Rangers' Jonathan Quick earns his third shutout of season in win over Predators
Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick skates to the net after a break in the action against the Nashville Predators in the second period of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
This type of game is one the Rangers simply have to win to have a chance to get into the playoffs. Against a struggling team playing on the second night of a back-to-back, they need to take two easy points and move on.
They did that Sunday night, dispatching the lowly Nashville Predators, 4-0, at the Garden to gain precious ground in the chase for an Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Goaltender Jonathan Quick, playing in his 800th game, made 34 saves to earn his third shutout of the season and 63rd of his career. The Rangers got goals from Artemi Panarin, J.T. Miller, K’Andre Miller and rookie Brett Berard to pull within two points of Detroit for the final playoff spot.
“Coming off of the last game [a 3-2 loss to Toronto on Friday], it was one that we felt like we should have won, played good enough to win,’’ forward Jonny Brodzinski said. “I thought we were extremely physical last game. I thought the same thing tonight, just being harder to play against. I think it’s just transitioning over to our offensive play, and we’re just getting more opportunities from it.’’
The Rangers (30-26-4, 64 points) outshot Nashville 28-15 over the first two periods and built a 3-0 lead before the Predators (21-32-7) piled up a 19-6 shot advantage in the third. But that’s when Quick (9-5-2) was brilliant in keeping Nashville from getting back into the game.
“I thought we had a good start, played a good first period,’’ J.T. Miller said. “I feel like after we made it 3-0, we were a little bit sloppy. Quickie was unbelievable.’’
“I thought the first 40 minutes were really good,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “Defensively, sharp, and then offensively, I thought we did some good things, too. And so, good win. We needed it.’’
The Rangers, who on Saturday traded defenseman Ryan Lindgren and winger Jimmy Vesey to Colorado for forward Juuso Parssinen, defenseman Calvin de Haan and a couple of draft picks, had both of their new players in the lineup.
Nashville was without star defenseman Roman Josi, who was placed on injured reserve Saturday with an upper-body injury.
Panarin got the party started with his first goal in seven games, blasting a slap shot past goalie Justus Annunen at 8:32 of the first period. J.T. Miller made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 1:02 of the second period on a redirect of a feed from Panarin.
K’Andre Miller made it 3-0 at 3:25 when he took a pass from J.T. Miller and roofed a backhander for his fifth goal.
The fans got an early jolt when Matt Rempe slammed Nashville defenseman Nick Blankenburg into the end boards and Predators defenseman Andreas Englund fought him early in the first period. Both players were bloodied in a long fight in which Englund was assessed an instigator penalty. Rempe got an extra two minutes for elbowing Blankenburg.
That could draw supplemental discipline from the league, especially given that Rempe already has a few suspensions in his NHL career.
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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