Igor Shesterkin will find form in frustrating season: Kevin Weekes

NHL

By Andrew Crane

When the All-Stars assemble in Toronto this week, Igor Shesterkin will attend again — representing the Rangers for a second consecutive year — while engulfed in a career-worst stretch amid a career-worst season that hasn’t featured many answers.

Shesterkin allowed four goals on 19 shots in his last start before the break, causing his save percentage to dip to .899 and his goals against average to rise to 2.86.

For as poorly as Shesterkin played in late November and early December, when he allowed at least four goals in five of eight starts, his 10 appearances since Jan. 2 have resulted in a lower save percentage (.863).

In some cases, pucks have bounced into the Rangers’ net off strange deflections, ESPN NHL analyst and former Rangers goalie Kevin Weekes told The Post.

But other times, Weekes added, Shesterkin allowed goals that the former Vezina Trophy winner typically wouldn’t.

“I think the difficulty is he sets such a high level and high standard of excellence in the net, and when you’re not quite hitting that or you don’t hit that as consistently as you can, as consistently as you’re capable of and you’ve proven, then of course, No. 1, it’s frustrating to him,” Weekes said. “Beyond that, then it becomes a little confusing because technically, he isn’t doing anything incorrectly. He’s technically brilliant.”

At the peak of his Rangers tenure, Shesterkin dazzled during the 2021-22 regular season and guided the Blueshirts to the brink of the Stanley Cup final.

He led the league in save percentage. Topped the rankings in goals against average. Logged six shutouts — something that hasn’t occurred once for him this year.

Similar to the top 60 PGA Tour golfers or the top 60 tennis players, there’s a level of accomplishment that an NHL goaltending spot carries, Weekes said.

They’re the best at the position, and for that 53-game sample size two years ago, in just his second full season — and first 82-game campaign — since transitioning from the KHL, Shesterkin was the “best out of anybody on the planet.”

It’s difficult to stay at No. 1 forever, though. The ebbs and flows of those PGA Tour and tennis rankings become inevitable over time after reaching the summit.

“There’s only one place to go from there,” Weekes said, “which is down.”

That doesn’t mean Shesterkin won’t rediscover his Vezina form. Concerning stretches are magnified when they deviate from what’s become normal, Weekes said.

Outside of five consecutive wins before the calendar flipped to 2024, Shesterkin’s campaign…