NEW YORK _ That goaltender Alexandar Georgiev has played so well down the stretch this season has not come as a surprise to Rangers coach David Quinn.
"No. I thought, in development camp (last June), I could see why we felt about him the way we did as an organization," Quinn said Friday before Georgiev started against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Rangers' final home game of the season. "You could see it right from the get-go. He passes the eye test. And then when you get to know him more, you're even more optimistic about what his future holds."
Georgiev was great again Friday, making 38 saves in regulation and overtime as the Rangers lost to the Blue Jackets, 3-2, in a shootout. The Blue Jackets clinched a playoff spot with the victory.
Free agent-to-be Artemi Panarin, who the Rangers are expected to pursue this summer, scored the only goal of the shootout, on the Blue Jackets' second shot. Tony DeAngelo went next for the Rangers, needing to score to keep the game going. But Sergei Bobrovsky stopped him to secure the win for Columbus.
Panarin had appeared to score the game-winner with 5:33 left in regulation, lifting a wrister over Georgiev's right shoulder, but Pavel Buchnevich's sharp-angle shot caromed off a stick and in with 6.1 seconds left to force overtime. Chris Kreider scored the game's first goal, his 28th of the season, at 14:27 of the second period, and Ryan Dzingel tied it at 2:25 of the third.
Georgiev (13-14-3) has flourished since early February, when the Rangers decided to play him more as the team fell out of the playoff race. While he has surged, though, Lundqvist has struggled with reduced ice time, going 2-11-3 in his last 16 starts. And that has been hard to watch for everybody, including Georgiev.
After last week's 6-3 loss in Boston, Lundqvist sat for a while in the locker room, with his head buried in his hands. Georgiev went over to console the 37-year-old.
"It's pretty tough," Georgiev said when asked about that scene. "This past season, I've had some games where it didn't go so well, but at the same time, you can't say that you played bad. And I just tried to support him after the game, because those goals _ there wasn't much he could do."
Though he is Bulgarian by birth, Georgiev grew up in Russia, where his family moved when he was a toddler, and he considers himself Russian. He has played for Russia in the World Junior Championships, and is in the mix for consideration to play for Russia in this year's World Championships. He's talked to the goalie coach, but hasn't yet been invited.
If he goes, he could be teammates with a future Rangers teammate _ goaltender Igor Shestyorkin, who is currently playing in the KHL playoffs, but whose contract expires at the end of this season. Shestyorkin is thought to be planning on signing with the Rangers and coming to North America in the fall, which would make the battle for time in the Rangers net even more interesting next season.
