Recap: Quick Steals The Show, Rangers Win 4-0

With an increasingly tough schedule ahead of them, the Rangers were in dire need of a bounce back win. While it was far from an inspiring effort from a team perspective, Jonathan Quick played one of his best games of his Rangers tenure to help secure the 4-0 win. A performance that not only adds to his hot start this season, but to his impressive list of career accolades that continues to grow.

1st Period:

Not even one minute into the game and the Rangers were already being tested as Jonathan Quick had to come up with a big save on Lucas Raymond off the rush. A strong start from the Rangers’ veteran backup would prove crucial as the Red Wings continued to apply the pressure, out-shooting them 4-1 within the first five minutes. The Red Wings were exploiting the Rangers ongoing defensive struggles as they continued to beat them on the rush through the front half of the opening period. 

Detroit’s pursuits continued on a chaotic shift in the Rangers end of the ice where Quick was without a stick for a large chunk of play before the whistle was blown for a hand pass. At this point, the Rangers really hadn’t generated anything in the offensive zone but their goaltender was coming up with the saves to keep the scoreboard empty. 

With about seven minutes to go in the period, Simon Edvinsson tied up Mika Zibanejad along the boards in the neutral zone to take the first penalty of the night for hooking. Wasting no time, Adam Fox let a shot go from the point right off the face-off after a quick back and forth with Artemiy Panarin. The shot from Fox deflected off of Chris Kreider in front to sneak its way through Ville Husso to take the lead 1-0. 

Just about a minute or so later, as J.T. Compher was chasing a puck in the Rangers zone, his stick caught up with the skates of Ryan Lindgren to send the Red Wings back to the penalty kill. The Rangers had a much more difficult time trying to get the power play going the second time around as they couldn’t enter the zone or establish much possession. This led to a rather uneventful second power play chance which closed out another underwhelming period despite having the 1-0 lead. 

With just six shots on goal to show for, the Rangers were being out-shot 8-6, out-chanced 20-15 in attempts and 5-3 in high danger chances. The only category the Rangers had a significant edge in outside of the score was the physical side of the game as the Rangers were out-hitting Detroit 11-2. 

2nd Period:

Quite the close call to start the second as Patrick Kane nearly tied the game on a quick wrist shot that rang hard off the post. That wouldn’t rattle Quick at all as he continued to come up with some key saves for the Rangers to preserve their 1-0 lead through the early parts of the middle period, including a big one on a point blank chance from former friend Vlad Tarasenko. For a moment, it looked as though Peter Laviolette was reverting back to the old lines but it turned out that Vincent Trocheck was not on the bench for a few minutes, causing a bit of a brief panic amongst the fans. 

Nearing the midway point of the period, the Rangers were really falling apart defensively and the Red Wings were making a strong push as a result of it. Whether it was turning the puck over at the point, falling just short of getting the puck past the blue line or the Rangers defenseman completely putting themselves out of position, the team’s weaknesses were on display and had Quick not been at the top of his game, things could have gotten ugly. 

Ryan Lindgren would take the first penalty of the night for the Rangers as he got the stick up high on Christian Fischer. The Rangers were successful in killing off the man advantage but the entire power play was spent in their own end. To the point where Jacob Trouba and K’Andre Miller were out there for the entire two minutes which mixed with an icing call upon returning to even strength, made for an incredibly long shift from a defense duo that continues to just not click for this team. 

Yet another sequence that ended with a big save from Quick led to a minor scrum in front on the net which at least brought some life into what was becoming a rather monotonous game from the Rangers perspective. With five minutes to go in the period, the Rangers finally had an odd-man rush but only got a weak backhander from Reilly Smith out of it. 

Finally, with just over three minutes to go, a great effort from Zac Jones to keep the puck in the offensive zone found Sam Carrick down low who set up Jimmy Vesey for a quick shot in front. Vesey was able to send it straight to the back of the net to make it a 2-0 game, picking up his first of the season after missing the first ten games of the season. 

Less than a minute later, a great shift from the top line that started and ended with Artemiy Panarin found the back of the net as he ripped a quick wrister that beat Husso on the glove side, 3-0 game. 

The good news, the Rangers had a 3-0 lead after two. The bad news, pretty much everything about their play, minus those two goals in the last couple of minutes was pretty rough. The Rangers were out-shot significantly 19-8 in the second and more than half of those shots came during that burst of life in the final couple of minutes. Detroit still had triple the chances the Rangers had and controlled most of the possession. Jonathan Quick was undoubtedly the difference maker. 

3rd Period:

It would be a very status quo third period. Shots on goal were minimal, overall pace was that of an exhibition game and most notably, Jonathan Quick continued to be excellent. This save in particular pretty much summed up the entire night as Quick repeatedly bailed the Rangers out in one of his best outings as of late.

Detroit joined the list of team's paying homage to Sam Rosen in his final tour of duty with a nice tribute on the Jumbotron during a TV timeout.

With about eight minutes to go, Jacob Trouba was called for tripping as he took down Ben Chiarot at the end of yet another brutal shift from the Rangers Captain. After spending the full two minutes in the Rangers end of the ice yet again, Trouba had the chance for a breakaway as he came out of the penalty box but in very Jacob Trouba fashion, opted for a slap shot from far out that didn't amount to anything.

The Red Wings pulled Ville Husso for the extra attacker extremely early with over four minutes still on the clock. After a long debate on which Rangers should remain on the ice following the icing call, the Red Wings went to work in attempts to get on the board but it wasn't long before Reilly Smith found the empty net, all the way from the Rangers end of the ice.

Still not a pretty win by any means goaltending aside, but the Rangers got an important pair of points as they'll head back home for a real tough test against one of the best team's in the league. The puck will drop against the Winnipeg Jets at 7pm at MSG on Tuesday Night as the Rangers look to continue to snap out of this little recent slump.