From the beginning of the New York Rangers season coach David Quinn has had tough decisions to make. One of those decisions is about the goaltending situation. Going into the season Coach Quinn had a few options: he could name a number one goalie, go with the hot goalie, or he could play them in a rotation. He has seemed to do a combination of the last two choices. Let’s dive in to see if this is the right choice.
The last two games
The Rangers were handed a tough loss on Sunday, in their second game against the Boston Bruins in three days. Coach Quinn decided to go with the hot goalie, Alexandar Georgiev, after he led the Rangers to a six to two win on Friday. The final score was a four to one loss, but when it comes to the goalies, there were complications.
There was a play in the first period where the Bruins’ Nick Ritchie fell on Georgiev’s head, causing him to have a cut on his face. Georgiev would stay in the game after being cleaned up and a few minutes later would give up the first goal of the game to Charlie Coyle. Right after giving the goal up Coach Quinn was forced to pull him from the game to undergo the NHL’s mandated concussion protocol. Igor Shesterkin would come into relief for the rest of the period, giving up one goal on two shots in just over 13 minutes.
By giving up that goal, Shesterkin was saddled with the loss, despite facing only two shots. This happened because he gave up the second goal of the game which proved to be the game winning goal. I’m sure Shesterkin wasn’t very pleased with that.
The Rangers looked to bounce back from Sunday’s loss with a win against the Buffalo Sabres. Coach Quinn went with Shesterkin in net, and it looked like it paid off. The Rangers won 3-2, Shesterkin got the win and he looked composed and focused, stopping 22 of 24 shots.
Despite the goalie craziness on Sunday and the good performance from Shesterkin on Tuesday, it is worth taking a look at the goalie rotation to see how well it is working.