Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin dishes on All-Star nod: ‘Bread deserves it’

MONTREAL — Igor Shesterkin will represent the Rangers at All-Star Weekend in February, but even the Russian netminder knows he probably wasn’t the NHL’s first choice.

“It’s a great honor,” Shesterkin said before the Rangers fell, 4-3, in a shootout to the Canadiens on Saturday night at Bell Centre with Jonathan Quick in goal. “But Bread deserves it [more].”

Bread, of course, is Artemi Panarin, the Rangers’ leading scorer and the NHL’s fourth-ranked goal scorer (along with the Canucks’ Brock Boeser) entering Saturday night’s slate of games.

Panarin was presumably the no-brainer selection from the Rangers, after the star wing opened the season on a franchise-best 15-game point streak and has yet to slow down.

But Panarin and his wife, Alisa, are expecting their second child during that time, so Shesterkin was the next-best option.

The NHL chooses its first 32 players to participate in the All-Star Game in collaboration with each individual team, which is how the league knew not to select Panarin.

Shesterkin is the currently the lone goalie representative of the Eastern Conference, while the Kings’ Cam Talbot, the Stars’ Jake Oettinger and the Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck were chosen from the Western Conference.

Earning an All-Star nod for the second consecutive season, Shesterkin became the sixth Rangers goalie in franchise history to do so — joining Henrik Lundqvist, Gilles Villemure, Ed Giacomin, Gump Worsley and Chuck Rayner.

Through 24 games, Shesterkin has posted a 16-8-0 record with a 2.75 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.

After posting a goal and an assist Saturday night, Vincent Trocheck now has nine points in his past four games. He recorded his 22nd primary assist of the season on Panarin’s goal, which tied Trocheck for the third most in the NHL.

Quick earned the starting nod against the Canadiens on Saturday, marking his 13th start of the season and his 14th appearance.

In his previous 11 career games versus the Habs, Quick has gone 7-4-0 with a 2.09 GAA and a .926 save percentage. Backstopping the Rangers to one point, Quick, who made 27 saves in the shootout loss, has now earned at least one point in 11 of his 13 starts this season.

The Rangers are scheduled to be off Sunday before they return to game action against the Canucks at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.