What year is it? David Quinn leading a Rangers team behind the bench? Jonathan Quick stopping 40 shots? A bench clearing skirmish at the end of the game? Color on color jersey matchup? Last night’s loss to Detroit had a lot of twist and turns throughout the night, starting when it was reported that Mike Sullivan would not be behind the bench to tend to personal matters. It was then subsequently announced that both David Quinn and Joe Sacco would coach the team in this game. Cue hysteria.
For many, last night brought back some PTSD, as it wasn’t too long ago that David Quinn was leading Rangers teams that were badly outshot, defending poorly, and not putting up many goals. Jonathan Quick had to play hero for far too long, as nothing was going at 5 on 5 for the Rangers, including taking five penalties. Without Will Borgen and with Gabe Perreault back in Hartford, the Rangers struggled on both sides of the puck.
You can pretty much copy what I said about Mika Zibanejad in the win over Columbus, and paste it for this one. That man was everywhere on the ice, scoring a power play goal in the 2nd and providing the only non-Quick bright spot. Zibanejad is still receiving a ton of hate, with many still thinking this is last season. I’m not one to tell you how to fan, but perhaps it’s time to recognize that last year was a blip? The team as a whole needs to play better, but anyone out there saying Zibanejad is playing bad hockey this season is just plain wrong.
The other bright spot last night was Quick turning back the clock as a 40-year-old. Stopping 40 of 42 shots and initiating the end of game skirmish between him, Dylan Larkin, and Mason Appleton before both benches emptied was something out of the old days. I am curious if any suspensions or fines will come from the aftermath of that whole exchange.
Is Jonathan Quick playing himself onto the Rangers in 2026-2027? He may be the best backup in all of hockey right now. I don’t think he has the stamina or endurance to handle a full starter’s job again, but Quick really has turned back the clock and has formed perhaps the best 1-2 goaltending duo in the NHL with Igor Shesterkin.
We do need to throw a lot of criticism at the refs and how last night was officiated. I don’t know what Kelly Sutherland’s deal is, but this might have been one of the worst officiated games we’ve seen in a long time. For Quick in particular, the Red Wings were tripping him up in his crease prior to the first goal, and Quick was furious that they weren’t calling anything. Quick had every right to be mad too, as Sutherland and the linesmen were completely incapable of doing their jobs.
It is so frustratingly disingenuous that the commissioner of the greatest hockey league in the world gaslights the fans every year when he gets up on his end of the year soapbox and praises its officials. What Sutherland and these other buffoons did last night is something that would get bantam junior officials kicked out of officiating.
Starting with the most egregious call of the night, the Sam Carrick “holding the stick” call, the one where Dave Maloney absolutely crashed out on the air. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a penalty called on a player getting hooked by the opposition, and the ref saying, no, there’s no way it’s a hook, that’s holding the stick. For a league that “wants to always get the call right”, it sure is convenient that we have no way to reverse these asinine calls.
That same convenience was also prevalent when the officials missed an obvious too-many-men-on-the-ice call on the Red Wings when the Rangers were pushing for the tying goal. How are these are best people for this job? Where is the accountability for their incompetence? Players have all sorts of avenues of accountability when they screw up, but this doesn’t exist for the officials. The fact these refs can call a trash game, and not have to justify anything to anyone is just an insane lack of checks and balances. Can Gary Bettman get serious for once in his miserable tenure as this league’s commissioner, and actually punish these morons when they deserve it?
This horrid officiating needed to be called out, but it is not the reason why the Rangers lost last night. They didn’t play well, and I don’t think many would say they deserved to win that game. They will need to get their game back as they head out west for a tough stretch of games coming up.
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