Heading into the Rangers’ Eastern Conference Final series with the Lightning, Igor Shesterkin said that Tampa goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy was the best netminder in the world.
Even after outdueling him in two straight games to take a 2-0 series lead, the Hart and Vezina Trophy finalist isn’t changing his mind.
“Currently, I don’t think that really matters,” Shesterkin said through a translator after making 29 stops in a game two win. “I still stand by my opinion that everything is as I said before. Andrei is still the best goalie in the world.”
In the eyes of many others, there might be a disagreement. Shesterkin was the Rangers’ MVP of the regular season, and after a rough beginning to his postseason, he has returned to elite form, while New York fired six shots past Vasilevskiy in a game on rout before once again matching or exceeding in one game the amount of goals Vasilevskiy allowed in all of the previous series against the Panthers.
New York has made Vasilevskiy look human through the first two games of this series, but Shesterkin is reminding everyone that it has indeed only been two games.
“You can’t forget that the series is to four wins,” Shesterkin said. “We just have to keep playing.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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