- Igor Shesterkin was helped off the ice with an apparent right leg injury against the Capitals
- Dylan Garand took over with the Rangers already missing Joonas Korpisalo
- Read below for the Shesterkin injury video and what we know so far
Igor Shesterkin had to be helped off the ice in Washington.
The Rangers goalie went down in the second period of Friday’s game against the Capitals and could not put any weight on his right leg as he left the ice.
Take a look at the Shesterkin injury video from SNY Rangers:
Washington was on the power play when it happened. NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti reported that Shesterkin appeared to jam his right skate into the post while scrambling back into his net at 8:20 of the period, and his leg bent awkwardly under him as he fell in the crease.
He stayed down while the training staff worked on him. Shesterkin then needed help getting off the ice and down the tunnel to the locker room.
Shesterkin stopped 13 of 14 shots before leaving. Dylan Garand came in to replace him.
The timing is rough for the Rangers. Backup Joonas Korpisalo is already week to week with a lower-body injury, so Garand is suddenly the one carrying the net. He was called up from Hartford on Oct. 1 and made 22 saves for his first NHL shutout two nights later, as we covered in our Garand shutout story. The 24-year-old entered Friday 3-0-1 with a 1.22 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage.
Shesterkin had been excellent to start the season. He was 3-1-0 with a 1.75 GAA and a .926 save percentage in four starts, and he scored the first goalie goal in Rangers history in a 5-1 win over the Lightning on Oct. 1.
The 30-year-old carries an $11.5 million cap hit as the NHL’s highest-paid goalie, and he won the Vezina Trophy in 2022. The game was tied 1-1 when he went down, and the Rangers had not announced anything on his status as of this writing.
