Maybe you interpreted the fighting this weekend at Yankee Stadium as a direct result of a racist comment by Josh Donaldson to Tim Anderson. Or maybe you believe that Donaldson was simply poking fun at Anderson by calling the Black player “Jackie,” which Donaldson said stemmed from the White Sox standout once telling Sports Illustrated … Read more
Mika Zibanejad gave a small shrug of his shoulder, then grinned. The Rangers center had just been asked about his production in Games 6 and 7 against the Penguins, in which he combined for seven points including the game-tying goal late in the series-deciding contest. “The pucks went in,” he said after the 4-3 win … Read more
Igor Shesterkin played like the Rangers’ heart — and the NHL’s Hart — over three straight comeback victories to help the Rangers advance to the second round of the playoffs. Shesterkin, the first-time Hart Trophy finalist for league MVP honors, delivered on that billing again Sunday night with 42 saves in the Rangers’ 4-3 overtime … Read more
PITTSBURGH — The Rangers have relied on goalie Igor Shesterkin all season long. Friday night, he even turned in an assist at a crucial moment of their 5-3 Game 6 victory over the Penguins. With the Rangers on a power play in the second period, Shesterkin skated without hesitation all the way to the bottom … Read more
Put Igor Shesterkin’s name next to Johnny Cueto’s in Pittsburgh sports lore. For the second game in a row, with a partisan Penguins crowd chanting his name in singsong fashion at PPG Paints Arena, Shesterkin was pulled — this time after 40 minutes on Monday. After a disastrous second period in which Shesterkin gave up … Read more
PITTSBURGH — The chants of, “Igor … Igor … Igor,” reverberated throughout the building before the puck had been dropped on Game 3. But this was not the Garden and Igor Shesterkin was hardly receiving a tribute from the crowd that packed the Penguins’ arena here on Saturday. Instead, the chant was delivered in a … Read more
Goaltending and special teams, all year, were the calling cards of this Rangers team. And on that basis, they should have walked away from Game 3 of their first-round series against the Penguins having taken home ice back instead of with a 7-4 loss. At five-on-five by just about any metric you pick, the Rangers … Read more
The closest comparison Igor Shesterkin had to what he experienced on Tuesday night came in 2019, when he started 10 playoff games for an SKA St. Petersburg team that made the KHL’s Western Conference Finals, getting as far as Game 7 against CSKA Moscow before losing. So, no disrespect intended to the KHL, but this … Read more
The Rangers are stacking shutouts in April. In their third straight game, the Rangers effectively kept their opponents off the scoreboard to emerge victorious with their third shutout of the month. This one came in the form of a 3-0 win over the Jets on Tuesday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,006 … Read more
The Magic Number for clinching a playoff berth has been sliced to two points, they hold a six-point edge for home-ice advantage in Round 1, and do you know what? That with 10 games to go in the regular season, the Rangers just might be as good as their 46-20-6 record says they are. Might … Read more
