The New York Rangers could be in a tough spot after star goaltender Igor Shesterkin exited Friday night’s game with what appeared to be a lower-body injury and needed to be helped off the ice.
The Rangers have been off to a hot start this season and came into Friday night’s game against the Washington Capitals leading the Eastern Conference.
The 2021-22 Vezina Trophy winner came into the night with a 3-1 record on the year along with a solid .926 save percentage and 1.75 goals against average.
As if that wasn’t good enough, he also scored a goal back on Oct. 1.
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But in the second period on Friday night, with the game tied at 1-1, Shesterkin found himself way out of position during a net-mouth scramble. He slid across the crease to the far post, but appeared to jam his right leg awkwardly against the post.
Shesterkin was clearly in a lot of pain and needed to be helped off the ice by his teammates. It looked like he was unable to put weight on his right leg.
It was confirmed later in the game that he would not return.
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Dylan Garand entered the game in relief, but had only four NHL games on his resume.
If you’re a hockey fan, you know that losing Shesterkin for any period of time is a big problem for the Blueshirts.
If you’re not a hockey fan, just look at Rangers fans’ faces when Shesterkin went down.
The team will be hoping it’s not as bad as it looked, but it did start a discussion on social media: did the New York Knicks curse the rest of the city’s teams?
Because since the Knicks won an NBA title, injuries have befallen Yankees star Aaron Judge and Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart.
Now, they could be adding Shesterkin to that list of key players who went down with injury.
Of course, they’ll take it one step at a time, and while Garand played pretty well after coming into the game, Boone Jenner was able to sneak one past him late in the second, and that proved to be the game-winner.
