Fansided

Shesterkin steals another one in 3-1 win over Seattle

By Steve Paulus |
Oct 31, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; The New York Rangers celebrate after defeating the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. New York defeated Seattle 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; The New York Rangers celebrate after defeating the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. New York defeated Seattle 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
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Oct 31, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; The New York Rangers celebrate after defeating the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. New York defeated Seattle 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; The New York Rangers celebrate after defeating the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. New York defeated Seattle 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports /

The New York Rangers are making this a habit. They are winning games that they deserved to lose.  It’s a bad habit to get into, but the positive is they are finding ways to win and that’s what counts.  Igor Shesterkin was lights out, yet again and the top players stepped up,  Adam Fox, Chris Kreider and Barclay Goodrow scored and the assists were by Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Goodrow.   Yes, the top players.

After a well played first period, the Rangers were sitting on a one-goal lead. Kreider scored his first goal off the rush on the off wing, beating Phillipp Grubauer.

The Kraken outshot the Blueshirts 9-8 and the Rangers had the edge on the faceoff dots 9-7.    Then the second period started and the hockey gods tilted the ice…a lot.

Look at these numbers.  Shots were 13-2 for the Kraken. Seattle won 15 of 18 faceoffs.  The Rangers had to block eight shots.  Seattle had 28 shot attempts to only nine for the Rangers.

The positives were the play of Shesterkin who was just outstanding and the fact that the Rangers had structure on defense, keeping the Kraken on the perimeter and limiting Seattle’s chances.  Of those 28 shots attempts, only five were high danger scoring chances.

The negative was the completely impotent Rangers offense with only two of those nine shot attempts getting through and none of them were of the high danger variety.

Of course, the Kraken eventually tied the game on a beautiful backhander by Jordan Eberle.  The Rangers were lucky to escape the second period tied 1-1.  As Coach Gallant said, “We just stopped playing, second period, one shot, we lost every faceoff, so…disappointing, frustrating but we found a way and Igor was the main reason.”

They came out and played better in the third period.  The fourth line in particular was able to get some sustained time in the offensive zone.   That’s when Artemi Panarin took over after another special save by Shesterkin.  Fox got the puck to Panarin who controlled it in the  Kraken’s zone and fed  Fox who scored on a wrist shot streaking in from the blue line.

Barclay Goodrow got the empty net goal on an extra effort from Mika Zibanejad and the game was over.

Gallant noted the improvement, saying  “They competed  hard in the third period, they played a different game.  We found a way to score a goal and we got the empty netter. We all know we gotta do better.”

Here’s a five minute video recap of the game.

It was nowhere near the complete effort they showed against Columbus, but it was another road win and the defensive structure was there along with sublime goaltending.  The Rangers are tied for second place in the Metropolitan Division and only two teams have more than the Blueshirts’ 13 points.

Oct 31, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Rangers left wing Chris Kreider (20) during pre game warmups prior to the game against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Rangers left wing Chris Kreider (20) during pre game warmups prior to the game against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports /

Notes on the game

  • The Rangers’ five road wins in the month of October is a franchise record.  The last time they had six wins in October was in 2016-17.   The last time they had 13 points in their first nine games was 2009-10.
  • The Rangers and the Calgary Flames are the only teams with five road wins this season.  No other team has more than three.
  • Last season, it took the Rangers 22 games to won five games on the road.   The franchise record for consecutive road wins is nine games, set in 2019-20.  In franchise history, this is the 15th time the Rangers have won as many as five road games in a row.
  • Chris Kreider now has seven goals on the season, second most in the NHL.  He still leads the league with five power play goals. Kreider has scored 31.8% of the team’s goals the most of any player in the NHL. The only player close is Alexander Ovechkin whose nine goals are 30% of Washington’s total.
  • Kreider was stymied on a breakaway midway through the first period.
  • The Rangers failed to score on two power plays though both were shortened by other penalties so they had the man advantage for only 2:21.
  • The penalty kill was very strong, going four for four.  They have now allowed only one power play goal the last 22 times shorthanded spanning seven games.  The PK is now at 83.3%, good for 13th best in the NHL.
  • An old Rangers bugaboo turned up in this game as they were called for two many men on the ice not once, but twice in this game.   The Blueshirts took seven bench minors last season, but they also killed all of them.  Gallant blamed the sloppy play in center ice. “They happen…we’re not happy with them. It’s what happened when you turn pucks over in the neutral zone.”
  • How important is Adam Fox to the Rangers?  He now has two goals and nine points in nine games.  He has had a point on over 40% of the Rangers’ goals this season. That’s the most of any defenseman in the NHL.
  • Igor Shesterkin is now third in the league with five wins. His save percentage of .947 is third best among netminders who have appeared in five games or more. His goals against average dropped to 1.70, also third best.
  • Jarred Tinordi played instead of Nils Lundkvist and he had a rocky game.  It was his first appearance since opening night and it showed.  Gallant wouldn’t say why Lundkvist was scratched except to say that they played the 20 players who gave them the best chance to win.
  • The Rangers blocked 21 shots, a season high.
  • The Rangers have now won seven in a row on the road in first games with expansion teams, with the last loss to the Flyers in 1967.  It’s also six in a row at home or away with the last loss to Anaheim in 1993.
Oct 31, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) blocks a goal shot with his chest during the first period against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (31) blocks a goal shot with his chest during the first period against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports /

My 3 Rangers stars

Igor Shesterkin

stole this game, a week after he stole a game in Toronto. The coach has called him their best player and this effort was just another example. He has faced over 30 shots in five of his seven starts this season.

  • Adam Fox had another special game and came through when he had to, scoring the game winner. He blocked four shots and played 21:10.
  • Ryan Lindgren was simply outstanding in this game and his play was one reason the Rangers held the Kraken to only one goal.  He led the team with four hits and was a physical presence the entire game, clearing the crease and winning board battles.

    • The official 3 stars

    1. Igor Shesterkin – Rangers
    2. Barclay Goodrow – Rangers
    3. Jordan Eberle – Kraken

    What’s next

    The Rangers’ road trip continues on Tuesday night in Vancouver. It’s a scheduling oddity that half of the Rangers first ten games are against Canadian teams and after this trip, they will have played seven of 12 games against the seven teams north of the border.  The only team missing are the Winnipeg Jets who don’t play the Rangers until March.

    Game time Tuesday night is 10pm and it will  be televised by the MSG Network and ESPN +.

    More. Lundkvist gets his first point. light

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