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. 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. Matthew Robertson gets the Rangers on the board pic. twitter.
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