Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shesterkin may play on opposing sides of one of the NHL’s fiercest rivalries, but that hasn’t stopped the Islanders and Rangers goaltenders from training with one another.
A case in point came on Sunday afternoon, when Shesterkin posted an Instagram story of the pair pushing a car together as part of their training.
The short video shows the two Russian goaltenders pushing a BMW SUV through an empty parking lot, though it’s Shesterkin who ends up holding out a little longer than Sorokin in pushing the car.
It’s not surprising to see the two training and spending time with one another.
The two have known one another since they were 16 and have played on several Russian national teams together over the years.
Sorokin is the godfather to Shesterkin’s child, the Isles’ goaltender even spent Christmas at Shesterkin’s house and the two shared plenty of friendly banter at NHL All-Star weekend in Florida in February.
“It’s really good,” Sorokin said at the time about having Shesterkin there. “[We] played together in junior team when we were 16. Now we play in NHL. … Now we play in All-Star. So it’s really a cool thing for us.”
Both goalies have also played significant roles in playoff runs for their respective teams, with Sorokin part of the goaltending duo that got the Islanders to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021 and Shesterkin helping guide the Rangers to a conference finals appearance of their own in 2022.
In 158 games, Shesterkin has 99 wins, a 2.37 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.
All of that has come while posting 11 shutouts in his career and winning the Vezina Trophy in 2022.
Sorokin has appeared in 136 NHL games and has 70 wins under his belt, while posting a career 2.34 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.
He was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy this past season but finished behind Boston’s Linus Ullmark in the voting.
The Islanders signed Sorokin to an eight-year contract with an annual value of $8.25 million that will kick in next season.
While the two will square off against one another on the ice as rivals – including in a marquee game between the Islanders and Rangers at Metlife Stadium in February – it’s clear that the bonds of friendship between them has remained strong.
