The Rangers have pulled Igor Shesterkin after he allowed four goals in the first period.
Alex Georgiev is now in net.
Adam Rotter: Shesterkin looked shaky today. I don’t know if he looked shaky because he allowed four goals or that allowing the goals caused him to get progressively shakier. The first three Penguin goals all had flukey elements to them. The first was one where he and Patrik Nemeth pushed the net off as the goal was trickling through. Shesterkin pushed the second one in as it was going through his legs off a deflection and the third had a weird carom off the boards that went right to the Penguins. He missed on the fourth goal and just looked shaky making routine saves and freezing the puck.
You can think of any sort of reasons for Shesterkin’s performance tonight. Maybe Game 1 and 2 caught up with him. Maybe it was nerves based on his first road playoff game, maybe it was the bounces going against him, but whatever the reason, this wasn’t the Shesterkin that we’ve seen all season. He’ll be back in for Game 4 and I’d expect he’ll return to form.
I think it was smart to make the switch to Georgiev and I had thought that the Rangers should have done it after the fourth goal. Swapping goalies can hopefully spark the Rangers and while Georgiev had been playing much better toward the end of the season, this one could get ugly if the Rangers don’t manage the puck better and keep missing the net on their chances. They haven’t played that badly, but they are not only not converting on many of their chances, they aren’t even hitting the net. If they can start getting a few on net then maybe this game will get close and/or turn around.