Rangers Recap: The wins keep coming, and they don’t stop coming

An outcome that’s been all too familiar in the Igor Shesterkin era: Another Rangers win, and Igor was a major reason why with 35 saves on 37 shots. The offense will be given their flowers though, as they put up 5 goals on 40 shots against Ilya Sorokin. With newly constructed forward lines as Peter Laviolette tries to find the balance, three of the new lines contributed to the scoring.

Artemi Panarin, with two goals last night, has truly flourished under Peter Laviolette. In the previous coaching regime, it was always noted how Panarin was putting up counting stats, but was not nearly the dominating force that he was signed to be. This season, Panarin has 18 points in the first 11 games and is simply taking over some games by himself. Panarin looks poised to repeat last year’s great statistical season, and that bodes well for the success of the Rangers.

Panarin is the known entity and elite star of the Rangers, but the bottom six is what’s making things open up for him. Not since the Cup Final fourth line of Moore-Boyle-Dorsett has a Rangers 4th line looked as good as it has. Jimmy Vesey slid right in and the fourth line didn’t see any negative impact. They are a threat to score almost every game, and did got one yesterday from Adam Edstrom.

The fourth line is out there making simple plays, starting most of their shifts in the defensive zone and pushing play to the offensive zone. They get rewarded every once in a while, with Edstrom’s greasy goal yesterday.

The forwards have been solid, but it’s been the blue line that needs work. The Rangers are still trying to find their defensive footing, hopefully limiting the quality and quantity that Shesterkin has seen to start the season. Ideally, Shesterkin faces 25-30 shots a game so he has plenty of gas in the tank come the playoffs. It’s coming, but it’s not quite there yet.

Backstopping now 116 saves over the last 3 games, Shesterkin once again played a game that proved he is worthy of the money. It’s not just about the number of saves, but the difficulty. Teams are racking up scoring chances lately, coincidentally lining up around the time Ryan Lindgren came back and Zac Jones started to sit regularly. But that’s a conversation for another day, and has more to do with Jones than Lindgren.

Igor is without a doubt the best goaltender in the NHL, and there really is a strong case to be made that he’s the Rangers’ MVP thus far, even with Panarin going full God mode. Goalies very rarely win the Hart Trophy anymore, but if you look at this early work by Shesterkin, and if he keeps this up, there’s no denying he should be a finalist. He has been that good to start the season.