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SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Igor Shesterkin’s case for the Hart Trophy grows even when the Rangers star goalie isn’t in net.
After steadily unraveling in a 5-2 loss to the Wild on Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center, the Rangers have now dropped five in a row with Alexandar Georgiev in goal. While the Rangers didn’t exactly give the Bulgarian netminder much support, this particular defeat showed just how much the team has come to rely on the outrageous performances it gets from Shesterkin night in and night out.
Considering Georgiev went a month between his previous two starts, head coach Gerard Gallant opted to give the backup his second appearance in the last nine days. Georgiev needs consistent playing time in order to stay at the top of his game, so the coaching staff has been more cognizant of his reps.
“It’s got to be tough on the kid, it is what it is,” Gallant said after the loss. “We’re all about winning hockey games and doing the best we can to win every game every night and it’s the way it is. It’s tough on him, you feel for him a little bit and hopefully he’s going to get a win here sooner or later and get back at it. He doesn’t get many games, but that’s the NHL right now and we’re trying to worry about wins and we can’t worry about every individual player.
“He’s a man and he’ll own up and he’ll play his games and he’ll get his opportunities. I still feel very good about him, he’s a confident guy and I still feel very good about him.”
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Anybody with eyes can see that Georgiev isn’t happy with his playing time. He has the mindset of a starter and has been relegated to just 37 starts in his last two seasons with the Rangers. For context, Shesterkin has 67 starts. Georgiev may be considered a No. 1 or a goalie that can hold his end of a tandem on some NHL teams, but joining the Rangers at the end of Henrik Lundqvist’s career and the start of Shesterkin’s has just proven to be terrible timing for the 26-year-old.
The Rangers in front of Georgiev, however, left him out to dry at times Tuesday night. After climbing out of the 2-0 hole they fell into in the first period, the Rangers evened the score just over eight minutes into the middle frame behind Dryden Hunt’s fourth goal of the season and a shorthanded tally from Mika Zibanejad.
Minnesota then exploded for three unanswered goals, including two from second-line winger Kevin Fiala. After Fiala’s power-play goal regained the lead for the Wild, Marcus Foligno slid a backhander past Georgiev for his third point of the night and the two-goal advantage at 13:06.
Fiala then roofed the puck on Georgiev roughly 4 ½ minutes later to give the Wild a comfortable 5-2 lead heading into the second intermission. Georgiev ultimately finished with 23 saves against a Wild team that had lost eight of its previous 10 games.
“It’s not just [the power-play] goal, there’s the goals after, too, that are just quick — bang, bang,” said Ryan Strome, who assisted on Hunt’s goal. “Takes the wind out of the sails after coming back a little bit. Those are things we’ve got to clean up, things that you don’t want to happen in a game.”
The loss somewhat spoiled an exciting night for the Rangers’ Minnesota natives Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller and Jonny Brodzinski. In a classy move, Gallant put all three on the ice to start the game.
Georgiev did look sharp early on, making a couple of big stops at first. Minnesota’s top line, featuring Ryan Hartman, Kirill Kaprizov and former Blueshirt Mats Zuccarello, generated some quality looks right from puck drop. But the goalie gave up a soft goal on the rush from Hartman despite getting a piece of it.
“I don’t want to grade my game, it’s been frustrating,” Georgiev said when asked to evaluate his game of late. “A bit of a tough streak. Just trying to come in, every shot is a new opportunity for me and go from there.”
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