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Rangers Radar: Igor Closes the Door

Shesterkin is absolutely dominating the AHL

It’s time for another installment of Blueshirt Banter’s Rangers Radar, where we focus the spotlight on trends in performance, production, and collect notes on players in the New York Rangers organization.

Note: stats in this piece are accurate as of 12/13/2019.

New York Rangers

  • Superstar Artemiy Panarin registered his first hat trick as a Ranger against the San Jose Sharks on Dec. 12. Panarin scored two goals in the third period, one of which was an empty-netter. He now has six goals in his last five games and 18 goals in 31 games as a Ranger.
  • Russian winger Pavel Buchnevich has just one point — a goal scored on Nov. 29 against the Boston Bruins — in his last nine games. He had 19 points in the first 25 games of the season and is now on-pace to score fewer than 20 goals in the 2019-20 campaign.
  • Brett Howden now has one point — an assist — in his last 10 games and has registered five SOG during that stretch. Howden hasn’t scored a goal since Nov. 20 in the Rangers 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals, which means he has one goal in his last 23 games. Howden scored six goals in 66 games as a rookie in 2018-19.
  • Youngster Filip Chytil snapped his six-game point drought with an assist against the Sharks on Thursday night. He now has 11 points in 22 games; he had 22 points in 75 games last season./

Hartford Wolf Pack

  • Swedish center Lias Andersson scored two goals and picked up an assist for his first multi-point game of the 2019-20 AHL season on Dec. 7 against the Binghamton Devils. He now has four goals in 10 games with the Wolf Pack.
  • Russian goaltender Igor Shesterkin has now won four consecutive games. Last night, he earned his second shutout of the 2019-20 AHL season with a 26-save performance against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Shesterkin now has a staggering .936 save percentage through 1029 minutes and has made five-straight starts without allowing more than two goals.
  • Forward Nick Jones had a two-goal game last night against the Phantoms and now has three goals in his last two games. Prior to this two-game stretch, Jones went 21 games without scoring a goal. He now has 10 points in 26 games with the Wolf Pack.
  • Vinni Lettieri has three goals and four assists in his last eight games. He shares the team lead in scoring with Steven Fogarty with 21 points in 27 games this season. Lettieri has never played more than two games this season without registering a point.
  • The Rangers placed Ville Meskanen on unconditional waivers on Dec. 11. Yesterday, Meskanen agreed to terms with Ilves in Liiga after his contract was terminated. The Finn had four points — all assists — in 20 games with the Wolf Pack this season after putting up 34 points in 70 games in the 2018-19 season./

Other Rangers Prospects

  • Swedish center Karl Henriksson (58th overall, 2019 Draft) now has five goals and 18 assists in 17 games playing for Frölunda HC J20 in the SuperElit. Both he and Nils Lundkvist (28th overall, 2018 Draft) were named to Sweden’s IIHF World Junior Championship roster. /
  • Goaltender Olof Lindbom (39th overall, 2018 Draft) did not make Team Sweden’s WJC roster. Lindbom, 20, had to resign from participation from the Four Nations Tournament back in November due to injury. He has appeared in seven games this season for Mora IK in Allsvenskan and has posted a .907 save percentage.
  • Morgan Barron (174th overall, 2017 Draft) snapped a four-game goal-scoring drought with a goal against Dartmouth in Cornell’s 2-1 loss on Dec. 7. Barron, a junior, now has seven goals and seven assists in 11 games this season.
  • Goaltender Tyler Wall (174th overall, 2016 Draft) leads all drafted goaltenders with a .945 Sv% for UMass-Lowell. In 17 starts this season, Wall has never finished a game with a save percentage lower than .900. /

All data courtesy of naturalstattrick.com, hockeyeastonline.com, EliteProspects.com, liiga.fi, ahltracker.com, and theahl.com.

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