NEW YORK (AP) — Igor Shesterkin shot the puck down the ice toward the empty net like he has done so many times before. Then his view was blocked by players standing in the way.
“I didn’t see the puck land,” Shesterkin said, “so I didn’t know can I celebrate or not.”
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It landed perfectly and bounced into the net with 2:34 left on the clock. The crowd went crazy and his New York Rangers teammates mobbed him in celebration as Shesterkin became the 18th goaltender in NHL history to score a goal and first to do it for the Rangers.
“I feel like probably a dozen times I’ve been on the bench thinking, ’OK, this one goes in,' and he barely misses,” longest-tenured Rangers player Mika Zibanejad said after Shesterkin's goal capped off a 5-1 victory over Tampa Bay on Thursday night in the home opener at Madison Square Garden. “Just seeing this one go in, the way he played today and obviously the amount of chances that he’s had to do that and now finally get it, it was great.”
The first goal of his career is the 21st by an NHL goalie, counting the playoffs. After trying often over his first seven seasons, he thought he would celebrate differently, but getting screened made him hesitate.
“I was just a little bit shy and didn’t know what I can do,” Shesterkin said. “Maybe next time. I will keep trying to score one more time.”
Serenaded by chants of “Igor! Igor!” from fans delighted to see him finally cash in, Shesterkin got to lead the parade of players skating to the bench to fist-bump smiling teammates.
“It’s pretty nice,” Shesterkin said. “I never did it before, so it’s a lot of fun.”
Two games into the season, Shesterkin is tied with Zibanejad, Gabriel Perreault and newcomers Pavel Dorofeyev and Eeli Tolvanen for the team lead in goals.
“He’s not just a great goalie — he’s a great goal-scorer right now,” Dorofeyev said. “I have a serious competitor right now, so got to keep an eye on him.”
Shesterkin had the opportunity because Lightning coach Jon Cooper pulled Andrei Vasilevskiy off and on the ice during the third period for an extra attacker. The goal was the first by a goalie since friend and fellow Russian Ilya Sorokin of the Islanders got credit last season when he was the last to touch the puck before it went into Nashville's net.
“Yeah, this one counts,” said Shesterkin, who was also terrific at the other end, stopping 24 of 25 Lightning shots.
Hall of Fame Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist on social media called him “Igor the goal scorer” and said, “It was just a matter of time.”
Coach Mike Sullivan knew the shot had a chance to go in by the time it was at center ice. He's glad Shesterkin finally accomplished the feat.
“Obviously one of his strengths is his ability to handle the puck,” Sullivan said. “When those moments occur for a team, they are great moments. You can see the raw emotion on the players on the bench. Shesty, he’s such a great goalie. He makes so many timely saves for us. When he has a moment like that, I think the guys, they get pretty fired up about it. It was a lot of fun.”
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