The New York Rangers took a victory from the jaws of defeat Thursday night when they rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third period to defeat the Minnesota Wild in an overtime shootout. Pavel Buchnevich brought New York within 3-2 at 11:51 of the third period, and Mika Zibanejad tied the game 3-3 at 18:54. The highlight of the game may have come in the overtime shootout when Artemi Panarin used a flurry of dekes to score on Wild goaltender Alex Stalock, which needed to be reviewed to make sure that Panarin followed shootout rules in scoring.
New York Ranger’s top goaltender sits with an ankle injury
Igor Shesterkin missed his start tonight due to the ankle injury he suffered on Tuesday in Winnipeg. Coach David Quinn described Shesterkin’s situation as “day to day†meaning he could possibly start Friday night in Columbus. Recently, Quinn doubled down on his earlier statement that “keeping people sharp is no longer a high priority of ours,†and unequivocally declared Igor Shesterkin the current No. 1 goalie. The ankle injury kept him from starting tonight but it was unlikely that Shesterkin would have started on back-to-back nights. Quinn didn’t rule him out for the second leg of this road back-to-back Friday night in Columbus. The 24-year-old rookie, who made his NHL debut Jan. 7, is 6-1-0 with a 2.18 goals-against average and .941 save percentage in seven games.
New York Rangers Head Coach Quinn very pleased with the character of the team
After the game, an obviously very pleased Coach David Quinn was quite impressed by the effort of his team in coming back from two goals to earn a hard-fought victory. “We just never quit. We’ve been talking about the belief we have in each other, and it continues to grow throughout the season. It was never more evident than it was tonight.” Quinn also praised the maturity of his young team when he stated that: “Our team has come a long way. I think before you might have seen some panic and some pressing and some frustration. But I thought for the most part in the third period, we were calm on the bench.”