Callum Tung is giving the Rangers one more reason to feel good about the goalie pipeline, and his latest AHL outing only sharpened that picture.
The 22-year-old netminder turned in his first shutout in the American Hockey League on Oct. 9, stopping 28 shots against the Providence Bruins and helping the Hartford Wolf Pack beat them 2-0 on the road. Tung was rewarded as the game’s first star, and the performance came a few days after he posted 38 saves on Oct. 4.
Through 21 total AHL games, Tung now carries a 3.55 goals-against average and a .872 save percentage.
For the Rangers, the timing matters. The organization is dealing with a major hit in net after starter Igor Shesterkin suffered a right-knee injury against the Washington Capitals on Oct.
- The injury happened at 8:20 of the second period when Shesterkin’s skate jammed into the goalpost as he scrambled back into the crease.
His right ankle bent awkwardly as he went down, and he needed help off the ice from teammates and a trainer after being unable to put any weight on the leg.
Shesterkin has been placed on standard LTIR rather than season-ending LTIR.
“It’s awful. He’s a pillar of this team.
It stinks,” Miller said per NHL.com. “Obviously, it’s [early].
We don’t even know what’s going on, but to see him leave the game is a shot to all of us, a shock to all of us. But at the same time, it means we got to step up to a man to try to get the job done.”
The Rangers’ goaltending depth chart now has Dylan Garand and Joonas Korpisalo on the roster, though Korpisalo is also on IR. On the Hartford side, Spencer Martin, Gabriel Carriere and Tung are the active options. In a corresponding move, the Rangers recalled Martin.
Garand is expected to be look at as the next/main man up between the pipes for the Rangers, while Korpisalo is projected to miss around four weeks with a lower-body injury.
If Tung keeps building on what he’s shown with Hartford, the injury picture up top could eventually open a door for him, too.
The Rangers are next at Madison Square Garden against the Tampa Bay Lightning, with puck drop set for 7:15 p.m. Eastern.
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