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Jonathan Quick gem not enough, Rangers blanked by Hurricanes 2-0: takeaways
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- Jonathan Quick gem not enough, Rangers blanked by Hurricanes 2-0: takeaways
Brad Penner-Imagn Images
On a night when the New York Rangers saluted some of the greatest goaltenders in franchise history as part of their centennial celebration, it was only fitting that future Hall of Famer Jonathan Quick played his best game in quite some time.
However, in a season where nothing seems to go right for the Rangers , they wasted Quick's gem and lost to the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
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With Henrik Lundqvist , Mike Richter, John Vanbiesboruck, John Davidson, and Gilles Villemure looking on, Quick made 42 saves and allowed only one goal, before the Hurricanes iced their road victory with an empty-net tally in the final minute of regulation.
"He brings it no matter what. He's a guy that we lean on a lot," defenseman Braden Schneider said about Quick. "We need to put a better effort in front of him because that's not fair. He's doing everything he can, and we need to make sure that we're doing our job a bit better."
It was the fourth straight defeat for the Rangers (22-29-6), who arrive at the NHL Winter Olympics break dead last in the Eastern Conference and tied for the fewest home wins (6) in the entire League. It was the ninth time the Rangers were shut out this season, and seventh time on home ice. Two of those shutout losses at MSG came at the hands of the Hurricanes.
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Rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi stopped all 16 Rangers shots for his second shutout, improving to 23-3-1 on the season. The Long Island native, who grew up a Rangers fans and idolized Lundqvist, had 40 friends and family in attendance for his first-ever start at The Garden.
Andrei Svechnikov scored the only goal of the first two periods, despite the Hurricanes holding a massive territorial edge and dominating play, especially at even strength. The Hurricanes limited the Rangers to just 10 shots on goal through 40 minutes of play, only six of which were at 5v5.
Carolina had an insane expected goal share of 85.68 percent in the first two periods, including 90.71 percent in the opening 20 minutes, per Natural Stat Trick . The only thing the Rangers had going for them was Quick, who stopped 28 of 29 shots in that stretch to keep it a one-goal game.
The one shot that got by him was Svechnikov's wrister to the glove side 6:26 into the first period. The Hurricanes forward jumped off the bench, hustled to collect a loose puck before it crossed the blue line, danced around Matt Rempe , and beat Quick one-on-one for the unassisted goal, his 21st of the season and ninth in the past 10 games.
The Rangers stabilized things after Svechnikov's goal, due in large part to a pair of power plays on consecutive Carolina penalties at 7:28 and 12:50. Mika Zibanejad nearly tied the game at 13:40, but his point-blank look on the power was denied by Bussi, and his follow-up rebound attempt hit the post.
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Without the benefit of a single power play in the second period, the Rangers simply couldn't get anything going. They exhausted themselves trying to defend against the tenacious Hurricanes attack. Quick stopped all 19 shots he faced in the second period, and caught a break when Shayne Gostisbehere 's power-play blast caught iron with 90 seconds to go in the period.
The Rangers managed only four shots in the second, but Bussi came up big with a sharp pad save on J.T. Miller's deflection midway through. The Carolina netminder was a bit busier in the third period, and preserved Carolina's lead by denying Will Cuylle flying in off the rush at 6:17 and then stopping Alexis Lafreniere's point-blank snap shot at 12:15.
Jordan Staal buried a Nikolaj Ehlers feed into an empty net with Quick on the bench for a sixth attacker at 19:06 to finish the Rangers off.
Key takeaways after Rangers lose 2-0 to Hurricanes
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Angry heading to Milan
The Rangers will be represented by three players (Zibanejad with Sweden; Miller and Vincent Trocheck with the United States) and two coaches (Mike Sullivan and his assistant David Quinn for the United States) at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Not one of them left MSG with a a good taste in their mouth after an extremely subpar team effort Thursday night.
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Sullivan was dour in the aftermath of New York's 15th loss in its past 18 games (3-13-2). He said the Rangers were outplayed in the first two periods, not exactly a shocking assessment.
Miller displayed more emotion.
"We got outplayed the whole night. Wasn't good enough," the Rangers captain said postgame. "Wanted to go into the break feeling good about ourselves, but it's quite the opposite right now. It sucks."
Gonna be a long flight to Italy.
Setting record straight about Brennan Othmann
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Rookie forward Brennan Othmann was a healthy scratch against the Hurricanes, and Anton Blidh took his spot on the fourth line. There was an assumption by some media members that the Rangers scratched their 2021 first-round draft pick because of a rule stating that if a player dressed for 16 of 20 games heading into the Olympic break, he couldn't be assigned to the minors and play over the three-week break. And Othmann would've hit that 16-game mark if he played Thursday.
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However, Sullivan shot down that notion postgame.
"'Otter' and I had a number of conversations. We had a conversation today on why I made the decision I made," Sullivan explained. "I think there are elements of his game that have to continue to improve in order for him to establish himself as an NHL player."
The 23-year-old has one goal in 16 games this season, and averages 9:51 TOI in a very limited role. That goal is the only one he's scored in 41 career games in the NHL, and he hasn't come close to earning the trust of this coaching staff.
Vincent Iorio makes Rangers debut
Vincent Iorio made his Rangers debut Thursday, and Sullivan thought the 23-year-old defenseman was "OK" but that he needed to see him play more games before really making a fair judgement on him.
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The Rangers claimed Iorio off waivers from the San Jose Sharks this past weekend. Iorio replaced Scott Morrow on the right side of the third defense pairing with Urho Vaakanainen ; he blocked three shots and was credited with one hit in 14:15 TOI. He made a nice recovery to come back and break up a Hurricanes 2-on-1 down low by blocking a Logan Stankoven shot with his long reach in the second period.
Iorio was on ice for a team-high 10 scoring chances, though the Rangers were out-shot 12-8 with him out there 5v5.
Rangers remain hungry without Bread
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It's not like the Rangers had much success or produced a lot offensively when Artemi Panarin was in the lineup this season. Even though he led them in scoring with 57 points (19 goals, 38 assists) in 52 games, there's a reason why the Rangers didn't offer Panarin a contract extension and instead traded him to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.
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But the Rangers really are hard to watch without Panarin. Including this first game since he was traded, the Rangers are winless in all five games they played without him this season. The Rangers appear lifeless. And it could get much worse, with the possibility more players — like Trocheck, for example — will be traded as part of this latest retool.
"I will acknowledge that we're in a little bit of a difficult circumstance," Sullivan stated. "None of us really want to be in this position. The reality is we are where we are."
The reality sure isn't pretty right about now.
One bright spot: the Rangers don't play again until Feb. 26, when they host the Philadelphia Flyers .
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Enjoy the Olympics everyone.
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