Chris Kreider was the hero for the Rangers in their clinching game six on Thursday night, recording a hat trick in nine minutes during the third period of the Blueshirts’ dramatic comeback win in Raleigh.
While Boomer gave Kreider his well-deserved flowers to begin Friday morning’s show, he made sure to add that the big hero of the night was between the pipes.
“More so than Kreider putting the team on his back, I’m telling you, Igor Shesterkin had his Henrik Lundqvist moment last night,” Boomer said. “It really was amazing.
“This is a guy who has faced 63 high-danger shots in 10 games this series…and he just showed up, showed up, and showed up.”
Shesterkin has been on top of his game all postseason, and Thursday night was no different. The Rangers netminder made several big stops in game six, including a fantastic blocker save in the third period when Andrei Svechnikov found himself all alone right in front of the net with 2:45 left in the game, hunting for the equalizer. The save kept the Rangers in front, and helped seal the victory to avoid a winner-take-all game seven.
“Even if he gave up three goals, he is saving their ass time and time again,” Boomer said. “We have high-skilled players who all showed up last night.”