Igor Shesterkin toyed with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the regular season. The New York Rangers ‘ goaltender even waved Sidney Crosby and company off the ice …
Igor Shesterkin toyed with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the regular season. The New York Rangers ‘ goaltender even waved Sidney Crosby and company off the ice following a shutout victory in early April. Fast forward a month and Shesterkin’s swagger is suddenly gone. So, seemingly, is the Vezina Trophy favorite’s confidence. Getting pulled twice in three days while the opposing crowd chants your name as puck after puck makes its way behind you into the net will do that. And now the only thing Shesterkin and the Rangers are threatening to wave goodbye to is their once-promising season. Crosby had a goal and three assists to become just the sixth player in NHL history to reach 200 career playoff points and the Penguins chased Shesterkin off the PPG Paints Arena ice once again in a dominant 7-2 victory on Monday night to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series. The Penguins, limited to just four goals in four games by Shesterkin in the regular season, can close out the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. “I think we know we have a lot of work left,” Crosby said. “When you’re in a game like this, you know you’re going to see the other team’s best the next time.” Maybe, though it wouldn’t take much for New York to improve over an effort in which they let the Penguins pump in five goals during the second period. “I don’t think you’re going to find a guy who is happy with that performance,” Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba said. “There’s not really a whole lot to say. We know we have to be better to a man.” Especially the man in net. Shesterkin dazzled during Games 1 and 2 in New York, making 118 combined saves and looking every bit the dominant force that suffocated the Penguins for much of the year.
