Jonathan Quick, in most cases, avoids talking about himself. At all costs. Questions about rewards and milestones saw answers filled with compliments directed to teammates.
But Sunday evening, when the last seconds cohated the chronometer and the 399 in the big book of Quick changed to 400, the reactions of the rangers around him said everything.
Vincent Trocheck arrived first, throwing his arms quickly and pushing him back into one of the nets he has just defended on the way around 34 stops in their 4-2 victory against the Golden Knights.
The 18,006 fans who packed the garden roared while the other blueshirts formed a giant embrace around him. K’andre Miller, who scored the goal of Go-Ahead, said that Quick meant “everything” to the Rangers (25-23-4) and called him “one of the biggest goalkeepers of all time ».
Head coach Peter Laviolette called him “incredible milestone”.
“This is something of the last games here he played, we are aware,” said Mika Zibanejad. “We tried to do our best to win him.”
Fast, 39 years old and at the twilight of a career which already includes three Stanley cups and many records, failed during his first three attempts to become the first goalkeeper of American origin, and the 15th of all time, to win 400 victories.
But with the rangers transported by the shock of JT Miller – their recent acquisition in the garden for a second pass – and goals from the third period of K’andre Miller, an extinguished Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, however, the Blulashirts broke a three – Game Skid which threatened to become disastrous at this stage of the calendar, and which quickly left the garden with another place in the history of the NHL.
“It means that I had the chance to play with many great hockey players who are worth the value and put this above all,” said Quick. “Just grateful. I have been in large teams during my career, it included here. »»
Before winning the elusive victory, Quick prevented the Rangers from becoming out of control in the opening framework, allowing Jack Eichel’s lens – when the Bloehirt penalty could not eliminate the washer – with 18.8 remaining seconds despite six chances of high danger. , according to Natural Stat Trick. On an impressive sequence, he took a quick blow from Eichel in the slit that could easily have been another goal.
The pair of Eichel’s goals was its lonely imperfections, but the Rangers succeeded in the Golden Knights after both – using objectives of Alexis Lafreniere and Zibanejad as answers to the objectives of Eichel.
This second, however, was perhaps the most encouraging since Zibanejad has difficulty during most of the season and a new place on the wing alongside JT Miller.
After Matt Réger fired a penalty in the third, Zibanejad ended up on the ice with the first unit to start the chance. And after a JT Miller managed to sneak through Vegas goalkeeper Adin Hill, Zibanejad, of his perch near the right post, hit the rebound in the net just five minutes from the frame.
At 11:33 am, K’andre Miller tore his fourth goal of the season which served as a winner of the match, and Panarin followed with a late power game goal which extended the advantage of the Rangers.
Just as the Rangers had started to make progress, just when they had started to climb the classification of the Eastern Conference enough to become buyers before the deadline, they hit another slippage. But in Miller’s second match with the Rangers, they had the fuel of a meeting with their new front line center.
He opened his debut in two points against Bruins. Then, he added two assists one night later, capping an evening when the garden rugged after its introduction to the pre-match.
And when they needed another victory, quickly because he has the last two seasons, has delivered one. His years as a safeguarding of Igor Shesterkin will not produce statistics that could possibly lead to the renowned temple.
All this happened at the start of his career, the 16 seasons in value, with the Kings. The files will only feed its case.
And the n ° 400 could be the most impressive to date.
“It means that it has been really good for a long time,” said Laviolette. “If you look at him daily, it is not difficult to understand how he has reached this number.”
