TAMPA, Fla. — Igor Shesterkin was right, but was wrong, too.
The Rangers 26-year-old goalie, before the conference final began, called his Tampa Bay goaltending counterpart Andrei Vasilevskiy the “best in the world.”
Vasilevskiy may be exactly that. But Shesterkin was the best goaltender in this series, despite the Lightning eliminating the Rangers 4-2 in the series after Saturday night’s 2-1 win at Amalie Arena.
Even with the Rangers having taken a surprising 2-0 series lead, beating Vasilevskiy for nine goals on 62 shots, Shesterkin doubled down and stood by his gaudy compliment of the 27-year-old Vasilevskiy.
The Rangers lost a game on Saturday night and saw their terrific, revelatory season come to an unceremonious end, but to be clear: Shesterkin was not the reason for either of those outcomes.
Shesterkin was the best player on the ice for the Rangers, which he had to be if they were going to have any chance to extend their season on this night. In the end, of course, it wasn’t enough.
Tampa Bay had the better of play in the first 20 minutes, looking like the more desperate, hungry team than the Rangers, who looked slow, sluggish and tired by comparison to the Lightning energy.
Tampa Bay threw 25 shots at Shesterkin in the first period, 11 of which were on frame, and the Rangers goalie let nothing in. He, in fact, made three or four saves that a lot of NHL goaltenders might not have made.
Tampa Bay looked like it was poised to take a lead with a minute remaining in the period when Brandon Hagel connected with Anthony Cirelli alone in front of Shesterkin. Cirelli made a move in front to his backhand side and Shesterkin denied him.
The peppering of Shesterkin started early and it never stopped.
Four minutes in, Pat Maroon had a point-blank chance turned aside.
With 8:46 remaining in the first, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, screening Shesterkin in front of the crease, nearly had a textbook tip-in, but was stoned by the Rangers keeper with a marvelous outstretched kick save with his left leg.
The best save Shesterkin made in the game came just 1:30 into the second period when Steven Stamkos passed to Nikita Kucherov in front and Shesterkin made an acrobatic save sliding to his left and reaching out for the stop.
“He’s a hell of a goalie,’’ Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper told ESPN during in-game interview in the second period. “We’ve had our chances. We’ve got to stay patient. We don’t know when the next goal will come.’’
The next goal actually came a short time after Cooper was interviewed — on a Stamkos wrist shot that beat Shesterkin clean under his right blocker with 9:17 remaining in the second period. And ironically it would be considered a bad goal by Shesterkin’s lofty standards.
He wasn’t screened, with no Lightning players crowding the net like they’d been doing all series, and with not even a lot of mustard on the shot.
“He made some big saves, but we got one by him,’’ Stamkos said.
Stamkos left out a word there: Tampa Bay “finally’’ got one by Shesterkin.
After the Rangers tied it at 1-1, Shesterkin gave up the eventual game winner to Stamkos when Stamkos shot Shesterkin saved bounced off his leg and went in with 6:32 remaining in the game and the Rangers’ season.
“His confidence is probably the first thing I noticed about him,’’ Rangers center Andrew Copp had said before the game of his goaltender. “He believes he can stop every shot. You see the way he plays with his puck handling. He gives the team a lot of confidence back there that, if mistakes are made, he can bail us out.”
Shesterkin did his part all season. For that, he’ll win the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL.
He did his part in this series, right through Saturday night’s Lightning onslaught, and was the better goaltender in this series.
Midway through the third period, the home crowd chanted, “Vasi’s better.’’
The fans, sniffing the end of the series and their team headed to the Stanley Cup Final, were delirious in celebration.
Indeed, Vasilevskiy may be the best goalie in the sport. But on this night, and in this series, they were wrong.