New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin amazed everyone Thursday by becoming the first goalie in team history to score a long-distance goal from net to net.
The feat came at the end of the third quarter in the Rangers’ 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, when the puck bounced off the boards and skidded to Shesterkin, setting him up to slap it down the ice. As his hard slap sent the puck rocketing toward the Lightning’s net, everyone was shocked to see it slide right between the opposing team’s untended goalposts.
Then the whole stadium erupted.
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His goal became the first time a Rangers goalie scored and made him the 18th goalie in NFL history to do so.
After the game, Shesterkin said he couldn’t tell at first whether the puck actually went in the net.
“That was a lot of fun, but to be honest, someone on the blue line, he screened me a little bit when I make the shot and I didn’t see the puck land, so I didn’t know can I celebrate or not. I just started doing that when everyone was like fired up,” he said, according to NHL.com.
He added that he hopes he can actually see his next goal.
“It was a long time in my head,” Shesterkin said, according to the New York Post, “so I thought that I’d go celebrate in a different way. But like I said, I didn’t see the puck go across the line, and I just was a little bit shy, and I didn’t know what I could do. So maybe next time. I will keep trying to score one more time.”
The game also ranked Shesterkin’s 100th win at Madison Square Garden in 177 games. He also made 24 saves during the game, allowing only one goal.
“When those moments occur for a team, they’re great moments,” Rangers Head coach Mike Sullivan said. “You can see the raw emotion on the players on the bench. … When he has a moment like that, I think the guys get — they get pretty fired up about it.”
Shesterkin also joked that his big goal was painless.
“At least like nobody [was] punching my face in,” he said, referencing his fight in March with the Devils’ Jacob Markstrom.
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