Colin Stephenson: Rangers playing on thin ice without Igor Shesterkin in the net
Rangers goaltender James Reimer, seated, and goaltender Dylan Garand look on during a break in the action in the second period of an NHL game against the Los Angeles Kings at Madison Square Garden on Monday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
James Reimer, who signed with the Rangers on Sunday after a weeklong tryout with their Hartford farm team, started in goal for the Blueshirts against Artemi Panarin and the L.A. Kings Monday at Madison Square Garden.
And while that is awesome for Reimer, who is 38, and was out of work when the NHL season started last month, it didn’t feel like such a great thing for the Rangers, who, after Monday, have to navigate another 70 games this season without their No. 1 goalie and best player, Igor Shesterkin.
Reimer allowed two goals on the first two shots he saw as a Ranger — the first came on a breakaway by Taylor Ward — and was pulled after just one period in favor of Dylan Garand in the 6-3 loss to the Kings that was the Blueshirts’ third straight loss and ended their season-opening home winning streak at six games. Reimer allowed three goals on eight shots.
It was an ugly night in a post-Shesterkin world for the Rangers.
Garand had started the previous seven games, after Shesterkin was lost for the season to a lower-body injury suffered Oct. 9. And for the first five of those, the 24-year-old rookie looked just fine, going 3-1-1 behind a tight defense. But the last two games, things didn’t go as well. The defense in front of him wasn’t as good, and Garand couldn’t rescue the Rangers and steal a result for them that they didn’t deserve. They lost both games, and gave up a total of 12 goals in the process.
So, with Joonas Korpisalo — who was supposed to be insurance against an injury to Shesterkin — still out another couple weeks with a lower-body injury of his own, the Rangers signed Reimer and threw him into the lineup Monday, after one AHL game — a 35-save shutout win over the Providence Bruins on Friday. Reimer hadn’t even had a full practice with the team, just one optional skate on Sunday.
He clearly was not ready. Coach Mike Sullivan had to know he was taking a chance when he opted to start him, but he did because he believed Garand needed a night off. It didn’t work out.
“Let's just acknowledge we're in a difficult circumstance,” Sullivan said. “Our top two goalies are injured, so we're trying to find a way to shore this thing up as best we can… For ‘Reims’ to come in the way he has, in short order, and go into a game like this, it's not an easy challenge… Maybe Reims needs a little bit more preparation before we put him in that circumstance.
“I put him in a tough spot. That's on me.”
There had been brave talk in the Rangers’ locker room in the days after Shesterkin was injured. The team had been off to a strong start, a 4-1 record in the first five games, and was playing stellar defense, after years of constantly giving up too many odd-man rushes and Grade A chances against, and relying on Shesterkin to always bail them out.
If they could keep up the way they were playing, they said, it wouldn’t matter who was in goal.
But they couldn’t do that every night. Not indefinitely.
“The type of game we want to play is difficult,’’ defenseman Sean Durzi said before the game. “It's hard work, sacrifice, all the things that don't feel so good. And staying committed to that is something we’ve got to just continue to do. [But at times] you're going to get away from it. Every team does. But it's whoever kind of finds their game, and stays with it the most, that finds success in this league.”
If they had Shesterkin, the Rangers would at least have the comfort of knowing they had a goalie who could do superhuman things to keep them in games, even if they were outplayed, and their defense broke down, and they didn’t play well.
Without him, the best the Rangers can hope for is that whoever the goalie is — whether it is Garand, Reimer, Korpisalo, or someone else — plays well enough to allow them to at least get the result they deserve. Then, if they play solid defensively, and the goalie makes all the saves he’s expected to, maybe they can win enough games to hang in the playoff race for a while.
Right now, without Shesterkin, all that seems like a lot to ask.
Fox sets milestone
Defenseman Adam Fox, the Jericho native, played in his 500th NHL game and scored a power play goal in the second period.
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.
