New York Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin suffered groin injury prior to Qualifying Round (Report)

New York Rangers rookie goalie Igor Shesterkin suffered a groin injury during the exhibition game against the New York Islanders. The injury became worse during a tam practice on July 31 as has been reported by Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

“The Post has learned Igor Shesterkin suffered a groin injury while playing the first half of the exhibition game against the Islanders on July 29 that flared up at the team’s July 31 practice. He was not healthy enough to play until Game 3.”

Shesterkin, 24-years old, was called up by the Blueshirts in January and had an outstanding start to his NHL career winning his debut game against the Colorado Avalanche en route to a 10-2 record.

Head coach David Quinn named him the number one goalie in February as he led the team on an improbable run to the playoffs prior to the NHL’s shutdown due to the Coronavirus in March.

With Shesterkin out, the Rangers started Henrik Lundqvist for both games 1 and 2 of the best of five series. Though Hank played well, the team lost both games by a combined score of 7-3. The Ranger’s power-play failure contributed to the lack of scoring.

Shesterkin was able to start and play his in his first NHL playoff game on Tuesday, but the lack of firepower once again by the Blueshirts took away a strong performance by the Russian goaltender. The Rangers headed back to New York on Wednesday where they now will prepare for the upcoming NHL Draft and wait for an official NHL announcement of when the 2020-2021 season will begin.