Igor Shesterkin was carried off the ice at Capital One Arena on Friday night, unable to put weight on his right leg after it bent awkwardly beneath him during a scramble back into his crease. The Rangers' franchise goaltender did not return to the second period of New York's game against the Washington Capitals, leaving the team suddenly scrambling for answers in net.
According to NHL.com, Shesterkin's leg appeared to bend awkwardly under him at 8:20 of the second period while Washington was on the power play, and he was helped off the ice and to the locker room without putting any weight on it. The game was tied 1-1 at the time of the injury, per the New York Post, which first reported that Shesterkin slammed his right leg against the goal post before collapsing. ESPN reported that he caught his skate on the post as he slid back into the crease and collapsed into the net.
Shesterkin had stopped 13 of the 14 shots he faced before exiting, according to the NHL.com report. He wears number 31 for New York, and had entered Friday's matchup with a 3-1-0 record, a .926 save percentage, a 1.75 goals-against average and 4.1 goals saved above expected in four appearances this season, per Daily Faceoff.
Rookie Garand Thrust Into the Crease
Dylan Garand, a rookie, replaced Shesterkin in goal, the NHL.com report confirmed. Garand had been called up from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Oct. 1 after clearing waivers and being sent down on Sept. 28, the same report noted. He entered Friday's game with a 3-0-1 record, a 1.22 goals-against average, a .958 save percentage and one shutout in just four career NHL games.
The timing is brutal for New York's depth chart. The Rangers were already without backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who is week to week with a separate lower-body injury, according to the same NHL.com report. That left Garand as the only healthy option behind the bench once Shesterkin went down, according to New York Post reporter Mollie Walker, with SNY Rangers also reporting that Shesterkin was helped off the ice after the apparent injury.
A Painfully Familiar Pattern for Shesterkin
This is not the first time Shesterkin's health has derailed a Rangers season. He missed 13 games last season after sustaining a lower-body injury in a game against the Utah Mammoth on Jan. 5, per the NHL.com report. The season before that, he missed a month with a lower-body injury, a stretch that Yahoo Sports reported contributed to the Rangers falling short of the playoffs.
The stakes of any extended absence are high given what Shesterkin means to New York's net. He won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goalie in 2021-22, the NHL.com report noted, and Daily Faceoff has reported that he holds the highest save percentage in the postseason among active NHL netminders. No diagnosis, imaging results or recovery timeline had been made public as of Friday night.
