Rangers lose to Canadiens in OT as Jonathan Quick falls short in bid to earn his 400th win
Montreal Canadiens' Nick Suzuki (14) moves in against Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick (32) during second-period NHL hockey game action in Montreal, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. Credit: AP/Graham Hughes
MONTREAL — When he picked up career win No. 399 on Jan. 2, it became something of a foregone conclusion that Jonathan Quick, already the all-time winningest American-born NHL goaltender, would be the first American to get to 400 victories. And for much of Sunday night against the Montreal Canadiens, it looked as if this would be the night he hit the milestone.
But as many leads as the Rangers took, they couldn’t hold any of them. They blew four leads, and Patrik Laine’s goal at 3:20 of overtime dealt the Blueshirts a painful 5-4 loss at the Bell Centre.
What made it particularly tough, even though they earned a point, was that they missed a few golden opportunities to win it in overtime, including Vincent Trocheck being robbed by Jakub Dobes’ glove hand from point-blank range.
“The third period’s got to be much better,’’ defenseman Adam Fox said. “I mean, early, they had a lot of good looks and we had some chances. We hit a couple posts. But I think, you know, we’re on our heels too much in that third period.’’
The Rangers held a 4-3 lead going into the third period but were outshot 16-6, though they did have shots from defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and center Filip Chytil hit the post.
Eventually, Juraj Slavkovsky got behind Trocheck and beat him to the rebound of a shot by Cole Caufield, whacking it in for his sixth goal at 12:52 to tie it.
“It’s frustrating,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “Going into the third period, we’re up a goal . . . I thought our guys played hard [but] I wish it could have been a little bit better probably the start of the third period — the first seven or eight minutes, 10 minutes of the third period.
“In saying that, we hit the post twice in the third. We could have put the game away then as well. It didn’t bounce our way. [We had] two point-blank chances in overtime; that didn’t go our way either. So it’s tough to leave the points on the table when we’re searching for points.’’
If there is a silver lining, it is that the Rangers (22-20-4, 48 points) extended their point streak to eight games (5-0-3) and pulled to within three points of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who currently hold the second wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Of course, the bad news is that the Canadiens (23-19-4), whom the Rangers also are chasing in the playoff race, got two points. Montreal sits one point behind Columbus.
“Obviously, [Montreal is] a team that we’re right there with in the standings, so that extra point is important,’’ Fox said. “Any time you don’t grab that extra point, those are the differences down the road. Obviously, the margins are thin, and now we’ve got to find a way to be getting these two points.’’
The night got off to a great start for the Rangers when Montreal native Alexis Lafreniere opened the scoring at 11:17 of the first period. When a shot by K’Andre Miller rebounded off the back boards, Lafreniere was the first to the puck and banged it in for his 12th goal. It was his fourth in 12 games against his hometown Canadiens.
Brendan Gallagher tied it for Montreal with his goal at 13:52, but the Rangers retook the lead less than a minute later. Mika Zibanejad pressured Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj in the corner and forced a weak pass that Will Cuylle picked off and fired past Dobes at 14:38 for his 12th goal and first in 16 games.
Early in the second period, Matt Rempe fought Xhekaj. Rempe not only lost the fight — the 6-4, 240-pound Xhekaj dropped him with a heavy left — but got an extra minor penalty for roughing. That indirectly led to Montreal’s tying goal when Christian Dvorak scored nine seconds after the penalty was over. His shot from the right point deflected off Chytil’s stick and got by Quick (33 saves) at 5:07.
Zibanejad’s power-play goal gave the Rangers their third lead at 10:24, but a bad giveaway by defenseman Will Borgen to Nick Suzuki in the defensive zone led to Suzuki’s unassisted goal at 15:05 that tied it at 3-3.
Chris Kreider gave the Rangers their fourth lead when he drove the net and tapped in a pretty feed from Fox at 16:20. But the Rangers couldn’t hold that lead either.
Notes & quotes: Fox (two assists) registered his 60th career multi-assist game, surpassing Brad Park for fourth by a Rangers defenseman . . . Rempe had 13 shifts and led the team with four hits . . . Chytil won six of seven faceoffs . . . Miller led the team in ice time with 23:06.
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