SAN JOSE, Calif. — Here was affirmation of the adage that it is not as important who is out of the lineup as who is in.
For though Alexis Lafreniere made it four in joining Barclay Goodrow, Ryan Reaves and Julien Gauthier on the COVID-restricted list after learning that he tested positive after participating in the morning skate, the Blueshirts got Igor Shesterkin back after his three-game stay under league protocol.
And Shesterkin, who took shots every day in New York but did not have a full practice for more than a week, was typically brilliant throughout in leading the Blueshirts to a 3-0 victory over the Sharks on Thursday night.
Practice in this case was no more of a factor to Shesterkin than it ever was to Allen Iverson. In this case, the Russian is the anti-Hank as it almost always took Henrik Lundqvist a game or two following an absence even of this length to get back to the top of his game.
“It didn’t matter. I got some shots every day,” Shesterkin said after his 37-save performance marked his third shutout of the season. “The first minute I was nervous, but when I stopped a couple of shots, the nerves went [away] and I just tried to help,”
Shesterkin elevated the Rangers, but this was not quite a one-man show. Chris Kreider had a bounce-back game following an empty one in Los Angeles on Monday and not only scored the first shorthanded goal of his career off a nifty royal road feed from Mika Zibanejad for a 1-0 lead at 10:25 of the first period but then recorded an empty-netter to seal it for the 200th goal of his 611-game career.
“Shorthanded,” Kreider said when asked which milestone he most appreciated. “I’ve been waiting for a while for a while…”
Braden Schneider not only looked for all the world like he belonged while making his NHL debut in front of his parents, the 20-year-old rifled one in from the slot off a Ryan Strome feed to give his team a 2-0 edge at 1:27 of the third period.
“I couldn’t have drawn it up any better myself,” said Schneider, who was stout in his own end through 14:49 of ice time generally partnered with a solid Patrik Nemeth. “The whole day, I was quite jittery, I couldn’t sit still, my nap wasn’t too great. I came to the rink it was the same thing with nerves.
“When I got on the ice for warmup it became a little more real and I don’t think it hit me until my first shift and then after that I felt like I settled in and got a little more confident as the game went on.”
This was not a perfect performance by any means, the Rangers still turned the puck over in dangerous areas way too much. They still had too much trouble traversing the neutral zone against an opponent in a 1-3-1 structure. Artemi Panarin was way, way off his game in his second contest back after missing four while stricken with COVID.
But the Blueshirts battled. They played a Black-and-Blueshirt game. Jacob Trouba was front and center when the going got unaccountably chippy. K’Andre Miller was strong — the operative word — after a skittery one on Monday. The Packmates — Morgan Barron between Tim Gettinger and Jonny Brodzinksi — were hard on the puck. Anthony Greco, subbing in for Lafreniere, was effective in his second career game and first since he got into one for Florida on Dec. 13, 2018.
Who were these guys? These were the Rangers.
“I mean at this point, you just have to roll with the punches,” said Kreider, who pumped six shots at netminder Adin Hill after being named to the all-star game. “It’s happening to most teams in the league and it’s almost a running joke at this point as who is coming out of the lineup for the next game.
“But the guys who have gone in have done a terrific job. I thought Greck was awesome, definitely injected some energy, got pucks north, went to the net and got pucks to the net. It’s been next man up for us.”
But the man of the hour was nevertheless Shesterkin while the 24-10-4 Blueshirts regained first place in the Metro. The goaltender was huge on a pair of Erik Karlsson blasts in the first period, and handled traffic and encroachment throughout the final 40 minutes while potential trade-deadline Ranger Tomas Hertl combined with Timo Meier attacked relentlessly.
But Shesterkin’s most significant stop came at 11:10 of the second period when he squared up, remained patient and made a chest on save Andrew Cogliano’s wrister off a 100-foot breakaway up the middle while protecting the 1-0 lead.
“I like breakaways,” Shesterkin said, smiling as if they were as easy as spinning a shutout after more than a week away from his team.
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