COLUMBUS, Ohio — Igor Shesterkin earned his 100th career win in his 159th game during the Rangers’ season-opening victory on Thursday.
No other netminder has recorded 100 wins as a Ranger — debuting with the club or at any point in their career — in fewer than 187 games up until this point.
Additionally, Shesterkin became just the seventh goalie in NHL history to record 100 career wins in fewer than 160 games, joining Bill Durnan, Michael Larocque, Frank Brimsek, Bob Froese, Chris Osgood and Tiny Thompson.
“That’s pretty amazing, that’s impressive,” head coach Peter Laviolette said of Shesterkin’s accomplishment after practice on Friday at the OhioHealth Ice Haus. “You can see it though. You can see the way he practices, the way he prepares himself, his professionalism. We showed some clips in there today, there was a save he made, player gets to the top of the circle and just let a wicked wrister. He was labeled to the far side.
“That’s a huge save. It’s a 1-0 game at that point, there’s not a lot of action coming at him, so mentally to stay in it like that. That was a big save for me inside the game. That’s his mental focus, his professionalism and his visibility.”
In road games since the beginning of the 2021-22 season, Shesterkin is tied for first in wins (33), ranked third in save percentage (.926) and tied for third in goals-against average (2.34).
Laviolette declined to divulge his starting goalie for the Saturday night matchup with the Blue Jackets, noting that he still had conversations to have with the rest of his coaching staff on the decision.
The Rangers practiced Friday with the same lineup they had deployed at Buffalo.
Forward Jimmy Vesey and defenseman Zac Jones, who were both scratched in the season opener, rotated in. Though Vesey saw some more time than usual on the right wing of the fourth line, while Tyler Pitlick, who occupied that spot on Thursday, took some reps on the extra D pair with Jones.
It had been the other way around in the days leading up to the first game of the season.
Laviolette was very forthcoming about how difficult a decision it was to scratch Vesey, so maybe the new head coach will give the 30-year-old a look on Saturday.
If the Rangers win on Saturday against the Blue Jackets, it will be the first time since the 2015-16 season and the 10th time in franchise history that the club wins their first two road games of the season.