Igor Shesterkin was furious when he was removed from Tuesday night's game by the concussion spotter with just 40 seconds remaining in overtime, thinking his night had come to a forced conclusion with the game still tied at one apiece.
But after Alexander Georgiev held the fort to send the game into a shootout, there was the Rangers' No. 1 goalie, emerging from the tunnel to a thunderous applause.
That's when Shesterkin knew he had to do whatever it took to win the game.
"Honestly, I did lose control when I got sent off," Shesterkin said through a translator after New York's shootout victory. "You saw me hitting the boards with my stick. That won't happen again, I promise. But when I came out, the stands just gave me so much energy that I couldn't do anything else but save the game."
Shesterkin stopped seven of nine shots in a shootout marathon, adding to his ever-growing legend with another heroic performance to headline the Rangers' resurgent season.
"He was great," head coach Gerard Gallant said. "He had a great night…he was outstanding. Got the fans behind him, that's for sure.
"I've seen it from day one. I didn't know him until training camp. He likes to compete, he works hard in practice every day, and that's the character of the guy."
Gallant admitted he thought Shesterkin was done for the night, but his goaltender was suddenly back between the pipes for the shootout, and the MSG crowd loved every second of it as they realized Shesterkin was back after a surprisingly brief trip to the quiet room.
But his teammates weren't the least bit surprised to see him back.
"He's been lights out every game," K'Andre Miller said after netting the game-winner in the shootout. "I really haven't seen anything like it. He's dialed in every game, every day he comes into the rink prepared for practices and really puts himself in the best positions to give our team success. It makes it pretty easy for us."
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