The goalie made 79 saves, a Rangers record, surpassing Gump Worsley (56 saves against the Toronto Maple Leafs; Game 3 of the 1962 Stanley Cup Semifinals), and the second-most saves in a Stanley Cup Playoff game since 1955-56 (when shots on goal began being tracked), behind Joonas Korpisalo's 85 for the Columbus Blue Jackets against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
"I mean, he made like 80 saves or whatever it was so obviously he was good," Rangers forward Ryan Strome said. "He's done it all year. Our best player and he showed it tonight."
Shesterkin, who was making his second NHL playoff start, and first since a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers in 2020, picked up where he left off in the regular season. He was 36-13-4 in 53 games (52 starts), finishing first with a .935 save percentage and a 2.07 goals-against average, among goalies to play at least 10 games.
"He is unbelievable," Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin, who scored the winning goal Tuesday, said. "He's fast, he's good . ... I think he will win the Vezina Trophy (as the NHL's best goalie) probably. We knew it was a great challenge for our forwards."
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Shesterkin was tested early and often. He made 10 saves in the first period, 22 in the second and 12 in the third before making 35 saves on 36 shots in the three overtimes and received praise from the opposing goalie.
"I think their goalie was pretty good tonight," said Louis Domingue, who made 17 saves after replacing an injured Casey DeSmith in the second overtime. "We had a few chances in overtime and he was strong for them."
In his three NHL seasons, Shesterkin is 62-29-7 to go along with a 2.31 GAA and .928 save percentage. He lost back-to-back games in regulation once this season, the final two games of the regular season, so it's no surprise the Rangers are confident heading into Game 2 here on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, TVAS, SN, MSG, ATTSN-PT).
"He made everything he had to do and we couldn't get one [goal] for him obviously," Strome said. "We know he is going to be good for us every game. It's a strength of our team."
