Rangers top Kraken as backup goalie Jonathan Quick earns second straight shutout
SEATTLE — On most nights, the Rangers’ best player, by far, is their goaltender. That usually is Igor Shesterkin, but some nights it’s Jonathan Quick, who — the way things look right now — likely will be a first-ballot Hockey Hall of Famer after he finally hangs up his skates.
On Sunday, it was Quick who backstopped the Rangers to a 2-0 victory over the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena to open a four-game road trip, their longest of the season.
Quick made 24 saves in posting his second consecutive shutout and the 62nd of his career. He made goals by Alexis Lafreniere and Zac Jones stand up and earned the 397th victory of his NHL career.
It was Quick’s first back-to-back shutouts since 2011.
Afterward, the 38-year-old, who is the winningest American-born goaltender in NHL history, tried to downplay his gaudy numbers.
“You don’t really put too much thought into it,’’ he said. “You’re honored to have those numbers at the end of the day. As a goalie, you’re very dependent on your team in front of you, so all those numbers really mean is I’ve played with some great players and teams that value winning more than anything. So I consider myself very grateful and lucky to have played with all those guys over the course of my career.’’
His teammates are grateful to have him as their backup goaltender, teammate and locker room leader.
“Quickie’s been amazing,’’ defenseman K’Andre Miller said. “He’s been a great team leader for us, and obviously leading on the ice as well in a lot of different ways other than just getting shutouts . . . It’s great to have a guy like him in the lineup.’’
Quick wasn’t overly taxed in this one. The Rangers (11-4-1) played a solid defensive game all around and the Kraken, who were riding a four-game winning streak but were playing the second night of a back-to-back after beating the Islanders on Saturday, didn’t really generate all that much.
“I think [we were] just being quick on guys, being aggressive, being hard,’’ Jones said of the Rangers’ defensive game. “Trying not to give them much time and space. That’s the goal for the defensemen is trying to limit as much as we can. And I thought we did a good job tonight.’’
With the defense playing well, Quick extended his time of not allowing a goal to 128 minutes, 5 seconds dating to Nov. 7, when he relieved Shesterkin in a 6-1 loss to Buffalo and allowed a goal at 11:55 of the third period.
Quick, who is 4-0-0, lowered his goals-against average to 0.90 (he’s allowed four goals in four starts and one relief appearance) and increased his save percentage to .970.
The Rangers were playing without center Filip Chytil, who stayed behind in New York because of an upper-body injury. Jonny Brodzinski entered the lineup after sitting out five games in a row and took Chytil’s spot as the third-line center between wingers Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko.
In the first two periods, the Rangers played a strong defensive game but created little offensively. But Quick and a stout defense kept the game scoreless until Lafreniere got free at the back door to tap in a shot-pass from Artemi Panarin for his seventh goal of the season at 17:30 of the second period.
Jones scored his first of the season on a bad-angle flip from the left circle that appeared to handcuff Philipp Grubauer. It went off his glove arm and in at 2:58 of the third to make it 2-0.
“Kind of a low-event game, low chances,’’ Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “I like the fact that we were disciplined with the puck and disciplined with the defense. We got one and then eventually got another one.
“Really good road game to start the road trip.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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