The New York Rangers will finish the season without Igor Shesterkin after the goaltender was ruled out with a lower-body injury sustained Friday in Washington. With Joonas Korpisalo already sidelined, Dylan Garand is suddenly at the center of New York’s crease picture.
Shesterkin was hurt at 8:20 of the second period of the Rangers’ 3-1 loss to the Capitals. Scrambling back toward his net, his right skate caught the goalpost and his leg folded awkwardly beneath him in the blue paint. Defensemen Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson helped the 30-year-old off the ice; Shesterkin could not put weight on the leg.
He had turned aside 13 of 14 shots before leaving. Garand took over and made 11 saves in relief.
After the horn
Rangers captain J.T. Miller called the sight of Shesterkin leaving the game “awful,” describing the goalie as a foundation piece for the club. Miller said the room must respond collectively, with particular responsibility falling on Garand.
Adam Fox echoed that concern after the loss, saying it was hard to watch a teammate go down, especially a goaltender who provides such a vital presence behind the team.
Before the injury, Shesterkin had posted a 3-1-0 record in five starts, carrying a 1.79 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. He also made history earlier this season, scoring his first NHL goal in a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 1. With Andrei Vasilevskiy pulled for an extra attacker, Shesterkin fired the puck into the empty net at 17:26 of the third period.
The Rangers are losing more than their No. 1 goalie. Shesterkin won the Vezina Trophy in 2021-22 and is in his eighth New York season after the club selected him 118th overall in the fourth round of the 2014 NHL Draft. He is in Year 2 of the eight-year, $92 million extension he signed Dec. 6, 2024. Its $11.5 million annual cap figure makes him the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history.
This is not his first extended lower-body absence. Shesterkin missed 13 games last season after being injured during the first period of a Jan. 5 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth at Madison Square Garden. He finished that campaign 25-19-6 with a 2.50 GAA, .912 save percentage and one shutout over 51 starts.
The crease shifts to Garand
Korpisalo is expected to miss four weeks with a lower-body injury, leaving Garand as the healthy NHL option after his recall from Hartford on Oct. 1. He had cleared waivers and was assigned to the American Hockey League club three days earlier.
The 24-year-old already supplied a sharp reminder of his upside, stopping 22 shots for his first NHL shutout in a 2-0 road win against the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 2. Across five NHL appearances, including four starts, Garand owns a 3-1-1 record, a 1.31 goals-against average, a .954 save percentage and one shutout.
New York enters Sunday’s home game against the Vancouver Canucks at 4-2-0. Faceoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET at Madison Square Garden, with MSG and SNP carrying the broadcast.
