Story by
Rangers lose 3-2 to Panthers in Jonathan Quick’s final NHL game: takeaways
- Story by
- Rangers lose 3-2 to Panthers in Jonathan Quick’s final NHL game: takeaways
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
This wasn't the storybook ending Jonathan Quick nor his New York Rangers teammates and coaches wanted for the 40-year-old goaltender. But playing his final NHL game after a brilliant 18-year career, Quick allowed the deciding goal at 18:10 of the third period, and the Rangers lost to the Florida Panthers 3-2 Monday at Amerant Bank Arena.
Quick announced after the morning skate that he's retiring at the end of this season, which has one more game remaining, Wednesday at the Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite the loss Monday, Quick ends his career with 410 wins, 12th most in NHL history , and more than any United States-born goalie in the League.
Advertisement
The three-time Stanley Cup champion closed out his 829th NHL game and 810th start with 14 saves. He surrendered a pair of goals to Florida's Cole Reinhardt, including the game-deciding goal late in the third period, and was outdueled by Daniil Tarasov, who made 24 saves, including 13 in the final period.
Quick allowed two goals on the first six shots he faced, as the Rangers (33-39-9) spotted the Panthers a 2-0 lead. But by time the game reached the second intermission, the visitors tied things up 2-2 on goals by Matthew Robertson and Gabe Perreault .
Florida opened the scoring at 9:35 of the first period, when Reinhardt buried a rebound for his first goal of the night. Then Mackie Samoskevich scored 1:56 later, a gorgeous finish when he roofed the puck short side over Quick's glove off a partial breakaway. The unassisted goal started back in his own end when Samoskevich blocked Braden Schnieder's shot and then beat the Rangers defenseman on a race the other way.
The Rangers got one back before the first period ended, to narrow the deficit to one. Noah Laba cleanly won an offensive-zone face-off back to Robertson, who skated to his left to set up a screen, and shot against the grain across his body, beating Tarasov from long range for his sixth goal at 15:19.
Shots on goal were even in first period, seven apiece, as well as in the second, when each team recorded six. And things were all even on the scoreboard, too, when the second period concluded.
Advertisement
Perreault was credited with his 11th goal, when a rebound ricocheted off his body and into the net at 17:30. Adam Fox whipped a shot at Tarasov that the Panthers goalie denied with his blocker, but the carom found a perfectly-positioned Perreault for the fortuitous goal.
There was not much that was "even" in the third period, though. The Rangers stormed the Panthers, recording 12 of the first 13 shots. But Tarasov channeled his inner Sergei Bobrovsky — the two-time Cup champion, who was the backup in this one for Florida. Tarasov flat-out robbed Vincent Trocheck early in the period, and then stoned J.T. Miller with a little more than eight minutes remaining.
The Rangers failed to score on a power play at 13:49, managing one shot on goal and a Fox attempt that hit the post. And not long after, the Panthers had their lone extended shift in the offensive zone, and capitalized against the exhausted Rangers defense pair of Robertson and Will Borgen .
Advertisement
Reinhardt hammered a one-time past Quick to make it 3-2 with 1:50 left on the clock. It was only Florida's fourth shot of the period, but it was the dagger. Quick finished the game sitting on the bench, pulled in vain for a sixth attacker.
He exited quickly — no pun intended — to the locker room after the final buzzer, but was summoned back out, where the Panthers respectfully waited for his return to greet him with handshakes and hugs, led by Bobrovsky. From one champion to another.
Key takeaways after Panthers defeat Rangers 3-2
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Quick goodbye
All the Rangers wore No. 32 jerseys to honor Quick during warmups. After the game, he quipped that he thought there were a bunch of Stephane Matteaus on the ice, referencing the Rangers' Stanley Cup champion, who wore the number more than 30 years ago.
Though the Rangers eventually tied the game before the second intermission, they really didn't noticeably make a serious push to try and win this one for Quick until the third period. They were all over the Panthers, and had numerous good looks against Tarasov. But not even a 66.51 percent expected goal share 5v5, per Natural Stat Trick , nor 13-4 shots advantage was enough for the visitors in the final period of Quick's career.
Advertisement
Such was New York's urgency in the third, that coach Mike Sullivan called a timeout during its power play, to make sure his best players were able to catch their breath and remain out there pushing for the go-ahead goal for the full two minutes.
"It's in the back of your head throughout it, but you're just trying to enjoy it," Quick said postgame about being aware that this was it as the night progressed. "This team played great. I wish I had a couple more saves for them. It's unfortunate how it finished up, but they deserved to win. I didn't have as many [saves] as I'd like to tonight, but it was still special."
Adding salt to the wound
As if losing a game they wanted to win so badly for an incredibly respected teammate wasn't bad enough, the Rangers failed to defeat what was basically Florida's junior varsity team. The Panthers entered the game with 513 man-games lost to injury, and their lineup didn't include any of the following stars: Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Anton Lundell, Carter Verhaeghe, Evan Rodrigues, Aaron Ekblad, and Seth Jones.
Advertisement
Even Tarasov, who was a difference maker in the third period, is Florida's backup goalie and not a member of either of the Stanley Cup-winning teams in 2024 and 2025.
And though the fully-healthy Rangers arguably had more to play for in this contest, considering Quick's announcement, that sense of urgency didn't appear until the third period. All things considered, it was another blemish on this dismal and disappointing season for the Rangers.
Passing the torch
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
On a night that the oldest goalie in the League, and likely future Hall of Famer, played his final game, several Rangers kids landed on the score sheet. Kind of a passing of the torch, if you will.
Advertisement
Perreault, who had a hat trick in Quick's previous outing — a 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Madison Square Garden nine days ago — logged 16:36 TOI, scored the tying goal, and was second on the Rangers with three shots on goal. The 20-year-old has quite the bright future.
Robertson, a rookie revelation on the defense corps this season, scored his second goal in the past eight games and totaled 17:05 TOI. The 25-year-old was caught on ice for 1:18 defending in his own end on Reinhardt's game-winner, but still looks like a keeper in this retool.
And don't forget Laba, who centered the again-energetic fourth line with fellow rookies Adam Sykora and Jaroslav Chmelar , played over 11 minutes, and earned his 15th assist on Robertson's goal.
Related Headlines
Advertisement
