Igor Shesterkin did all he could to bail out Rangers against Lightning

TAMPA, Fla. — Igor Shesterkin nearly bailed out the Rangers and nearly bailed out his coach, Gerard Gallant, for a questionable lineup decision.

And maybe the goalie would have, despite giving up a goal he’d like back, had Andrei Vasilevskiy not been in the opposite net. But Vasilevskiy has become unbeatable when the Lightning have a chance to clinch a series.

So the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning won Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final, 2-1, on Saturday night at Amalie Arena and will face the Avalanche in the Cup Final.

The Rangers headed back to New York for breakup day after losing for the first time in six elimination games in their stirring playoff run.

Vasilevskiy only had to make 20 saves as the Lightning carried the play almost from start to finish. But he was there when the Lightning needed him, getting a left pad out to rob Andrew Copp at the crease midway through the third period.

Gallant left himself open for questioning — not that he was immediately willing to answer — by making Kaapo Kakko a healthy scratch for the first time and leaving a clearly compromised Ryan Strome in the lineup even after the second-line center missed a good portion of the pregame warmups and then exited after the second period with a lower-body injury.

Gallant was asked if he could or would explain the decision to scratch Kakko and break up the Kid Line while choosing to dress Dryden Hunt on the fourth line during his in-game interview on the ESPN broadcast.

“Nope,” Gallant said.

Strome, who returned in Game 5 and after missing Game 4, logged 8:42.

Gallant’s choice certainly didn’t seem like a wise one when Steven Stamkos gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 10:43 of the second period. Stamkos easily skated past Strome to get to the top of the right circle, where he beat Shesterkin past his blocker on a shot that Shesterkin likely stops a vast majority of the time.

Stamkos’ goal, for a 2-1 lead at 13:28 of the third period — 21 seconds after Frank Vatrano’s power-play goal — survived a video review to see if Stamkos kicked in the rebound.

It was odd Shesterkin allowed that first one after the goalie heroics that kept the Rangers in the game until that point. He finished with 29 saves and was the only reason the Lightning didn’t rout the Rangers.

Because the Rangers were comically bad handling the puck in their zone throughout the first period. They generated little despite Gallant’s constant line juggling.

Shesterkin used his pads to rob Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Anthony Cirelli at separate times in the first period and again robbed Cirelli at the crease to start the second period. Moments later, Shesterkin splayed and reached out with his glove to deny Nikita Kucherov on a two-on-one chance at the crease.

Sheer brilliance that was just not quite good enough against Vasilevskiy.

Shesterkin was a big reason why the Rangers brought a 5-0 record in elimination games into Saturday’s contest. Shesterkin compiled a 2.57 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage in those five games.

But Vasilevskiy has truly defined goalie greatness in clinching games as the Lightning have won 11 straight playoff series. He improved to 13-9 in potential series-clinching games and he brought a 1.65 GAA and a .942 save percentage into Saturday night in his first 21 tries.

Of late, he’s been unbeatable.

The NHL’s daily media notes highlighted that Vasilevskiy had allowed just one goal over his previous three potential series-clinching matches, with an 0.33 GAA, a .990 save percentage and two shutouts. That included 49 saves in a 2-0 win over the Panthers in Game 4 of the second round, 30 saves in a 2-1 road win over the Maple Leafs in Game 7 of the first round and 22 saves in a 1-0 win over the Canadiens in Game 5 of the 2021 Cup Final.

Strangely, the NHL did not mention Vasilevskiy’s 18 saves in a 1-0 win over the Islanders in Game 7 of the 2021 conference finals. But that was a big-time performance as well.

Shesterkin did all he could Saturday to bail out the Rangers and Gallant.

But then there was Vasilevskiy.