It’s been a difficult season for Alexandar Georgiev, the Rangers’ backup goaltender. While the Rangers have ridden the almost unbelievable performances of Igor Shesterkin to the upper reaches of the Metropolitan Division standings and the cusp of their first playoff berth in five years, Georgiev has seen his ice time shrink more and more, and his results get worse and worse.
Georgiev had lost his last five starts but he stopped that streak Tuesday night when Adam Fox scored the game winner 55 seconds into overtime to give the Rangers a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks in the Blueshirts’ return home to Madison Square Garden after a four-game road trip.
Fox, at the end of his shift, raced up on a two-on-one with Artemi Panarin and banged in Panarin’s pass for his ninth goal of the season to give the Rangers their second straight win and give Georgiev his first victory since Jan. 8. For the Ducks, it closed a miserable five-game road trip East, where they finished 0-3-2.
The teams entered the third period tied, 2-2, but Anaheim took a 3-2 lead when Derek Grant got behind the Rangers defense and beat Georgiev on a breakaway at 10:35. But the Rangers tied it on a power play goal by Chris Kreider – his 39th goal and league-leading 20th extra-man goal – at 13:40. That came after coach Gerard Gallant had called timeout to keep his top power play unit on, and Kreider deflected a Fox shot off the backboards and then whacked in the rebound.
Georgiev, who last appeared in relief of Shesterkin in last Thursday’s 6-2 loss, started last Tuesday in the 5-2 loss to Minnesota. His last win had come against the Ducks, on Jan. 8, on the Rangers’ January trip to Vegas and California. Shesterkin missed the first three games of that trip because he was in COVID-19 protocol, and Georgiev started those three games and played relatively well, even though the Rangers lost two of the three.
But after Shesterkin cleared protocol, playing time got scarce for Georgiev. He started the front end of back-to-backs on Jan. 21 and Jan. 27, and then didn’t start again until Feb. 27, when he gave up four goals on 33 shots against Vancouver in a 5-2 loss.
"Earlier on when ‘Shesty’ got hurt (Georgiev) played four or five games in a row and played great hockey,’’ Gallant said. "We all know the backup job's a real tough job, and you don't get enough starts… And you’ve got a guy like Shesty's played the way he's played. So it's tough on the backup. But he's got to get prepared. And have a good attitude and go in there and win games because you need two goalies.’’
And Georgiev was good early, his biggest save being one where he slid post-to-post to rob Trevor Zegras, alone at the back post for a shot from point-blank range with 10:46 left in the first period.
The Rangers led, 1-0, on a goal by Jonny Brodzinski at 4:29 of the period, and things were looking good for Georgiev. But Anaheim tied it 1-1 at 14:05, when a shot by Troy Terry pinballed off a couple of bodies, the last being Anaheim’s Max Comtois, and got behind the goalie.
Mika Zibanejad’s 24th goal of the season, on a one-timer from a sharp angle on delayed penalty, gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 3:06 of the second period, but Cam Fowler tied it on a power-play goal at 4:53, firing a shot from the point, through a screen, that Georgiev appeared not to have seen.
