Colin Stephenson: Rangers' Igor Shesterkin shows just how essential he is

With 10 seconds left in overtime in Saturday’s game against the Penguins at Madison Square Garden, Evgeni Malkin stepped onto the ice, took a drop pass from Thomas Novak, walked around a dead tired Alexis Lafreniere and fired a point-blank shot at the Rangers’ goal.

Igor Shesterkin made a pad save. Erik Karlsson got the rebound, fed Malkin again for another point-blank shot, and Shesterkin made another huge save, with five seconds to go.

“I just tried to be focused on the puck,’’ Shesterkin said.

In the shootout, Pittsburgh’s Anthony Mantha lost the puck on his attempt, Shesterkin closed the pads on Egor Chinakov’s shot, Thomas Novak shot wide. Vincent Trocheck scored the only goal of the tiebreaker to give the Rangers a 3-2 victory.

“I think he's the best goalie in the game,’’ Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said of Shesterkin. “He has the ability to change the outcome of the game."

He did in this one. And afterward, one couldn’t help but think: If only Shesterkin hadn’t gotten hurt in that Jan. 5 game against Utah, maybe things would have turned out differently for the Rangers this season. Maybe they’d still be in the playoff race right now, and not in a “retool.’’

“Yeah, there's a lot of things I wish could have gone different, but I can't change it now, right?’’ Mika Zibanejad said when asked if he wished Shesterkin had never gotten hurt. “I don't think it helps you to regret things, or wish it was different. We have to deal with it. That's it. This is the situation that we're in, and we’ll try to do the best out of it.’’

Zibanejad, who’s been the Rangers’ most consistent player this season, scored the Blueshirts’ first goal of the game, on a second-period power play, to start their comeback after falling behind 2-0. Fourth-liner Taylor Raddysh tied it with his ninth goal of the season early in the third to force the overtime.

Shesterkin took care of the rest. He finished with 31 saves in regulation and overtime (including five in overtime), and the one in the shootout to end the Rangers’ five-game losing streak and deliver their first win since Jan. 26. Alas, with the win, the Rangers’ record only improved to 23-29-7. They’re still buried in last place in the Eastern Conference, well out of playoff contention with 23 games to go.

And GM Chris Drury, who’s already traded away Artemi Panarin and defenseman Carson Soucy, is bound to ship out more players before Friday’s trade deadline as the Rangers look to collect as many assets as they can to help set them up for the future. So the Rangers are staring at a second straight long summer.

Shesterkin, though, isn’t thinking about that, he said. He didn’t read the Jan. 16 message Drury announcing the retool to the fans, he said.

“I am focused on my game,’’ he said. “I just play a game at a time, and that's it. So honestly, I didn't read it letter, because I don't speak English.’’

For the last 23 games, he promised to keep giving the Rangers a chance to win as many of them as possible.

“We don't think about losing,’’ he said. “We always focus on a win, and we try our best to reach it.’’

Sullivan was asked if he’ll play Shesterkin as much as he normally would in a regular season, or if he’ll scale back his ice time given that he’s still coming off an injury, and the games don’t really mean that much. He said he’d work with Shesterkin to figure out how much to play the 30-year-old the rest of the way.

But Shesterkin said he’s healthy, and good to go. And the Rangers will certainly have a better chance of winning games with a healthy Shesterkin — who is 18-12-5, with a 2.45 goals-against average, and a .913 save percentage — playing his normal workload of games over the final month-and-a-half of the season.

Even if Drury trades away big pieces of the roster, like Trocheck, and maybe defenseman Braden Schneider, and who knows who else, having Shesterkin in the goal will give them a chance in every game they play.Unfortunately and realistically, it’s just too late to make a difference for this season.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.