Igor Shesterkin and Rangers defense ‘on one page right now’ with consecutive wins

Before missing four games with an upper-body injury, Igor Shesterkin was frequently under siege when the New York Rangers consistently struggled to defend in front of him. Those massive defensive woes were a key contributor to an ugly 4-15-0 slide that dropped the Rangers towards the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

In two games since returning from injured reserve, Shesterkin’s received far better support from his teammates and the results are positive with a pair of wins. The Rangers displayed a higher compete level and are playing smarter, especially defensively. As such, Shesterkin was not constantly besieged in a 3-2 overtime win against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday nor an impressive 2-1 nailbiter over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.

“We’re just all of us on one page right now,” Shesterkin said. “We just play our game, but we play against really good team tonight. So if you want to win against team like Vegas, we need to play our game.’’

Shesterkin made 21 saves against the Devils and highlighted his performance with a stop on a Dawson Mercer breakaway in the third period to keep the game tied. He made 29 saves Saturday, beaten only on a wraparound goal by Mark Stone during a Vegas power play in the second period. He finished the game with 12 saves in the third period, including four during a late power play to preserve a one-goal lead.

The 21 saves against New Jersey matched his second-fewest in any completed game this season. Shesterkin is 6-3-1 in 10 completed games when he made 30 saves or fewer this season.

“‘Shesty’ made big saves when he had to,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said postgame.

Shesterkin, who recently passed the fifth anniversary of his NHL debut, was 8-4-1 with a 2.80 goals-against average in his first 13 games when the Rangers started 12-4-1. He was 4-11-0 with an unsightly 3.40 GAA in his next 15 before a collision in the net during a 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Dec. 30 led to Shesterkin being sidelined four games.

Last season, Shesterkin slumped around midseason, when he was 4-5-1 with a 3.25 GAA in his final 10 starts before the All-Star break. After returning, Shesterkin was 17-5-1 over his final 23 appearances.

“It’s two wins,” Laviolette said. “But I do think that the guys, we’re playing a better brand of hockey right now. Like even — I’ve said this before, in some of the games we weren’t winning, were playing — we’re doing the right things to win games. And I think when you do that more consistently, your chances of being successful, you know, they go up.’’

Rangers displaying markedly improved defense in recent games

Though Shesterkin has a reputation as someone who can withstand 40-plus shots on goal, facing 30 or fewer in his past three completed games is a welcome sight.

The Rangers blocked 21 shots Saturday and avoided the kind of defensive mistakes that allowed the Dallas Stars to overcome a three-goal deficit and win in overtime Tuesday.  The Rangers also blocked at least 20 shots for the third time in five games, and it does not seem to be a coincidence they are 3-1-1 in that span.

The recent defensive effort is a vast difference from Dec. 23 when the Rangers blocked eight eight of New Jersey’s 57 shot attempts and allowed three power-play goals in an ugly 5-0 loss.

“As a team defensively, it seems like we’ve been doing that better the last couple of games,” said defenseman Ryan Lindgren, who has seven blocked shots in the past two games. “That’s the key to winning games. So it was a good one tonight for us.”

The win Saturday over the top team in the West was only the fifth time in 20 games (5-15-0) the Rangers won when scoring two goals or fewer. Three of those wins were in the opening 17 games before the significant dip in performance that the Rangers seem to be gradually emerging from.

Another big test lies directly ahead, though. The Rangers visit the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. The Avalanche are seventh in the League averaging 3.32 goals per game and in Nathan MacKinnon (68 points) have the top scorer in the NHL.