If you take a stroll through an old European city and observe the architecture, you will notice one commonly used material: brick. The people who built these cities understood that brick prevented the outside world from infiltrating their buildings. Brick walls are difficult to penetrate, durable, and reliable. Many have stood for over 100 years. Over his past 164 minutes and three seconds of play, Igor Shesterkin has blended in perfectly with his continent's most prominent building material. By not allowing a single goal over that time frame, he has truly been a brick wall.
In Tuesday night's 5-0 win over the Ottawa Senators, Shesterkin made 20 saves in what was a comfortable night. He did not face an exorbitant amount of high quality chances, but when called upon, the Russian rose to the occasion. He has now recorded back-to-back shutouts, with both coming against teams that are in the thick of the playoff race.
Since returning from a brief stint on injured reserve on Jan. 9, Shesterkin sports a 5-0-1 record. In those six games, he has allowed only nine goals. If that feat was not impressive enough, three of the contests required overtime to declare a winner.
Not only is he playing at an elite level in goal, but he is possesses an added fire that we do not often see. Midway through the third period in the victory over Ottawa, a scrum broke out after Senators captain Brady Tkachuk collided with Shesterkin.
After picking himself up off the ice, the Rangers goaltender joined in, throwing a combination of jabs towards Tkachuk that would have made Patrick Roy proud. While fans would likely prefer that their star goaltender not engage in hand-to-hand combat, this brief bout shows that Shesterkin is fully enaged in the game.
Igor Shesterkin enters the fray and goes after Brady Tkachuk after a scrum in front of the net pic.twitter.com/BfRtl09ztg
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) January 22, 2025
If the Rangers have aspirations of squeezing out a playoff berth, this is the Shesterkin they will need to see down the stretch. He won't always be perfect. After all, bricks develop cracks over time. However, the Rangers do not need him to be flawless. They need a man standing between the pipes who can set them back on course when called upon. Right now, Shesterkin is that man.