Jonathan Quick’s milestone of 800 career starts took a turn for the worse.
For the second time in three games, the Rangers’ backup goalie had to step in for the injured Igor Shesterkin, but this outing ended with him being pulled from the game with 7:37 left in the second period as the team found itself down six goals against the Senators on Wednesday.
Quick recorded 11 saves, which gives him a .647 save percentage, and he exited amid a disappointing performance, marking the Rangers’ record at 0-4-0 since he became the starter.
Spencer Martin, who began the season in the KHL before joining the Rangers and then spending time in AHL Hartford, took over for the nearly 40-year-old Quick. Fans inside the Garden cheered in what felt like a sarcastic show of approval every time Martin covered the puck.
Goals from Drake Batherson, Nick Jensen, Brady Tkachuk, Dylan Cozens, Jake Sanderson, and Thomas Chabot contributed to the Senators’ dominance.
Honestly, it was just one of those nights; the Rangers’ defense had too many gaps. At one point, a goal ricocheted off Braden Schneider’s skate and into the net. Quick had already been struggling, arriving at this game with an .814 save percentage and 16 goals allowed over his previous outings.
This wasn’t the first time he was pulled—he also faced the bench during the 10-2 blowout against Boston just last Saturday.
With Shesterkin still on injured reserve, it seems likely that Quick will need to hold down the starting position for the foreseeable future.
“I think they’re a little further away,” head coach Mike Sullivan commented when asked on Tuesday about the timeline for the injured players to return to practice.
The Rangers had expressed a certain level of confidence in Quick, given that he holds the record for the most wins among American-born goalies in NHL history. This came after Shesterkin’s unexpected injury earlier this month, which left Quick to shoulder much of the load. But by the time he stepped aside on Wednesday for Martin, it seemed like Quick’s role was beginning to parallel the downward spiral of the Rangers’ season.
