The Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin and the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin were both projected to become their respective teams’ No. 1 goalies, and that has come to fruition this season. But the NHL rivalry between the longtime friends and former KHL rivals has been slow to develop.
Thursday night’s game at Madison Square Garden marks just the second time Sorokin and Shesterkin will face each other since coming over from Russia. But the goalies may eventually define the heated New York rivalry the way Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin does for Penguins-Capitals.
“Ilya and Shesterkin are both really good friends and they’re both helluva goaltenders,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “They’re as good as there is in the NHL. You look at the Crosby-Ovechkin thing, maybe it’s an Ilya-Igor thing.”
Sorokin won their first NHL meeting on April 11, 2021, as the Islanders topped the Rangers, 3-2, in overtime at Nassau Coliseum. Sorokin made 24 saves while Shesterkin, a potential candidate for both the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie and the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP this season, stopped 29 shots.
The 26-year-old goalies have been friends since they were 17, meeting at a Team Russia camp. Sorokin was born in Mezhdurechensk, Russia, and grew up in Novokuznetsk, about a 50-hour drive from Shesterkin’s native Moscow. Sorokin starred for CSKA Moscow in the KHL, while Shesterkin did the same for rival SKA St. Petersburg.
While Shesterkin has been the clear heir apparent to Henrik Lundqvist, Sorokin has received a heavier workload than Semyon Varlamov this season because his Russian teammate was injured through training camp and the early part of the season and then missed time because of COVID-19. But Sorokin has seized the opportunity, entering Thursday 12-20-7 with a 2.33 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage and six shutouts.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
www.newsday.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism