Igor Shesterkin has already given the Rangers something they’ve been chasing from him since he got to Broadway, and it’s not just the highlight that’s grabbing the headlines.
Yes, the empty-net goal against Tampa Bay on Thursday was the kind of moment that lights up the hockey world. But the bigger story is what Shesterkin did in the crease. He looked locked in, calm, and nearly impossible to beat while turning aside 29 shots in the Rangers’ 5-1 win at Madison Square Garden.
That followed a season opener in Boston where New York lost after giving up three goals in a wild 75-second stretch. That collapse wasn’t on Shesterkin. If anything, Thursday was the clearer picture of what this team can look like when the goaltending is elite and the rest of the lineup does its part.
Through two games, Shesterkin sits second in the NHL with a 2.61 GSAA and first with a 3.56 GSAx, according to Evolving-Hockey. It’s a tiny sample, sure, but it reinforces the same point: when Shesterkin is playing like the all-world goalie the Rangers believe he is, the whole operation looks a lot more dangerous.
And Thursday checked a lot of boxes beyond the netminder.
If the Rangers had handed out a preseason-to-regular-season checklist for what needs to go right, that game would have produced plenty of checkmarks. Vintage play from Shesterkin.
Strong work from Adam Fox. Production from Mika Zibanejad.
And enough help from the rest of the lineup to make the win feel complete.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored his first goal as a Ranger and added an assist on Zibanejad’s goal, which came when the power-play standout buried the rebound off Dorofeyev’s initial shot. Dorofeyev logged 13:44 as the Rangers spent a lot of the night killing penalties - seven of them, in fact.
Zibanejad also finished with an assist to go with his goal and played 18:53 in the victory.
There were other newcomers making noise, too. Eeli Tolvanen, signed late, scored his first goal in a Rangers sweater.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, who was his running mate in Seattle and spent 2025-26 in Tampa, won a puck battle that led to Dorofeyev’s goal and a 2-0 lead. Through 26 minutes at 5v5, Bjorkstrand owns a perfect GF%, a 58.4 CF%, and a 69.69 xGF%, per Evolving-Hockey.
Gabe Perreault also got on the board with his first goal of the season, finishing a beautiful deflection created by Adam Fox, who picked up two assists on the night. Fox’s helper came in a sequence that briefly included rookie Alberts Smits, and even though Smits didn’t record a point, his impact showed up in the buildup.
The Rangers still need the small sample caveat attached here. They’ve played only two games, and the schedule is about to test them again.
Tonight brings the second half of a back-to-back in Detroit at Little Caesars Arena, where the Rangers will face the Red Wings in their home opener. That’s never an easy spot, and it comes after an emotional night at The Garden. Detroit’s crowd should be loud, even with the Red Wings dealing with their own mess, including recently stripped captain Dylan Larkin being sidelined as they sort out his future and defenseman Simon Edvinsson in a contract dispute while skating in Sweden.
For New York, this is the next real test: can they carry over the habits from Thursday, match the energy, and keep getting contributions from up and down the lineup? If they do, that checklist keeps filling up fast.
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