Igor Shesterkin’s week started with a piece of franchise history and ended with a league honor to match.
After becoming the first goalie in New York Rangers history to score a goal, Shesterkin was named the NHL’s First Star for the week ending Oct. 4. He piled up 71 saves and added two points during the league’s opening week, enough to put him ahead of Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard and Vancouver forward Paul Cotter in the Three Stars voting.
Shesterkin’s first career NHL goal came Thursday in a 5-1 Rangers win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, the team’s first victory of the 2026-27 season. With Andrei Vasilevskiy pulled for an extra attacker, Shesterkin handled a long Lightning pass off the end boards and launched a high shot back toward the Tampa Bay end. The puck slipped inside the left post with 2:34 remaining in the third period, setting off Madison Square Garden and drawing fist bumps from his teammates on the bench.
“That was a top moment for me in my career for sure,” Rangers captain J.T. Miller said Thursday. “And it was the first time I’ve ever been a part of something like that.”
He had another chance to score Sunday against the Utah Mammoth, who pulled goalie Karel Vejmelka with 1:45 left and the Rangers clinging to a 2-1 lead. The crowd started chanting “shoot” once Shesterkin ventured out to play the puck in the trapezoid, but instead of firing at the empty net himself, he helped set up the clincher. Shesterkin moved the puck up the boards to Will Cuylle, who found Eeli Tolvanen for the empty-net goal in a 3-1 win.
“I thought he was gonna score again,” coach Mike Sullivan chuckled postgame.
Even with the goal and the assist grabbing headlines, Shesterkin’s work in net has been the real story. Through three games, he is 2-10 with a 1.67 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage, and his 71 saves rank second in the NHL. He allowed just one goal on 24 shots against Tampa Bay and then stopped 28 of 30 shots against Utah.
The Rangers have spent decades leaning on elite goaltending, from Mike Richter’s run from 1989 through 2003 to Henrik Lundqvist, the franchise’s all-time wins leader with 459 and a Hockey Hall of Famer. Shesterkin inherited that pressure and has handled it well.
The 30-year-old has topped The Athletic’s NHL goalie rankings for the third straight season, earned Vezina votes in four of six seasons since 2020 and won the award in 2022 after posting a 2.07 GAA and .935 save percentage in 53 games.
His ability to play the puck only adds to the package.
“I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a competitive advantage,” Sullivan said Monday at practice. “In today’s game, with how aggressive the forechecks are, when you have a goaltender that has the ability to play the puck like Shesty does, it’s a huge advantage for your team.”
That combination helps explain why the Rangers signed Shesterkin through 2032-33 on an eight-year, $92.48 million extension.
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