It needs not be mentioned that if the Rangers have any chance of contending against the bruising Panthers, Igor Shesterkin will need to be on the money.
His play anchored the Rangers while they capitalized on deficiencies in the Hurricanes’ special teams and goaltending.
In terms of play at five-on-five, Carolina had the steering wheel from start to finish of that series.
Florida is expected to emulate the same advantage as the No. 3 playoff team in unblocked shot attempt differential, but especially so with the league’s most harmonious forecheck, executed from the top to bottom of its lineup.
Unless opponents have converted on high-danger scoring chances or caused net-front traffic, Shesterkin has stopped nearly everything he’s seen.
The Panthers generate a third-most frequent 4.45 high-danger shots per game.
Of the 18 goals that slipped by Shesterkin against Carolina, 10 of them were on high-danger shots out of a total of 62 chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
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He is second behind the Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman, who just contended with the Panthers’ average of 33 shots per game, in goals saved above expected in the playoffs.
We know that Shesterkin is reliable; he’s maintaining the highest playoff save percentage in Rangers history among qualified goalies at .927.
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The Rangers showed they can still show up to the rink as their faulty January selves at points too.
He had his hands full in the two starts he played against Florida during the regular season, so the Over on his moderately set saves prop makes it worth the cost.
The play: Igor Shesterkin Over 28.5 saves (-130, FanDuel).