Igor Shesterkin was driven from his net on Thursday night after giving up five goals to the Sabres in an ugly effort for the Ranger netminder.
Head coach Peter Laviolette opted to pull Shesterkin from the game in favor of backup Jonathan Quick with 6:09 left in the second period after Sam Lafferty scored Buffalo’s fifth goal of the night.
The decision to pull Shesterkin marked the first time that he had been yanked from a game since Oct. 19, 2023, according to Sportsnet, and it was the second time in roughly a year that he had surrendered a plethora of goals to the Sabres on home ice.
In that matchup last November, Shesterkin gave up four goals in what would end up being a 5-1 win for Buffalo.
This time around, all five goals through two periods came with Shesterkin in the net — on just 12 shots.
The poor showing on Thursday at MSG led to Shesterkin’s save percentage dropping 14 points to .919.
Rasmus Dahlin scored 26 seconds into the game to put the Sabres on the board first before Buffalo scored four more goals in the second.
The Rangers finally found the back of the net early in the third when Will Cuylle scored just over four minutes into the final frame, but Zach Benson answered to make it 6-1 Buffalo with Quick in net.
Shesterkin’s night came as NHL insider Kevin Weekes appeared to hint at upcoming news involving the netminder.
In a cryptic post on X, Weekes posted a photo of the New York City skyline along with the caption “$ 11.5M ?”
Shesterkin is in the final year of a four-year, $22.67 million contract, and Weekes had initially reported that the Russian goaltender had rejected an eight-year, $88 million offer from the Blueshirts that would have made him the highest-paid goalie in the league.
