But Shesterkin is playing catchup to Vasilevskiy. The Lightning goalie is 17 months older (Vasilevskiy was born on July 25, 1994; Shesterkin on Dec. 30, 1995) and has already played 265 more regular-season games (365-100) and 77 more playoff games (92-15). He won the Vezina Trophy in 2018-19 and was a finalist three other times, though not this season.
Of course, Vasilevskiy has also won the Stanley Cup twice and the Conn Smythe Trophy.
"Vasilevskiy has his track record, speaks for itself," Rangers defenseman Adam Fox said. "I think Shesty does too. What he's done this year is insanely impressive, definitely two good goalies coming together and I have a lot of faith in Shesty."
Adding to the narrative is they know each other too. Shesterkin was the third-string goalie for Russia in the 2017 IIHF World Championship. Vasilevskiy was the No. 1.
"I was on the bench," the Rangers' goalie said, smiling.
He'll be in the other net on Wednesday, trying to push the Rangers past the two-time defending champions and end the Lightning's streak of 10 straight series wins, and to maybe take the best in the world moniker at the same time.
The one problem, Vasilevskiy has shown zero signs of letting it go.
"He's the best goalie in the world right now," Shesterkin said.