After a Rangers loss in which star goalie Igor Shesterkin was pulled, it’s difficult to imagine there being a bright spot, but that’s what Jonathan Quick was Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
Down four goals to the Predators just over halfway through the Blueshirts’ eventual 4-1 loss, Shesterkin’s night was over following Filip Forsberg’s slap shot from the right faceoff circle during Nashville’s power play.
The Rangers certainly weren’t doing Shesterkin any favors up to that point, but head coach Peter Laviolette saw it as an opportunity to ramp up Quick’s game ahead of his anticipated first start of the season on the club’s upcoming five-city road trip.
“Jonathan is going to play on the road for one, the game had not gone the way we wanted it to that point,” Laviolette said when asked to explain his thought process behind pulling Shesterkin, who faced 18 shots. “The odd-man rushes that we had given up against Shesty. He’s making saves, they’re putting in second opportunities, they’re scoring on breakaways. It wasn’t a reflection of a move against him.
“It’s a chance to get Jonathan some work. He’s going to play as we head out on the road trip here. We just needed to be better tonight. That move is not a reflection of anything.”
In his Rangers debut, Quick stopped all nine shots he faced in 26:07 of game action, including some bouncing pucks that could’ve further padded the Predators’ lead.
The 37-year-old netminder, however, was much sharper than he appeared to be in the preseason.
“I thought he was good,” Laviolette said. “He came in, he made some big saves, he had some tough looks just because of what we were doing in front of him. I just think him getting in the game and he had been out for a little bit, so to get him in the game as we move on the road, I thought that that was an important thing.”
Adam Fox’s power-play goal at 19:18 of the second period extended the Rangers’ scoring streak with the man-advantage to four straight games.
It’s the 11th time in franchise history that the Rangers have begun a season with power-play goals in four consecutive games.
The team record stands at 13 games, which was set in 1987-88.
With an assist on Fox’s goal, Artemi Panarin notched his fifth point of the season and extended his point streak to four games.
Thursday night was Hispanic Heritage Night at the Garden.
MSG Networks provided viewers with a Spanish-language audio broadcast of the game with Octavio Sequera in the play-by-play role and Brian Munguia as an analyst.
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