Shesterkin stonewalls Jets

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This article was published 06/03/2022 (1281 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

There have been countless games over the years where the Winnipeg Jets “got goalied”, their opponent left shaking their heads at what might have been if not for the masked man resembling a brick wall blocking their path to victory. 

Far too often this season, the roles have been reversed. And Sunday night at Canada Life Centre produced perhaps the most stark example of all, as a sure-fire Vezina candidate stood on his head at one end, while the home team’s former trophy winner had another tough outing he’d want to forget.

Igor Shesterkin added to his league-best totals by stopping 45 of 46 shots, leading his visiting New York Rangers to a 4-1 win in front of a crowd of 12,867 that puts yet another dagger in Winnipeg’s fading playoff hopes. Connor Hellebuyck, meanwhile, only stopped 18 of 22 pucks he faced — the fourth straight start in which the red light behind him has gone off at least four times.

“He was great. I mean, he was a big difference,” conceded Hellebuyck, who has given up 18 goals in total during that four-game span. “I believe he’s putting up some ridiculous numbers. I don’t watch him every single game but I know tonight he was great so yeah, it must be a good feeling for him.”

There’s not a lot of good feelings right now for the Jets, who fall to 24-22-10. They remain eight points out of the final Western Conference playoff spot with just 26 games left, and have a trio of other teams they’d have to leap-frog to get in.

“The mood is (expletive),” said forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who was the only player to get a puck past Shesterkin. “We know where we’re at. We’re not in a playoff spot. That’s what you work hard for during the summer, and that’s what you battle for in the regular season. We gotta start winning some games.”

It doesn’t get any easier with the two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in town on Tuesday to close out a four-game homestand for Winnipeg, which is 1-1-1 so far.

Shesterkin now sports a ridiculous 1.93 goals against average and sparkling .942 save percentage, along with a 28-6-3 record. Not surprisingly, his Rangers are in the running for top spot in the Metropolitan Division, now at 36-15-5.

“I mean, we are truly spoiled. The guy is unbelievable. He’s been our best player all year. At this point nothing really surprises me,” said New York winger Chris Kreider, who scored twice. “He’s just other-worldly. I don’t think there are any superlatives left for him, he’s that good. It really is incredible.”

Hellebuyck’s GAA has swelled to 2.95 to go with a pedestrian .910 save percentage, which both rank near the bottom of all NHL starting goalies. Winnipeg’s problems run a lot deeper than the net, of course. But there’s no question Hellebuyck’s play has left plenty to be desired.

“It’s not going the way we hoped. You can only imagine how frustrating it is in the room,” Hellebuyck said of the club’s current state of mind. “I don’t think it’s from lack of effort. I know that everyone cares and everyone wants it but it’s just not going our way. I think frustration is a great word for that. Everyone’s trying. Everyone’s really emotionally in it. And then we’re not getting the results that we expect. It’s tough on the mental game. 

The Jets dug themselves a quick hole in this one, as Barclay Goodrow deflected a Jacob Trouba feed past Hellebuyck just 121 seconds into the game. The task got even taller with just over two minutes left in the opening frame, as Kreider pounced on a loose puck and roofed it past Hellebuyck with his team on the power play.

Ehlers gave the Jets some life just past the midway mark of the second period, firing a low shot through a perfect screen set by Adam Lowry for his 14th of the year.

But any momentum they seemingly grabbed left the building early in the third period, as Kreider easily beat Nate Schmidt to a puck race — the veteran Jets defenceman took a route he will no doubt regret — then lifted it past a sprawling Hellebuyck who failed in his poke-check attempt. It was Kreider’s 38th goal of the year, putting him just one back of the league lead currently held by Toronto’s Auston Matthews.

“I had a different read than what actually happened. I’d have to re-watch it and see where I went wrong but if I could redo (it), I wouldn’t poke-check. I would just slide with him,” said Hellebuyck.

Ehlers also pointed the finger of blame at himself for the turning point goal, even though he wasn’t on the ice. He had turned a puck over more than 90 seconds earlier while trying a fancy between-the-legs pass, one he said he regrets.

“You’re behind by one. That’s one goal and you’re back into it. I go in and make a stupid, embarrassing play and change the momentum over to their side. I take that one on me,” he said.

Interim coach Dave Lowry said there was plenty of blame to go around for what proved to be a critical turning point.

“At that point and time, I thought that we were carrying the play and we had great momentum and we made a mistake and it ended up in the back of the net,” said Lowry. “The one thing we’re not going to do is we’re not going to get in here and we’re not going to point fingers. We’re going to do things and we’re going to stay together as a group and like I said, when you’re trying to push for a goal, sometimes you put a little more risk into it. We took a chance and it didn’t work out.”

Mika Zibanejad removed any hope of a comeback a few minutes later when he deflected Trouba’s point shot to finish the scoring.

Winnipeg went one-for-six on the power play, just as they did on Friday night in a 4-3 overtime loss to Dallas. It’s also the second straight game in which the Jets generated more than 40 shots, yet failed to record a victory.

“The shots are fine but we say it a lot, we had some traffic in front of the net but not enough, I think,” Ehlers said of the quantity, but lack of quality he felt they generated against Shesterkin.

“We continue working. Our season isn’t done yet. We’re going to go out there and show that.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg