Blueshirts believe star goalie will be back in week

The Rangers have cleared every obstacle they’ve faced so far this season, but a quarter of the way through, their most daunting challenge has just come knocking.

Goaltender Igor Shesterkin, whom the Rangers have given most of the credit for their thirdbest start in franchise history, was placed on injured reserve Saturday ahead of the team’s 3-2 win over the Blackhawks on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers will play seven games between Tuesday and Dec. 17, and Shesterkin will miss, at a minimum, three of them.

“We feel real comfortable he’ll be ready to go in a week,” head coach Gerard Gallant said.

The 25-year-old Shesterkin could barely bring himself to his skates and had to be assisted to the locker room in the third period of the Rangers’ 1-0 win over the Sharks on Friday night. And though Gallant said trainers told him Shesterkin’s injury wasn’t as bad as it looked, the goalie’s history says otherwise.

The last time the Rangers said Shesterkin was “day-to-day,” in March 2021, he was out for three weeks and missed 10 games.

The Rangers called up Adam

Huska from AHL Hartford on Saturday to serve as backup to Georgiev. ➤ After a goal and an assist Saturday, Adam Fox has 25 points through 23 games, the seventh time in franchise history a Rangers defenseman has posted such numbers.

The 23-year-old continues to cement himself in elite company. He has joined Brian Leetch, Brad Park, Ron Greschner and James Patrick as the only Rangers defensemen to record 23 points or more through the first 22 games of a season.

Fox has surpassed the Panthers’ Aaron Ekblad for the most points in the NHL among defensemen.