Igor Shesterkin took a positive step forward in his rehab from an upper-body injury.
The star Rangers goalie returned to practice on Wednesday, his first since he presumably sustained the injury through the team’s 3-2 loss to the Penguins on Feb. 7.
Shesterkin didn’t practice on Tuesday through the team’s first session for players not participating within the 4 Nations Face-Off.
He practiced for a limited time on Wednesday and exited early, though head coach Peter Laviolette said afterward that was all the time the plan to ease him back in.
Shesterkin missed the Rangers’ final game before the break, a 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets, and was expected to be out 1-2 weeks.
So, the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off could mean he’ll only must miss the one game resulting from the injury.
The Rangers notably return to motion with a back-to-back this weekend, nonetheless.
They recalled Dylan Garand to back up Jonathan Quick for that win over the Blue Jackets before the break.
He replaced Shesterkin in a single net (with Quick in the opposite) on Wednesday once his practice was over.
Shesterkin, who signed an eight-year, $92 million extension in December to make him the highest-paid goalie ever, has had an up-and-down season.
He owns a career-low .906 save percentage and career-high 2.87 goals against average.
A few of that may also be attributed to the defensive problems around him, but Shesterkin has actually not been at his best, nor at the extent to which Rangers have grown accustomed.
Brett Berard, Brennan Othmann, Jake Leschyshyn and Matthew Robertson were up from AHL Hartford and practiced with the Rangers on Wednesday — not on recall, but relatively as substitute practice players, as is allowed under the principles for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Rangers have 4 players on the USA roster within the championship game against Canada on Thursday in Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, J.T. Miller and Adam Fox.
Mika Zibanejad (Sweden) and Urho Vaakanainen (Finland) have been eliminated, but didn’t practice Wednesday, as was planned to provide them a break after the newly formed tournament.
“I feel it’s good to have them work here for a day, two days, whatever it could be,” Laviolette said of the 4 prospects after practice on Wednesday. “Just to come back up and practice at this level, you get a likelihood to get eyes on them they usually get a likelihood to proceed to develop.
“For me, it was a superb practice, it was spirited, it was fast, it was competitive, so those guys jump into that. I believed they looked great.”
Laviolette noticeably upped the intensity of Wednesday’s practice in comparison with Tuesday’s.
Igor Shesterkin took a positive step forward in his rehab from an upper-body injury.
The star Rangers goalie returned to practice on Wednesday, his first since he presumably sustained the injury through the team’s 3-2 loss to the Penguins on Feb. 7.
Shesterkin didn’t practice on Tuesday through the team’s first session for players not participating within the 4 Nations Face-Off.
He practiced for a limited time on Wednesday and exited early, though head coach Peter Laviolette said afterward that was all the time the plan to ease him back in.
Shesterkin missed the Rangers’ final game before the break, a 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets, and was expected to be out 1-2 weeks.
So, the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off could mean he’ll only must miss the one game resulting from the injury.
The Rangers notably return to motion with a back-to-back this weekend, nonetheless.
They recalled Dylan Garand to back up Jonathan Quick for that win over the Blue Jackets before the break.
He replaced Shesterkin in a single net (with Quick in the opposite) on Wednesday once his practice was over.
Shesterkin, who signed an eight-year, $92 million extension in December to make him the highest-paid goalie ever, has had an up-and-down season.
He owns a career-low .906 save percentage and career-high 2.87 goals against average.
A few of that may also be attributed to the defensive problems around him, but Shesterkin has actually not been at his best, nor at the extent to which Rangers have grown accustomed.
Brett Berard, Brennan Othmann, Jake Leschyshyn and Matthew Robertson were up from AHL Hartford and practiced with the Rangers on Wednesday — not on recall, but relatively as substitute practice players, as is allowed under the principles for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Rangers have 4 players on the USA roster within the championship game against Canada on Thursday in Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, J.T. Miller and Adam Fox.
Mika Zibanejad (Sweden) and Urho Vaakanainen (Finland) have been eliminated, but didn’t practice Wednesday, as was planned to provide them a break after the newly formed tournament.
“I feel it’s good to have them work here for a day, two days, whatever it could be,” Laviolette said of the 4 prospects after practice on Wednesday. “Just to come back up and practice at this level, you get a likelihood to get eyes on them they usually get a likelihood to proceed to develop.
“For me, it was a superb practice, it was spirited, it was fast, it was competitive, so those guys jump into that. I believed they looked great.”
Laviolette noticeably upped the intensity of Wednesday’s practice in comparison with Tuesday’s.
