Does Igor Shesterkin’s injury spell an end to the Rangers’ season?

The New York Rangers had briefly found a bit of a good spell. 

While the Blue Shirts struggled through much of the first half of the season, the run of three wins in four games saw them hold on to some hope in the Stanley Cup playoff race in the Eastern Conference Metropolitan Division. 

Yet, it could all fall apart again after Igor Shesterkin picked up an injury and had to leave Monday night’s contest against the Utah Mammoth. 

On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton broke down whether the injury to their top goalie spells an end to their season. 

Tyler Yaremchuk: Last night, Igor Shesterkin hobbled off the ice, and it certainly didn’t look unserious. You see your star player, your star goalie, getting carried off like this, and it is very easy to sit there and say, ‘Is this the end of the Rangers season?’

Carter Hutton: Yeah, especially when you can’t score to begin with, right? You look at their road splits, how bad it’s been at home, and that is the most concerning thing about the energy you bring to a game, right? Playing at home is supposed to be a fortress. They’ve been so bad at home, and I think that is concerning for a team where this is two years in a row, where I think expectations were a lot higher on this team.

I just worry about this team moving forward, right? Obviously, Artemi Panarin is labeled to leave, and everything that’s gone on, but I just don’t know how they get themselves back into the mix. 

I worry about Shesterkin’s knee and his groin because he reacts immediately. So it could be a long-term mission, and then in that defense, you have Jonathan Quick, who has been unbelievable, but that’s playing once a week. If you start to play two to four times a week, it really changes the scale. When I look at this team, I think it’s been a bit concerning.

You can catch the rest of the segment and Tuesday’s full episode here…