Quick earns victory over his former team
NEW YORK — In the words of the late, great Tom Petty, waiting is the hardest part.
At least that’s how Jonathan Quick felt Sunday ahead of his first-ever game in the opposite net from the team he spent 16 seasons with.
“There are a lot of thoughts running through your head and it’s tough to nap,” the veteran goalie quipped. “It’s a long day. You’re thinking about it. You just want the game to start. Having never played them before and the way it ended there, you’re just kind of replaying a lot of the memories throughout the day.”
The moment finally arrived that evening at Madison Square Garden, with Quick earning a measure of redemption in the Rangers’ 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
In doing so, he became the sixth goalie in NHL history to record a victory in his first meeting against a team he had played at least 500 games for.
“As soon as you get out there, you start playing,” he said. “You see a bunch of friends over there, guys you played with for a long time, but when they start trying to score on you, you forget about that. You just try to stop the puck.”
The 37-year-old has been reticent about his recent Broadway revival, typically deflecting credit while pointing out that there’s still a long season ahead. But he couldn’t deny that this one felt especially sweet.
“It’s special,” he said. “It’s a game that this summer when schedule comes out, you know when we’re playing them.”
Last week, Quick told lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, that “the last probably four years in L.A. didn’t go the way that I was hoping.” The low point came last season, when he posted an .876 save percentage in 31 appearances before being unceremoniously traded away from the place where he won two Stanley Cups.
The end of his accomplished career seemed near, but the team he grew up rooting for came calling over the summer with a modest one-year deal to backup Igor Shesterkin. It required a dose of humility, with Quick embracing his new role and thriving in a way few could have anticipated.
He’s now registered a point for New York in each of his first nine starts, posting an 8-0-1 record with a .922 SV% and 2.20 goals against average.
The Milford, Conn. native has proved that he’s not done yet by keeping his focus on the present, even if thoughts of the past crept back in during the long wait for puck drop Sunday.
“First and foremost, we didn’t play our best game (in Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Capitals),” he said. “You want to come and give a great effort for your team to try to win a game and obviously bounce back after our game last night. That’s the focus. Obviously, you’ve got other stuff kind of filtered in your head throughout the day. (But) at the end of the day, we wanted to bounce back as a group. If it gave the guys a little more motivation, then great. We obviously responded and we played a terrific game.”
Responding to adversity
Quick was sharp when he needed to be, but the Rangers (19-6-1) were sturdy in front of him. He was only required to make 11 saves through the first two periods, then stood tall with the win in sight by stopping 14 of the 15 shots he faced in the final 20 minutes.
“You could see their effort and attention to detail,” he said. “The team’s performance was phenomenal.”
Credit the Blueshirts for addressing the defensive issues that have cropped up in recent games on a short turnaround. They had allowed four goals or more in five of their previous seven games, including Saturday’s shutout loss in Washington that prompted head coach Peter Laviolette to say they had “too many things (go) wrong to list.”
Despite the recent statistical slippage in multiple defensive categories, most notably odd-man rushes against, Laviolette insisted that Saturday was an aberration. He questioned his team’s “intent” in that one, which was not the case in Tuesday’s 6-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators.
“Everybody will see a game different ways, and that doesn’t make the person that’s assessing the game wrong or right,” Laviolette said prior to Sunday’s game. “I don’t think it was that we weren’t fast or we weren’t competitive up in Ottawa. I think that we did some things that lessened our chances of being successful. I think we generated an awful lot and could have scored quite a few goals and we were doing the right thing, but at times we just got away from ourselves a little bit on how we needed to play the game with regard to both ends of the ice. (Saturday) night’s different for me.”
He went on to challenge the Rangers to “correct the mindset, correct the attitude and the way we play the game and how fast we play it.”
For the most part, they responded to their coach’s plea.
“There were some negative things creeping into our game,” said center Vincent Trocheck, who recorded a game-high three assists. “We all knew it. We all recognized it. I think that’s the biggest thing, is just making sure you can spot it when it’s coming and get to it quickly. I thought we had a really good bounceback game tonight against a really good hockey team.”
Defense keys victory
Facing an L.A. team that entered Sunday ranked No. 1 in the league in goal differential, shot share and xGF at five-on-five, according to Evolving Hockey, the Blueshirts tightened up considerably.
They succeeded in a mostly low-event contest by limiting mistakes, prioritizing their own end of the ice and playing with a decided edge. The result was only two high-danger scoring chances allowed through two periods and six for the game, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“There were very few quality chances after two periods,” Laviolette said. “I’m not sure where it sits in the third. You remove some of the power play out of it, but I thought our guys were good both off the rush and in D-zone coverage. It was good. We needed to reel that back.”
The coach set the tone from the first faceoff by starting his defensive-minded fourth line of Jimmy Vesey, Barclay Goodrow and Tyler Pitlick against L.A.’s dangerous top line of Quinton Byfield, Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe.
Goodrow missed the Caps’ game after taking a puck to the face on Tuesday, but returned Sunday sporting a full face shield. That courageous effort may have provided a spark, with his line allowing just one scoring chance the entire night.
“(It was) letting him know how important he is to our team,” Laviolette said of his reasoning for starting Goodrow and the fourth line. “It was a good matchup. We didn’t stick with it 100%, but they probably caught 60 to 70% of their shifts against (the Kings’ top) line. I thought they did a great job and I thought him coming back with what he just dealt with, I thought he played a heck of a game, too.”
The Rangers’ commitment to defending was exemplified on a stellar play by Jacob Trouba during the second period.
The Kings pounced on a Rangers’ turnover, with Trevor Moore seemingly on his way to a prime netfront opportunity. But the New York captain came storming in just in time to knock the puck away and send Moore to the ice with a punishing hit to keep the game scoreless.
“Jake has been unbelievable the entire year,” Laviolette said. “Even (Saturday) night when I don’t think that we were nearly on point, I thought that he was trying to play his game and show why he’s the captain of the team. I did think that his game was trying to get us pointed in the right direction. It didn’t happen, but that’s it for me. He’s been consistent the entire year. He’s moving the puck well, he’s creating offense, he’s physical, he’s blocking shots, he plays against the other team’s best players . ... He just goes about his business (with) a really workman-like approach.”