Rangers coach Gerard Gallant has dismissed any concerns about the young goalkeeper’s fatigue in Thursday night’s game two at Madison Square Garden. The Blues did not train on Wednesday after losing the marathon three more times to the Penguins on Tuesday, but they addressed reporters at their Westchester training facility.
Galant said he saw Chesterkin on Wednesday and that he was “great,” according to Molly Walker from the New York Post.
“There are no problems with him. 83 bullets was too little, but he has been doing it all year for us,” Gallant said.
Shesterkin’s 79 saves on Tuesday made him only the eighth goalkeeper in NHL history to make over 65 saves in a playoff and beat Gump Worsley for the franchise’s record for most saves in a playoff game. The Russian goalkeeper faced 83 shots in the first match loss.
The effort certainly factored in how well Shesterkin could play on the big stage. The Rangers goalkeeper made a number of key saves, which included stopping only 22 shots in the second half during the Penguins’ offensive tackle.
New York Rangers will need a similar effort from him in Game 2.
Chesterkin wasn’t the only Rangers player who was the center of attention. Ryan Lindgren was in and out of the match on Tuesday night as well and Gallant said he was dealing with some lower body issues.
Lindgren is “a little troubled” according to the Rangers boss on the bench, but is expected to play on Thursday as well.
The Rangers are playing their first playoff series on the ice of Madison Square Garden five years ago and they have a very different roster than the one they did last time. New York came out with plenty of jumps on Tuesday but failed to sustain that for a full match.
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It’s an area of focus that Galant wants to address in Game 2.
“Play that fight, play that heavy game for 60 minutes,” Galant said. “You can’t play for 25 years and expect success from that. We did a lot of things right in the first 25 and after that, they took it a bit.”