SUNRISE, Fla. — No player wearing a Blueshirts sweater deserved a Game 7 back at the Garden more than Igor Shesterkin.
No player deserved one more shot at advancing to the Stanley Cup Final more than the Rangers goaltender, who was superb in the Eastern Conference Final against the Panthers but never had enough Ws to show for it.
But on Saturday night, after a disheartening 2-1 loss to the Panthers in Game 6 at Amerant Bank Arena, there will be no more chances for Shesterkin and the Rangers, who were eliminated a tantalizing two wins short of advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.
There will be no Game 7 at the Garden, and that means no justice for Shesterkin, who deserved better.
“He’s been our best player ever since he put on a Rangers jersey,’’ Chris Kreider said. “We certainly wouldn’t be here without him.’’
The 28-year-old Russian might not show you much of his personality in public, nor does he say much. But, peel off his uniform and pads and you would undoubtedly find saddle sores on Shesterkin’s back from carrying his teammates for the 16 games they played this postseason.
Without Shesterkin, the Rangers would have been playing golf Saturday, not Game 6 against the Panthers, two wins away from a Cup Final.
Shesterkin was the Rangers’ best player of the postseason … and second place in that race is distant.
“I thought Igor Shesterkin was just lights out,’’ Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He was brilliant in this series.”
“He gives us a chance to win every game, and that was pretty noticeable in this series with how tight it’s been,’’ Mika Zibanejad said.
“We wouldn’t be in this position without him and I don’t think anybody in this room thinks otherwise,’’ Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “Best player on our team all series and the whole year.’’
Shesterkin stopped 32 of 34 Panthers shots Saturday night, but none of those saves mattered in the end because they weren’t enough to save the Rangers’ season.
Late in the second period, Shesterkin made what, at the time, was the save of the night when Matthew Tkachuk slipped behind the Rangers defense on a breakaway, tried to lift a backhand shot over his left pad and was stopped with a leg save. That kept the score 1-0 Panthers with 4:30 remaining in the second period.
Then, two minutes into the third period, Shesterkin actually bettered the save he made on the Tkachuk breakaway when he made an acrobatic stop on Vladimir Tarasenko on a rebound as he was sprawled spread-eagle on the ice.
That, too, would not matter in the end because the Panthers would take a 2-0 lead on a Tarasenko goal with 10:52 remaining in the game on a centering feed from Anton Lundell.
“We’re sitting there at 1-0 and he had to make a couple of really big saves to keep it a one-goal game and allow us to continue to push,’’ Rangers coach Peter Laviollette said. “Igor was outstanding. He was fantastic the entire series.’’
The difference Shesterkin made was particularly stark in the series, during which he faced 200 shots in the six games (an average of 33.3 per game) and made 187 saves.
Too many Panthers players got behind Rangers defenders, leaving Shesterkin alone to clean up the mess. In the end, there were simply too many messes for him to clean up.
during the third period of the Rangers’ season-ending loss. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
And now this special season of promise is over, Presidents’ Trophy be damned.
Make no mistake, the Rangers’ offensive players have had a significant hand in letting their goalie down, too, managing a mere 12 goals in the six-game series.
The three one-goal games the Rangers lost in this series would have been much more lopsided in the box score if not for Shesterkin’s brilliance in the moments he was needed most.
“Igor was unbelievable,’’ Barclay Goodrow said. “He made stop after stop after stop. It’s incredible what he does for our team.’’
Taking a bigger-picture view, the Rangers players around Shesterkin have been playing the part of an alarmingly similar pattern to those who played in front of Henrik Lundqvist before him in Lundqvist’s 15 fantastic seasons in goal for the Blueshirts.
Lundqvist’s No. 35 sweater is hanging from the rafters at the Garden as a result of his brilliant career. But the one thing Lundqvist never got to do was drink from the Stanley Cup as a champion.
While Shesterkin certainly has many more years left, good health willing, it would be the same shame if his career ends the way Lundqvist’s did, without a Stanley Cup to show for it.
As the final seconds were bleeding from the arena clock, the home crowd derisively chanted, “Igor, Igor, Igor,’’ in its glee.
But you couldn’t help but think that there was a level of admiration for the way Shesterkin played in this series — even from the opposing fans.
He was that good.
