New York Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist to start, Igor Shesterkin ‘unfit’

The King is back. Henrik Lundqvist will start in net for the New York Rangers after Igor Shesterkin was deemed unfit.

Despite Igor Shesterkin‘s breakout rookie season, Henrik Lundqvist is starting for the New York Rangers in Game 1 against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Henrik Lundqvist is starting for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin is unfit to play today.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) August 1, 2020

The Russian rookie was deemed “unfit” per the MSG broadcast. We’re not quite sure what this means for Shesterkin’s future in this series, but we do know that Lundqvist will have at least one more chance to create some playoff magic for the Blueshirts. That’s a beautiful thing.

Lundqvist, 38, has absolutely dominated the Hurricanes throughout his career. In 46 games against Carolina, Hank is 33-12-1 with a .934 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average.

Sure, he has lost a step or two over the years, but he still might have enough left in the tank for one more dominant performance. Rangers fans can only hope that’s the case.

As a result of Shesterkin’s absence, the rest of the Rangers are going to have to pick up the slack. A big Rangers playoff debut from Artemi Panarin would go a long way towards setting up the Blueshirts for success.

UPDATE

All those good feelings about Lundqvist starting went away awful quickly… #PlayLikeANewYorker pic.twitter.com/XsSx9gclfZ

— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) August 1, 2020

This is not the way you want to start off a short series. Within the first 61 seconds, the Canes broke through for a goal.

On the bright side, the Rangers immediately turned up the intensity. Before the first period hit the 15-minute mark, each team committed two penalties and there was a fight between Ryan Strome and Justin Williams.

Playoff hockey, baby!