Shesterkin with 41 saves as Rangers beat Stars to end three-game losing streak
Igor Shesterkin stopped 41 shots, including 23 on seven successful penalty kills, and the struggling New York Rangers beat the Dallas Stars 3-1 on Friday night to end a three-game losing streak.
EDMONTON — It wasn’t quite enough, even though he’d played his Askarov.
Eighteen seconds away from a game he’d have told his grandchildren about, Yaroslav Askarov — San Jose’s building-block goalie acquired in a brilliant trade with Nashville — just couldn’t guide this one over the finish line.
Askarov had 41 saves as the Edmonton Oilers were pressing, their own goaltender on the bench, in the final seconds of one of the best goaltending performances in the National Hockey League this season.
Then Corey Perry dished a puck to Mattias Ekholm, who pinched in from the point to score his second huge goal in as many games, tying the game at 2-2 with 17.3 seconds to play on Saturday.
We’re not sure the Sharks handled the puck even once in overtime, before Leon Draisaitl scored at the 18-second mark, and the game of the year by Askarov was rudely transformed into a 3-2 overtime loss.
It’s a bit of a pity, really.
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“This was crazy,” said the 22-year-old Omsk, Russia native, who will cherish sharing the ice with Connor McDavid — once the PTSD wears off. “This was my first game against him. He is quick! It was fun to play against him and Draisaitl.”
The teal-clad Los Tiburones have embarked on one of several captivating rebuilds being conducted across today’s NHL, ranging from the definition of insanity in Buffalo, to the intriguing disappointment of the Montreal Canadiens, to the somewhere-in-the-process Chicago Blackhawks, to an Ottawa Senators team that rolls into Edmonton on Sunday with some unheard of swagger and confidence.
This game — fashioned by Yaroslav Vladimirovich Askarov, who debuted in the KHL at age 17 and won his first game — is like a giant syringe of hope, a shot every Sharks fan will be rolling up their sleeves for while lining up outside the poorly attended SAP Center.
They’ve got Macklin Celebrini and a few skaters worth knowing about, and now it appears they have a goalie, which to the NHL rebuild is like a transmission is to your family car.
“It’s great to see, especially from a young guy, to have that much composure and play against some high-end talent and do as well as he did. It’s awesome for us,” said Sharks defenceman Cody Ceci, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Saturday against the team that dealt him down to the Bay Area last summer. “And he looks like he’s having fun too. He’s always smiling, making big saves and having fun out there.”
It became obvious early on that a special event was unfolding in San Jose’s crease. Askarov was stopping everything after Zach Hyman scored 7:07 into the game, and when he was down-and-out helpless, the Goalie Gods made sure that the net moved or a post jumped in the way, just as 18,347 fans began to rise from their seats to celebrate a certain goal.
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As Askarov’s brilliance built, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch went to the whip. He paired McDavid with Draisaitl early in Period 2, running out the world’s best player for 25:19 on the afternoon.
McDavid would compile three assists. He could have had eight.
“It’s almost like they’re telepathic in the offensive zone,” marvelled San Jose head coach Ryan Warsofsky, of Nos. 97 and 29. “They know where each other are, and their teammates are. It’s really incredible.”
Warsofsky and GM Mike Grier sent Askarov back down to the AHL earlier this season to work on his game. This was his first NHL start after being called up.
Whatever they did down there, they should bottle and sell it.
“The big thing was, just letting him be himself,” Warsofsky said. “Yeah, we wanted to clean up some things in this game … but he’s a thoroughbred. You’ve got to let him run here a little bit, and Macklin the same way.
“This is God-given talent that they have, and they’ve got to play towards their strengths.”
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Speaking of thoroughbreds, how about goals in five straight games for Hyman, 10 wins in the last dozen games for the Oilers, and the second straight win where they were trailing with less than three minutes to play in the third period?
The shot clock read 43-22 for Edmonton, but the Sharks had only 41 total shot attempts to Edmonton’s 80.
“It is just about a sense of patience,” said Draisaitl, who now has 24 goals. “Sometimes those games are tricky because you seemingly have the puck all night, you’re creating looks and have lots of O-zone time. Then you give up a Grade-A the other way because you’re not quite as sharp.
“(Calvin Pickard) gave us a chance late with a couple of really big stops. Sometimes there’s some frustration that creeps in, but I thought we did a good job today.”
What did Pickard think, watching Askarov’s performance from 180 feet away?
“I didn’t think we were ever going to score again, to be honest.”