New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin took responsibility after his team gave up another lead and lost for the second consecutive time on home ice.
The reigning Vezina Trophy winner surrendered four unanswered goals in the third period Saturday night as the Rangers fell to the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 and was between the pipes again Monday as his team was up by two early, only to lose 5-3 to the New Jersey Devils.
Shesterkin, who stopped 33 of 37 shots he faced from the Devils, accepted the blame for what went wrong.
“Goalie played (expletive) game again,” Shesterkin said according to Dan Rosen of NHL.com. “I feel so bad and play so bad. I’m ashamed.
“Every goal is easy play for me. I have to stop those. If our team wants to win the game, I have to play better.”
The 26-year-old from Moscow has a 10-4-3 record, 2.58 goals-against average and .913 save percentage this year after being named the league’s top netminder last season.
Shesterkin was on a 4-0-1 run over his five starts prior to the Rangers’ loss to the Oilers, while also only allowing three or fewer goals in each game.
The Rangers (10-9-4, 24 points) are fifth in the Metropolitan Division and one point back of the fourth-place Pittsburgh Penguins. Their next game is Wednesday on the road against the Ottawa Senators.