As Igor chants rang out at Madison Square Garden on Monday night, the future highest-paid goaltender in hockey was likely earning a few more dollars toward his eventual salary. New York Rangers star Igor Shesterkin took the edge off all players against the Detroit Red Wings. Even if the pieces were canceled, he wouldn't miss out on a free gift.

In the end, the Red Wings (1-2-0) couldn't score more than a single goal against Shesterkin, which led to every single one of the four players conceding too many. That's the way things go against such an elite goaltender, but giving all the credit to a hot goaltender ignores Detroit's own miscues during the 4-1 loss.

These errors were plentiful. The Red Wings allowed five power plays last season against a unit that finished third in the NHL with most of their key players returning. New York (2-0-1) scored once in those five attempts, but capitalized by exploiting another of Detroit's weaknesses: faceoffs. The Rangers dominated the point with a 58% success rate and led to two goals – one each for Chris Kreider and Reilly Smith – scored on faceoffs.

Even when Detroit was headed in the right direction, Shesterkin proved largely unflappable. Dylan Larkin only beat him with a buzzer-beater in the first period, aided by good passes from Justin Holl and Patrick Kane. But on the Red Wings' 31 other shots, the Russian export put up a wall. He made two notable saves on JT Compher's doorstep and saved all but one of the 11 medium and high danger shot attempts he faced. Nothing was cheap against Shesterkin; Even as Alex DeBrincat chased down a puck that was knocked down by Lucas Raymond's high stick, Shesterkin denied the Red Wing sharpshooter with a glove save as the referee blew his whistle.

Detroit knew Shesterkin would be a tough, but not impossible, nut to crack. Just a few nights ago, Utah scored six goals against him in an overtime win. Perhaps this had some motivating effect on Shesterkin, but it also proved that he is indeed human. He is actually fallible. But that didn't matter because Detroit couldn't play well enough to get a win.

Unforced penalties ruined the Red Wings' momentum, including a hook by Austin Watson in the first period, a high-sticking call on Justin Holl that led to Chris Kreider's game-winning power play goal, and, most notably, a delay of game by goaltender Alex Lyon for an out The net broke in the anchorage (Lyon saved 24 of 27 shots in its first start of the season). Because these types of errors gave the Rangers control of the game, the Red Wings found no chance to score again.

These are the same Rangers who come to Detroit on Thursday, a night the Red Wings hope goes much better than their trip to New York City. With Shesterkin in net, it's safe to say they have another challenge ahead of them.

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