Tuesday's game marked a measuring stick of sorts for both teams. The Jets, coming in with an NHL-record 14-1-0 start to their season, sought to keep the train rolling against one of the East's contenders. The Rangers, with functionally the same roster as the one that won the Presidents' Trophy a year ago, hoped to prove they're in the same league as the NHL's best. It was a fun one, a back-and-forth 6-3 Jets victory in which Winnipeg showed conclusively they're a cut above, playing relentless, mistake-free hockey behind the league's best forward line and in front of the scariest goalie in the world.
Connor Hellebuyck vs. Igor Shesterkin was the undercard, pitting two of the last three Vezina winners, and coming at a time when Shesterkin is trying to lap Hellebuyck and every other netminder with his pending contract. The game didn't quite play out as a duel—the Rangers turned the puck over too many times, and the Jets took too many penalties, for this one to feature any brilliant statlines in goal. Hellebuyck saved 33; Shesterskin stopped 27 of 32 for his second straight start allowing five goals.
Thankfully for goaltending aficionados, there was one play that illustrated elite netminding by demonstrating how to overcome it: Gabe Vilardi's sensational, small-space give-and-go in the second:
What does good goaltending actually entail? Positioning first, and reflexes last. But in between is patience—the patience to avoid committing until the last moment, because when a goalie commits, that's when holes open up. Shesterkin is consistently good at this and was excellent here, refusing to bite as Vilardi passed his blade over the puck, then deked forehand. With the space between them closing fast, Shesterkin parked his skate against the right pipe to close off against what he must have assumed was the inevitable backhand.
However, Vilardi's got some unreal reflexes of his own. (You'll want the slowest of slo-mo for this play; it's unbelievable how many decisions were made by both guys in a window of about two seconds.) It was already fab stickhandling to attempt a couple dekes in such a rapidly closing space, but it was awareness and gumption to give up the puck just inches from the crease. That's when Shesterkin finally committed himself—he had no choice with Nik Ehlers open on the doorstep—and Vilardi was wide open for the return pass.
I love this shit. Even as a goaltending pervert it's often not easy to identify the skill level beyond the physical on a given save, no matter how spectacular. It often takes a structural failure to determine where the weakness is, and thus highlight the strengths by contrast. But the wall didn't even really spring a leak here; Shesterkin made no identifiable mistake (the mistake was of course the Rangers allowing a 2-on-0); Vilardi simply made himself unstoppable.
Vilardi's been revelatory since coming over in the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade two summers ago. (PLD has sort of an oblique Chicago/Brandon Saad thing going on where every team that trades him seems to win the trade.) Slotting opposite Kyle Connor on Mark Scheifele's line has produced a dominant trio, scoring some 70 percent of goals when they're on the ice together, and having a hand in five of six last night. He's still just 25 years old, and if his health finally allows him to play a full season, Vilardi's lightning hands and unshakeable go-to-the-net mindset are going to put him in position to score a ton of goals. Few will be as sexy at this one. "When you play at MSG," Scheifele said after the win, "you’ve got to put on a show.”
