After perhaps his best game of the season, it was back on the bench for Igor Shesterkin on Saturday night when the Rangers aligned the penguins.
Instead of Shesterkin as a hot hand, coach David Quinn should call on Saturday Alexandar Georgiev turned when he revealed that he wanted to play every other game against the goalkeepers at least for a short time.
« Our goalkeeper, we have two really good ones, » said Quinn before the game on Saturday in the garden. “Obviously things have changed here since last year without Hank [Henrik Lundqvist] being here. I was just thinking for a moment, we’ll be with these guys every other day for a while and see how it goes, regardless of how they play. Just give them a little clearer picture and maybe a bit more comfort in terms of the schedule and who will be playing. I don’t know how long we’re going to do this, but that will be the approach in the short term. «
In the Rangers’ first seven games of the season, Shesterkin had four starts and Georgiev three, each starting once in a row. Long considered the heir to Lundqvist, Shesterkin was 1-2-1 with 2.73 goals against the average and a saving of 0.894 percent. He stopped 23 of 25 shots in the victory over the Sabers on Thursday. Georgiev was 1-2-0 before the start on Saturday with a GAA of 2.66 and a saving of 0.896 percent.
Since the shortened season only lasted 56 games, Quinn was asked how much time he could spend with the goalkeepers before leaning on one.
« It’s always nice to have one you can drive. This is the endgame, ”said Quinn. “But these are different circumstances for these two types. I think in the short term it gives us the opportunity to consolidate our goalkeeping situation with these guys every other day. “
The Rangers’ new power play groups should remain unchanged for a second game in a row on Saturday. Defenders Adam Fox and Tony DeAngelo ran alongside Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Pavel Buchnevich on the first unit. The new second unit of Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko and Ryan Strome only got a glimpse in Thursday’s win, but Quinn said that would change on Saturday.
« I think both units give you a bit of a different look, « Quinn said. « It’s a small sample size, but we just think we need to mess up both units. »
Defender Jack Johnson (Groin Strain) missed his second straight game and Brendan Smith continued to take his place alongside DeAngelo.
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