangers have done just that.

It’s only been two games, but the Rangers have won two straight and that’s a step in the right direction. To CAP things off, after last night’s win, the Rangers are no longer last in the MassMutual East Division

Yes, that is the division’s actual name…

New York Rangers played a complete game against the Capitals

Before conspiracy theories are thrown around, it should be noted how well the team played last night against the Capitals. For the first time in a long time, the New York Rangers played a complete hockey game. For sixty-minutes straight, the team functioned as a complete unit. There have been glimpses of it throughout the season, but the team wasn’t able to sustain it for an entire game… until last night.

The quote from Ryan Strome above sums it all up beautifully and Kreider’s antics (below)  only prove how much fun the team is having at the moment. I

Last night, there wasn’t any dead weight. Libor Hajek and Anthony Bitetto looked right at home as the third defensive unit. Bitetto even scored his first goal since 2017.

Kaapo Kakko had his best game of the season while playing alongside the brilliance of Artemi Panarin and Strome (yes, Strome was brilliant last night). K’Andre Miller played over 22 minutes, his most as a Ranger, and was even tasked with shutting down the likes of Alex Ovechkin. Kevin Rooney continued to prove that he deserves to be here and Shesterkin played his most confident game to date. More on last night can be found here, but everything was working.

Each player made a valuable contribution to the win last night. The Rangers weren’t dependant on an unreal performance from Panarin or on Henrik Lundqvist’s heroics of old. Every player had a role to play and last night, each player fulfilled their duties.

The David Quinn system was working.

Another piece to the DeAngelo puzzle

The team was clearly enjoying themselves on the ice last night; their energy, their pace; it looked like they were having fun out there and that fun carried over to post-game as well. Yes, the interview with Kreider shaking the table, pretending to be a ghost was comedy gold, but Shesterkin’s “acting” was the icing on the cake.

At first glance, one might have missed it, but other publications, as well as hockey Twitter, took note.

Rick Carpiniello of The Athletic (subscription required) wrote earlier today,

"“I’m telling you, the kid has personality and a sense of humor, even if it doesn’t always shine through the language barrier.As Shesterkin was leaving the ice, he turned and momentarily pretended to be fighting with Artemi Panarin, with Georgiev a couple of feet away — a jovial, playful mockery of the Georgiev postgame altercation with Tony DeAngelo last Saturday, in roughly the same spot, the low point of the young season.” – Rick Carpiniello"

More fuel for the fire

It has been speculated that either Georgiev or DeAngelo headbutted the other. Rumors have been circulating and some of you have hinted as much here in the comment section. Shesterkin, though joking, appears to indicate that there may be some truth to the rumors. He also indicates that it was more than likely the former who initiated.

This hypothesis is only bolstered by this closeup of Georgiev.

Yes, he’s wearing a hat and it’s hard to tell if that’s a bruise or merely a shadow, but if that is in fact bruise, that would be one heck of an above-eye shiner.

If you recall, following the altercation, Georgiev was given a “maintenance” day. That discolorization above Georgiev’s eye is still pretty noticeable. One can only imagine what that looked like a week ago. One also has to wonder, if it was in the tunnel, directly after the game, was DeAngelo still wearing a helmet?

This is all Twitter detective work, which we all know to be the most reliable of all sources, but it seems that whatever transpired, the team has already found a way to laugh at it and move past it in a constructive manner.

Last night was fun for all Rangers involved; both fans and players. Plain and simple, the team looked good and they looked even better with those sleek Lady Liberty jerseys. This didn’t look like the same team that lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins less than a week ago. On the contrary, this seems to be the team that everyone was hoping would begin the season against the New York Islanders.

This looks like a team that could actually compete.

Saturday’s upcoming game against the New Jersey Devils was postponed, but let’s hope the Rangers can carry this momentum to Monday when they face the New York Islanders for the third time.

Enjoy your weekend everyone and be sure to share your own detective work in the comments below.