The New York Rangers were feeling really good after Thursday’s night dramatic win over Washington. That all came crashing down Saturday night in a horrible loss to the New Jersey Devils. The 6-4 loss means that the Rangers fail to gain ground in the Eastern Conference wild-card race. After Mika Zibanejad gave New York a 2-1 lead with his 39th goal of the season, the Rangers gave up four straight goals to trail by three at the end of the second period. Greg McKegg scored on a deflection in the third period to cut the lead to 5-3. After a New Jersey empty-net goal, Tony DeAngelo scored at 19:17 for the 6-4 final.
The New York Rangers make a huge mistake in starting Shesterkin
Igor Shesterkin made his first start after suffering an injury and was pulled after two periods in favor of Henrik Lundqvist. It was not like this was all Shesterkin’fault. Most of the Blueshirts did not play well in front of them. The bottom line was that either head coach David Quinn or someone up the line in the Rangers made a huge miscalculation. Shesterkin was not ready to play tonight. It is not like they did not have options, either in the preparation or the fact that they have two competent goalies on the roster. So, they could have waited a little longer and let Shesterkin get more practice time in before he started. The option was to send him down to Harford for a game or two to let him work out the rust. It is not like he is a 38 year veteran like Lundqvist. He is a young talented player who could have benefited from some real game action. Even one game before the Rangers head out on a little road trip goes a long way in reacclimating a young player back to action. But no, they started him and that, along with a lackluster team effort for most of the game, puts a huge dent in any possible playoff action, with road games against Dallas, Colorado, and Arizona on the docket for the next three games.