If Shesterkin remains elite, New York Rangers will be difficult to contain in playoffs

The New York Rangers continue to be one of the top clubs in the National Hockey League. Following their 5-2 win over the New York Islanders on Sunday, the Rangers improved to 45-19-4 with 94 points, first in the Metropolitan Division and just one point behind the Boston Bruins for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

Netminder Igor Shesterkin stopped 25 of 27 shots against the Islanders and now has a 29-14-2 record with a .912 SV% and 2.59 GAA. There might have been some early-season discussion on Jonathan Quick taking over the starting role, who in 23 appearances is 15-5-2 record with a .916 SV% and 2.46 GAA.

But with a month to go, there’s no doubt who’s No. 1 at Madison Square Garden. Since Feb. 9, Shesterkin is 10-2-1 with a .941 SV% and two shutouts in 13 appearances. Now the question is: can this team rely on Shesterkin to take them to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2014?

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen discuss the Rangers’ chances in the post-season and what Shesterkin means to their Stanley Cup hopes.

Tyler Yaremchuk: One team I wanted to talk about because their question mark can change them so much is the New York Rangers. Are you getting first-half Igor or second-half Igor? If Shesterkin is going to be the guy we’ve seen in the lats few weeks, then it’s really hard to look at this Rangers team and think that they can be beat?

Colby Cohen: There’s no reason to think he won’t. I know he didn’t have a good first-half of the season, but it’s been a number of weeks in a row where he’s been incredible. You can see the confidence that this team is playing with.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here.