Barclay Goodrow won two Stanley Cups with the Lightning and Andrei Vasilevskiy, but starting on Wednesday night, Goodrow will be trying to beat his former teammate when the Rangers begin their Eastern Conference Final matchup with the two-time defending champions.
It will be a matchup of what many consider to be a battle of the top two goalies in the NHL, with the Hart and Vezina Trophy finalist in Igor Shesterkin going up against the proven winner in Vasilevskiy.
But now, having played in front of both, Goodrow says the goalie matchup should be in the Blueshirts’ favor.
“I’ll take Shesty all day,” Goodrow said when asked who is the better goalie.
Of course, its shouldn’t be expected that Goodrow wouldn’t support his current teammate, but Shesterkin has been otherworldly of late, turning in another game seven for the ages by stopping 37 shots on Monday after stopping 39 in New York’s game seven win over the Penguins in their previous series. After a rough start to the playoffs that saw him pulled twice in as many games in Pittsburgh, the young Shesterkin has returned to peak form and once again become the backbone of New York’s success.
Still, after facing third-string goalie Louis Domingue for most of the first round and backup Antti Raanta for much of the conference semifinals, the goalie obstacle in the conference final will be much tougher in Vasilevskiy.
“I think it’s pretty unanimous. They’re the two best goalies in the league,” Goodrow said. “I don’t think anyone can put up an argument for that.
“If Vasilevskiy can see the pucks, he’s gonna save them. If we make the job easy on him, he’s gonna thrive. We gotta get in the blue paint. We’ve got to take away his eyes and make things hard on him.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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