Ten years have passed since a Rangers goalie won the Vezina; Henrik Lundqvist had a 1.97 GAA, .930 save percentage and eight shutouts in 2011-12. Lundqvist was still with New York when it last reached the postseason in 2020, so Shesterkin, who never played more than 39 games in a season during his six in the Kontinental Hockey League, is about to really get his first taste of life as a starting goalie in the NHL playoffs.
"I went on to the stats site to see how many games I've played this season and I'm still shocked, to be honest," Shesterkin said.
He clearly has not been fazed by the heaviest workload of his career; Shesterkin has allowed two goals or fewer in 33 of his 51 starts. Three of his six shutouts this season have come in April, helping the Rangers secure home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
"I can definitely say there are less shots being let up," Shesterkin said. "The guys have been playing a lot harder defensively and really trying to clean up the zone so I can see what's going on."
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1- basis): Igor Shesterkin, New York Rangers, 84 points (16 first-place votes); Jacob Markstrom, Calgary Flames, 55 (1); Frederik Andersen, Carolina Hurricanes, 36; Darcy Kuemper, Colorado Avalanche, 31; Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators, 25; Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders, 9; Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning, 8; Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida Panthers, 4; Ville Husso, St. Louis Blues, 1; Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins, 1.