The New York Rangers played the game of their season on Saturday afternoon, defeating the rival Philadelphia Flyers in a shootout after coming back from a 4-2 deficit in the third period and killing two overtime penalties in the process. It was a game with absurd twists and turns, from the Rangers scoring first, to the Flyers boat racing the Rangers in the second period, to the Rangers finally coming back and winning. Normally I like to write “thoughts” columns about stretches of play, but Saturday’s Rangers win deserves a column.

1. Igor Shesterkin is a fascinating goalie to me. He’s the highest paid goalie in the world (deservedly so), but outside of his one Vezina win, he hasn’t finished better than 4th in the voting, failing to even garner a vote last season. Some would look at that as disappointing, but there’s been little to no heat around Shesterkin, even in a huge market like New York.

Games like Saturday’s Rangers win are why. Sure, Shesterkin gave up four goals. Yes, at least one of them was a goal he should have stopped. But when it came down to crunch time, Shesterkin was a beast.

No matter what accolades Shesterkin does or doesn’t get, he’s the goalie I’d want in the net in an important situation.

2. Artemi Panarin had his best game of the season in yesterday’s Rangers win, further proving just how much value he has on the trade market. There will almost certainly be no other players available who can take over a game. Personally, it doesn’t matter if the Rangers are third in the Metro, a wild card team, or out of the playoffs. For the good of this organization, they have to trade Panarin, and they have to get it right. The Rangers will sorely miss him, but this is not a championship team in its current state. That must be understood and accepted.

3. If the Rangers win yesterday doesn’t result in momentum to go on a run, we will know for certain that this isn’t a team that’s going anywhere. Saturday’s Rangers win is the exact type of win a good team uses as a spark. Which team will show up tonight in a very winnable game against a slow Nashville Predators team?

4. Brennan Othmann played less than five minutes in Saturday’s Rangers win. He is still goalless for his career. At this point, I just hope the Rangers can get a mid round pick for him. He is not an NHL player, and it’s quite honestly difficult to watch him out there. He’s not good. It’s disappointing to see, since the Rangers held onto him for at least one season too long, possibly more.

5. Gabe Perreault on the other hand quietly has three points in five games. Nothing groundbreaking, but worth noting for a young player on the Rangers. Here’s hoping he gets a legitimately extended run. He deserves it, and the Rangers desperately need some scoring that isn’t from their “big five” forwards.

6. I’m a big proponent for the Rangers using this season to get the youngsters some experience and retool for the future, but players like Shesterkin make it hard to do that. Owners want wins, GMs want wins, coaches and players want wins. As long as Shesterkin is playing, it’s hard to lose a lot of games. It will be fascinating to me to see how the Rangers handle the trade deadline. A legitimately bad team doesn’t come back and win like the Rangers win on Saturday. But a good team doesn’t lose games like they have this year either.

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