In Seattle, the New York Rangers were bailed out by their goalie, Igor Shesterkin on Sunday night.
Shesterkin made 31 saves in a 31- decision, the Rangers had no business taking.
Adam Fox scored the game-winner with less than eight minutes left in the third period.
“We can sing his praises for four days,” Fox said. “But I mean, he keeps us in every game and you never feel like you’re out, ever. It’s a tie game, and he keeps it that way. And obviously, we got one, so I can’t say enough good things.”
Well, sure, but someone has to say the bad things too. Start with two shots on goal in the middle frame.
“I thought we had a great first 10 minutes,” Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said. “That was a great road period in this building, and then the next 30 minutes was awful. And Igor stole the show.”
New York was outshot, 13-2, in the second period, and Shesterkin allowed only one goal in the stanza, to Jordan Eberle, for a 1-1 tie after 40 minutes.
Chris Kreider opened the scoring in the first period with a wrist shot from the right side that was off his stick and out out the net before the goal could be called.
New York’s special teams kept the Kraken scoreless in four power play chances.
“Overall, our possession was good, our opportunities were pretty good,” Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol said. “We weren’t able to finish one. Sometimes it’s hard to stay positive when you’re pushing to score as a power-play unit.”
Barclay Goodrow scored an empty-net goal with 99 seconds left for the 3-1 final.
“Our guys work their tails off,” Hakstol said. “We didn’t give up much coming at our net. We gave up a little bit on transition, this team is excellent in transition. They got us a couple of times. And on the other side, our group did a lot of good things with the puck. … Even if you look at the 6-on-5 opportunity, you know, that’s one we’d like a better fate on, but we didn’t get.”
Philipp Grubauer made 15 saves in the Kraken loss..
“You’re gonna win some games you should lose, you’re gonna lose some games you should win, and I think this one was one of them,” Grubauer said. “… We didn’t capitalize on our chances, but overall I think we did a pretty good job.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.