Igor Shesterkin’s ‘Concerning’ Injury Brings Forth a Potential Daunting New Reality for Rangers

The New York Rangers’ 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Friday night was completely overshadowed by a scary lower-body injury suffered by Igor Shesterkin.

The injury occurred in the second period as Shesterkin went way out of his crease to challenge the puck carrier, Pierre-Luc Dubois. Upon sliding back into his crease, Shesterkin’s right skate made contact with the post, and he immediately collapsed to the ground, pounding the ice in pain.

The 30-year-old goaltender remained on the ice for a lengthy stretch of time before being helped to the bench by Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson, unable to put any weight on his right leg.

Shesterkin was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the contest, and while Mike Sullivan said after the Rangers’ loss that he had no update on the severity of Shesterkin’s injury, the way in which he exited the game brought a wave of concern throughout the entire team.

“It’s concerning,” Sullivan said of Shesterkin’s injury. “He’s an elite goaltender. I mean, you don't ever want to see anybody get hurt, but obviously, he's an important player for us.”

Through his first four starts of the season, Shesterkin was playing at an extremely high level, posting a .926 save percentage heading into Washington.

Shesterkin’s stellar goaltending helped propel the Rangers to a 4-1 start to the season, but that newfound momentum came to a screeching halt when the Blueshirts’ franchise star crumbled to the ice.

“It’s awful, he’s a pillar of this team,” J.T. Miller said. “It stinks. We don't even know what's going on, but to see him leave the game is a shock to all of us, a shock to all of us.”

In relief of Shesterkin, Dylan Garand stepped in and saved 11 of 12 shots as the rookie goaltender was thrust into a difficult situation.

Despite not knowing the severity of Shesterkin’s injury just yet, it’s hard not to speculate about the long-term ramifications that could possibly be on the horizon for the Rangers.

If Shesterkin were to miss time, the Rangers would find themselves in a difficult situation given their current goaltending depth.

Joonas Korpisalo was placed on injured reserve following the Rangers’ season opener due to a lower-body injury, and he had not resumed skating as of Thursday.

Meanwhile, Hartford Wolf Pack goaltender Spencer Martin is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, which means the Rangers may be forced to call up Callum Tung from the American Hockey League, who has no NHL experience under his belt.

Garand, who was placed on waivers by the Rangers before the season began, is slated to take on the Rangers’ starting goaltending role if Shesterkin misses time.

The Rangers’ impressive start to the season brought forward so much hope and excitement for a team desperately looking to turn the page after a frustrating two-year span.

Now, the Rangers are facing down the barrel of potentially missing Shesterkin for a long period of time, which would almost certainly set back any progress the organization was hoping to make.

“We're not going to let (Igor's injury) take the wind out of our sails,” Miller said.

The only thing left for Rangers fans to do at this point is wait to find out more about Shesterkin’s status and hope he is OK, or at least that the injury was not as bad as it looked.

“Definitely not a good feeling for anyone seeing anyone on your team go down, especially a guy like that who’s kind of the pillar on the back end,” Adam Fox said. “It sucks. Obviously, we’re hoping for the best for him.”