Game 4 against the Pittsburgh Penguins is at PPG Paints Arena (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, SN, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, MSG).
"I expect him to be outstanding," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "It's a one-off for me."
Shesterkin, a favorite to win the Vezina Trophy voted as the best goalie in the NHL, allowed four goals on 15 shots in the first period of Game 3 on Saturday. Alexandar Georgiev replaced him to start the second with the Rangers down 4-1.
New York responded with three goals in the second to tie the game but ultimately Shesterkin watched from the bench as Pittsburgh controlled the third period and won 7-4 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
"There's no issues with Igor," Gallant said.
RELATED: [Complete Rangers vs Penguins series coverage]
Shesterkin was pulled for performance from two games in the regular season; March 10 at the St. Louis Blues, when he allowed four goals on 17 shots through the first 20:04 of the game, and March 22 against the New Jersey Devils, when he gave up five on 24 shots in two periods.
In each case he responded by winning the next game, although he was shaky in the first period against the Dallas Stars on March 12, giving up two goals on the first five shots he faced before righting himself and finishing with 29 saves in a 7-4 win.
Shesterkin made 20 saves in a 5-1 win against the Penguins on March 25, his first start after getting pulled against the Devils.
"He's a true pro. He gets it," Rangers defenseman Justin Braun said. "He'll be dialed for tomorrow. These things happen in playoffs and throughout the season where it might just not be your night. He'll be dialed in tomorrow."
Gallant said he replaced Shesterkin with Georgiev to change things up. He did not pin the blame on Shesterkin for the Penguins' four goals, instead calling the first two they scored "real lucky."
Brock McGinn scored at 1:57 of the first when his centering pass from below the goal line went in off Shesterkin's side after Rangers defenseman Patrik Nemeth knocked the net off its moorings at the right post.
The goal was originally waved off by the on-ice officials, but they overturned the call through video review because it was a Rangers player who knocked the net loose and the puck would have gone in had it never been dislodged.
Jeff Carter scored from in front of the net to make it 2-1 at 8:18, but the puck went in after going into Shesterkin's glove, falling out, down, between and through the goalie's legs and then getting kicked in by his right skate.
"It just went against us," Gallant said. "There were some unlucky bounces and breaks and I thought at 4-1 why not shake something up."
The Rangers got the message.
"We know that we didn't play good enough," forward Kaapo Kakko said. "Like, we were sleeping all period, so we needed to do something and play better."
The Penguins, though, also saw that they could get to Shesterkin enough to run him out of the game, something only the Blues and Devils did in the regular season.
That can only help their psyche going into Game 4.
"He's not an easy goalie to beat," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "I think our guys, so far, have done a really good job at just trying to create net traffic and making the sightlines difficult for Shesterkin. We have to continue to do that, just trying to make it a hard game for him."
They'll get another opportunity in Game 4. But so will Shesterkin, and his ability to bounce back could determine if the Rangers are going to go home with the series tied 2-2 or if they'll be facing elimination in Game 5 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
"We all know he's going to bounce back, and our team is going to bounce back for us," Gallant said. "That's the biggest thing."
NHL.com independent correspondent Wes Crosby contributed to this report
