Igor Shesterkin pulled off something that no other New York Rangers goalie has ever done. And considering how long the team has been around, it’s something truly remarkable.
On Thursday night, he finally added something nobody else in franchise history had managed to do.
Shesterkin scored a goal.
WE HAVE ANOTHER GOALIE GOAL 🥅
The Rangers goaltender put the finishing touch on New York’s 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, firing the puck into an empty net as the Lightning pulled Andrei Vasilevskiy in an attempt to get back into the game.
It was the perfect punctuation mark on an otherwise outstanding performance.
Igor Shesterkin stopped 24 of 25 shots, helping the Rangers erase the disappointment of their 3-0 season-opening loss to Boston. The Rangers returned home for their first game at Madison Square Garden and immediately gave their star goaltender plenty of offensive support.
Then Shesterkin got in on the fun himself.
And that made the night considerably more memorable.
Shesterkin Finally Did What No Rangers Goalie Had Done
No Rangers goaltender had ever been credited with a goal before Thursday night.
That’s remarkable considering the franchise dates back to 1926 and has employed some of the best puck-handling goaltenders in NHL history. Even Hall of Famer Ed Giacomin, one of the better puck-handlers of his era, never managed to score.
Igor Shesterkin had come agonizingly close several times.
He missed wide against Ottawa in 2022. He had another near-miss against Florida in 2023. And more recently, he nearly scored against Utah before the puck missed the net.
He even joked about how much he wanted to finally accomplish it at Madison Square Garden.
Now he has.
And considering how the goal happened, it was fitting.
Tampa Bay had pulled Vasilevskiy with the Lightning trying to mount an improbable comeback. Shesterkin got the puck, saw the empty net at the other end and made no mistake.
After the Rangers were shut out in Boston two nights earlier, their home opener couldn’t have ended much better.
Igor Shesterkin didn’t just make the saves.
He scored the goal that sealed the win.
Igor Shesterkin Joins a Very Exclusive Club
Goalie goals remain one of the rarest feats in hockey.
Before Shesterkin, only 15 goaltenders had been credited with a regular-season goal in NHL history. Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson became the 15th in October 2024 when he shot the puck into the empty net against St. Louis. It was also the third consecutive season in which an NHL goalie had scored by actually shooting the puck into an empty net.
The season before that, Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry became the previous goalie to accomplish the feat.
Then there was Igor Shesterkin’s fellow Russian and crosstown rival, Ilya Sorokin.
Sorokin was credited with his first career goal in March 2025 when Nashville’s Steven Stamkos accidentally sent the puck into his own empty net after Sorokin was the last Islander to touch it.
Shesterkin’s goal was different.
He actually shot it.
And after years of near misses, he finally got his moment.
For a goaltender who had already won the Vezina Trophy, signed the biggest contract ever given to an NHL goalie and established himself as one of the league’s elite netminders, there wasn’t much left to add.
Until Thursday night.
Now Igor Shesterkin has a goal, too.
Igor Shesterkin Does Something No Rangers Goalie Has Ever Done