Recap: Rangers Lose Quick's Final NHL Game 3-2 to Florida

Game 81 of 82 on the season but for one name on the New York Rangers roster, it would be the last of his legendary, surely hall of fame career. Jonathan Quick made the announcement today that this would be the final start of his NHL career. He would do so against the Florida Panthers, essentially the Charlotte Checkers as the Hurricanes entire roster is practically on IR. His teammates honored him appropriately during warmups by having everyone wear Quick's jersey.

As for the rest of the lineup, it remained more or less the same with Drew Fortescue slotting back in for Urho Vaakanainen. 

First Period

The Rangers began the game with an early power play chance as the Panthers were called for too-many men just 58 seconds into the game. J.T. Miller had the best chance of the advantage as he took several seconds to load up a wrist shot that missed the net by a mile. Aside from that, the Rangers wouldn’t convert and soon after, would head to the penalty kill with Will Cuylle being called for tripping. No harm associated with the foul as the game remained scoreless through the first nine minutes of play. 

It only took the Panthers nine and a half minutes to spoil the potential shutout in Quick’s final game. A tough break off the rush resulted in Cole Reinhardt cashing in on a Tobias Bjornfot rebound to make it a 1-0 game midway through the opening period. 

Just about a minute later, the Rangers allowed Mackie Samoskevich to come in all alone on Quick and snipe one upstairs to extend their lead to 2-0. It was a shot from Braden Schneider in the offensive zone that Samoskevich blocked to send himself on the break that led directly to the goal. Just a couple of southern-Connecticut gentlemen having an encounter at the professional level. 

The Rangers answered with just under five minutes to go off an offensive zone face-off win. Noah Laba won the draw and moved the puck over to Matthew Robertson at the point whose shot snuck through Daniil Tarasov cleanly to bring his team within one, 2-1. A nice screen from Jaroslav Chmelar helped take Tarasov’s eyes off the puck on the play. 

That would do it for the first as the Rangers and Panthers both had seven shots on goal and were credited with four high danger chances. It was the Panthers who had the edge on the scoreboard as the Rangers trailed 2-1.

Second Period

Two minutes in, the Rangers drew another penalty as Will Cuylle was tripped by Wilmer Skoog along the boards. No, I did not make that name up. As the undrafted, Boston University standout from the class of 2023 sat in the penalty box, the Rangers fumbled their way through another man advantage and came out of it without generating much offense.

As Kenny Albert pointed out on the broadcast closer to the midway mark of the second, this game was very much turning into the Dallas game in the sense that the shots on goal were few and far between. The Rangers weren't playing terribly but they weren't doing much to stand out against a pretty AHL-centered lineup.

With five minutes to go in the period, Tye Kartye took a hard hit near the Rangers bench which prompted a relatively spirited scrum. That sent Kartye and Luke Kunin to the penalty box as the teams skated four aside for the next two minutes. As the teams returned to even strength, the Rangers tied the game with just over two and a half to go.

An offensive zone turnover by A.J. Greer set the Mika Zibanejad line the other way with it and a shot from Adam Fox ended up going off Gabe Perreault in front to find the back of the net, tying the game up 2-2.

Through forty minutes, the Rangers were tied at two with shots on goal now tied 13-13. They would have to find a way to win one period of hockey in order to get their goaltender a win in the final outing of his storied career.

Third Period

The Rangers picked up their offense through the first half of the third as they were out-shooting the Panthers 8-1. After an incredibly infuriating sequence between Miller and Gavrikov that almost resulted in a brutal turnover for Florida, Gavrikov regained the zone and set up Miller perfectly in the slot but Tarasov shut the door to keep things tied. Shots were now 11-1 in the Rangers favor in the third period.

With just over six minutes to go, Skoog was sent off for holding the puck which gave the Rangers their third power play of the night. While the top unit attacked with purpose, they came up empty handed yet again as they did more passing than actual shooting with the puck.

With 1:50 to go in the period, a lengthy shift in the Rangers zone resulted in Kunin setting up Reinhardt for a one timer high in the slot that found the back of the net, to make it a 3-2 game. The Rangers pulled Quick on the following shift but couldn't generate anything. They would fall short to the Panthers by a score of 3-2.

An unfortunate end result for the final outing of a legendary career. Quick was on the bench as a result of being pulled in the final minute and a half of the game and attempted an Irish goodbye but in a classy move, the Panthers remained on the ice to shake hands with him.

The Rangers will finish out their season Wednesday night as they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning.