Igor Shesterkin's absence reveals painful truth about Rangers' roster

Just when New York Rangers fans thought it couldn't get any worse, Wednesday night happened. Looking to end a four-game skid, the Rangers no-showed against the Ottawa Senators. The Senators took a commanding 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission. By the end of the second intermission, the Rangers trailed 6-1, with Jonathan Quick pulled after surrendering his sixth goal of the game. The Rangers had their "too little, too late" rally in the third period, losing 8-4.

The Rangers have now lost five games in a row. Ironically, this losing streak began after Igor Shesterkin suffered a leg injury in the team's game against the Utah Mammoth on Jan. 5. If this stretch of awful outings has shown anything, it's that Shesterkin really has carried this team, and masked their flaws.

Take a look at these stats. The Rangers have allowed 30 goals in five games and have a cumulative goals allowed average of 6.25. Oh, and Quick was pulled in two of those games.

Igor Shesterkin's absence shows just how bleak Rangers look without star goalie

Rangers fans are used to having a goaltender who can literally, and figuratively, put the team on his back. They experienced it with Henrik Lundqvist when he was the face of the franchise. The transition from Lundqvist to Shesterkin was seamless, as the young star showed he could carry the load and help keep the Rangers in games. All he needed was the offense and defense to do their part.

Through 34 starts this season, Shesterkin has a .913 save percentage, a 2.45 goals allowed average, and a 17-12-4 record.

But without Shesterkin in the crease, the Rangers' issues are under the spotlight.

While Quick has shown to be one of the top backup goalies in the game, he simply can't fill the void left by Shesterkin. Yes, he's not getting the necessarily help defensively, which has only gotten worse with Adam Fox once again on the long term injured reserve. But he hasn't done himself any favors, either. In this five game losing streak, Quick gave up 22 goals on 81 shots faced, giving him a ghastly save percentage of .786 and a goals allowed average of 4.40. The two games in which he was pulled, against the Senators and Boston Bruins, Quick gave up six goals in each.

Then, there's the lack of scoring. In this stretch, the Rangers had 129 shots on goal. Only 12 of those shots went into the back of the net. In fact, their best scoring performance was, ironically, in the 8-4 loss. Four goals on 22 shots.

The Rangers are hoping they can weather out the storm and eventually wake up and turn things around. They have nine games left until the Olympic break, which is going to determine general manager Chris Drury's trade deadline strategy, but they haven't shown they are capable of doing so. Let's not forget that this is a roster that Drury put together, and he's feeling the wrath of frustrated Rangers fans that pay a pretty penny to buy a ticket at Madison Square Garden.

The 2026 Winter Classic felt like a month ago. That game showed promise. Since then, the Rangers fell off the proverbial cliff.