Shesterkin celebrates ‘unbelievable feelings’ with first goalie goal in Rangers history
Becomes 18th NHL goalie to be credited with goal in win against Lightning
By Dan Rosen
NHL.com Senior Writer
NEW YORK -- Igor Shesterkin watched the puck soar through the air as it came off his stick, a straight and high shot down the ice, the long wait for the New York Rangers goalie looking like it was about to an end.
Then he lost sight of the puck.
"I didn't see the puck land so I didn't know can I celebrate or not," Shesterkin said.
The roar of the crowd and his teammates skating toward him all with their arms out in celebration told him he could.
"Everyone started jumping on me," Shesterkin said. "Unbelievable feelings."
Shesterkin scored his first career goalie goal and the first goal by any Rangers goalie to cap a 5-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in New York's home opener at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
He also made 24 saves for New York's first win of the season.
"It was a long time in my head so I thought I would celebrate in a different way, but like I said I didn't see the puck go across the line and I was just a little bit shy and didn't know what I can do," Shesterkin said. "Maybe next time. I will keep trying to score one more time."
The historic goal went into the Lightning's empty net unassisted at 17:26 of the third period, making Shesterkin the 18th different goalie to score a goal in an NHL game. It's the 21st goalie goal in NHL history, 19th in the regular season.
Like every goal-scorer typically does, Shesterkin led the line down the Rangers bench, getting handshakes and fist-bumps along the way.
"It's pretty nice," he said. "I never did it before so it's a lot of fun."
So much fun that Shesterkin was cracking some jokes related to the goal after the game.
Asked if this was now his career highlight, Shesterkin said, "I don't know, I like to watch my fight."
He fought Jacob Markstrom, then with the New Jersey Devils, in a game at the Garden on March 31.
But scoring was better than fighting.
"Yeah, at least nobody is punching my face," Shesterkin said.
He also was asked to compare his goal to the one his good friend, New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin, was credited with last season. Sorokin was the last Islanders player to touch the puck before the Nashville Predators shot it into their own net.
Shesterkin joked then that Sorokin's goal really shouldn't count because he didn't put it in the net.
"This one counts," he said of his goal.
This one was a long time coming for Shesterkin, who has never been shy about his desire to score a goal, and will usually try to do it whenever the opportunity presents itself.
"I feel like probably a dozen times I've been on the bench thinking, 'OK, this one goes in,' and he barely misses," Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said.
Not this time.
The puck came out of the corner and right to Shesterkin, who wasted no time firing it down the ice.
Mike Sullivan said he thought the puck had a chance to go in "probably when it was at the peak." The Rangers' coach did not sound at all surprised that it did end up in the back of the net off of Shesterkin's stick.
"Obviously, one of his strengths is his ability to handle the puck," Sullivan said.
Shesterkin said he scored one goal prior in his playing career. He remembers it coming in a junior league game when he was 19 years old.
He's 30 now.
"When those moments occur for a team, they are great moments," Sullivan said. "You can see the raw emotion on the players. 'Shesty,' he's such a great goalie. He makes so many timely saves for us. When he has a moment like that, I think the guys, they get pretty fired up about it."
They also might start expecting it to happen again.
In fact, with Shesterkin promising that he won't stop trying, and the way he handles the puck, it might be floodgates open for him.
"He's not just a great goalie, he's a great goal-scorer right now," Rangers forward Pavel Dorofeyev said. "I have a serious competitor right now, so got to keep an eye on him."
