When Igor Shesterkin And Andrei Vasilevskiy Meet It's A Guaranteed Pitcher's Battle

Tampa's Andrei Vasilevskiy and Rangers Igor Shesterkina who are "creme de la creme" of the National Hockey League goalkeepers, meet tonight.

It's hockey's version of a Heavyweight Championship Bout except these guys are wearing pads.

Tampa Bay Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy and New York Rangers Igor Shesterkin are the "creme de la creme" of National Hockey League goalkeepers.

They meet tonight at Amalie Arena where the Rangers want to solidify their hold on first place while the Bolts are fighting to secure a playoff berth.

And as often happens in these collisions of talent the game will be decided by the better puckstopper.

Lifetime, Vas is far better than Iggy.

Andrei has been a world-beater with a couple of Stanley Cups to his name and -- at one time -- a mortgage on the Vezina Trophy which also has been won by the Rangers Shesty.

But today -- and this season -- Shesty not only is at the head of his class but is playing his best goal since his Vezina year. Check this out:

* Seven wins in seven starts; which is like batting a thousand.

* Superior goals against averages along with ideal save percentages.

* Outstanding wins against competitive teams such as Toronto, Florida, St. Louis and, on Tuesday night, a 1-0 win over challenging Carolina.

And this is a guy who was "written off" in the not-too-distant past.

The Maven doesn't recall if anyone has pinpointed the reason for Shesty's successful turnabout, but I say that it was Dr. Goalie who was most responsible.

When Igor was playing his worst of the season, he got hold of Benoit Allaire, the Rangers netminding guru. Since Dr. Goalie is not allowed to reveal his secret prescriptions, let me just say that he worked on Iggy's mind-over-what's-the-matter.

We all know that Shesterkin is in the prime of his career, in excellent health and normally doing A-1 work. So what could have been his problem? Surely not overwork.

Whether he was worried that Jonathan Quick would take his Number One job away from him is irrelevant at the moment. Dr. Goalie is at his best and that's all that matters. He made what Iggy is today; the best in the East.

Vasilevskiy is another story. He was less than his best last season and fell short of being a Vezina Finalist for the second consecutive year.

Let's not forget that Andrei won the Smythe Trophy in 2021 and could regain that form as soon as tonight.

Then again Iggy might be in Smythe form this June, when you think about it.