The Rangers probably have asked the goaltending tandem of Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick to do too much over the last six weeks in which the club has been stuck in a morass of mediocrity.
At the same time, though, Shesterkin and Quick haven’t done enough. True enough, they have faced way too many Grade-A chances over the last six weeks in which the club had gone 8-9-1 prior to Sunday’s Garden match against the Caps, but it is equally true that the club’s goaltending has not been at Grade-A level when it has been required.
But it sure was on Sunday when Shesterkin was the Shesterkin the Rangers need in that net, making key saves in key moments in a grinding 2-1 victory that seemed closer than necessary. But after three straight losses in regulation and four straight altogether, nothing was more necessary than recording a victory of any shape or size.
And the fact that Shesterkin pulled them through this one in which the Blueshirts scored their two goals in the first period was more than a cherry on top. It was a manifestation of the bedrock on which the club rests. That, plainly speaking, is the belief in the team’s superiority in net behind the 2022 Vezina winner.
“I think it was important for Igor to give us a good game and I thought he did,” head coach Peter Laviolette said after the match in which Shesterkin faced 25 shots. “I thought we did a better job in front of him by tightening it up defensively.
“We needed to get a win tonight to put that behind us and start to build something.”
Shesterkin was not under siege. Ranger goaltenders had not been through that 8-9-1 streak in which the team’s save percentage was .881 opposed to their opponents’ .908. But Shesterkin had been allowing too many marginal goals, spraying too many rebounds into the slot while failing to make the type of high-danger saves that have set him apart.
In this one, though, Shesterkin slammed the door after T.J. Oshie scored at 11:03 of the second to bring the Caps within 2-1. Just over two minutes later, Shesterkin denied Oshie on a deflection in front. He made a spectacular left pad save through traffic on Max Pacioretty with 2:12 remaining in the period. He was acrobatic in the final seconds of the second period with his team scrambling in front.
In the third, there was another denial of Oshie with 8:27 remaining as the winger drove the net and then a final save on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s drive with six seconds remaining after a Washington right wing faceoff win.
“Every game it is the same responsibility for me,” Shesterkin said. “It is the same focus for me and it should not matter how the team plays in front of me. I have my job to do.”
Shesterkin had gone 1-3 in his previous four starts with a ghastly .828 save percentage and 4.06 GAA. Since Dec. 5, the netminder had gone 6-6 with an .883 save percentage and 3.26 GAA. Overall, he has had 10 starts with a save percentage of .880 or below.
This is just not good enough. Shesterkin knows it.
When he was asked how he felt about his recent play, the goaltender told The Post: “You can check my numbers and that will be the answer.”
The Rangers are a compromised team. They are more complete with Kaapo Kakko in the lineup, as he was for this one after missing 21 games with a left leg injury while reinstated for season-opening running mates Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. But the bottom-six still represents a black hole of offensive production.
Blake Wheeler has gone 11 straight without scoring, Nick Bonino has been held off the board for 22 straight. Barclay Goodrow hasn’t scored in his last 25 games, Jonny Brodzinski has gone 16 straight without a goal. Will Cuylle — who got only three shifts worth 2:36 in the third period after getting only two shifts the final 10:00 on Saturday — has gone eight straight without a goal while Jimmy Vesey has one goal in the last 13.
GM Chris Drury will have to address this in some manner ahead of the March 8 trade deadline. It seems impossible for him to do so, however, until there is clarity about Filip Chytil’s status. The cries from the peanut gallery for Drury to do something, to do anything, and do it now, are coming out of an alternate reality.
Shesterkin’s ordinary play is an alternate reality from which the Rangers must escape. They need Sunday’s Shesterkin in that net.