Nothing changes for Jonathan Quick in the wake of Igor Shesterkin going on IR with an upper-body injury sustained in the third period in Florida on Monday, when Sam Bennett crashed into the Rangers franchise goaltender after a hit from Ryan Lindgren.
“It doesn’t change the game plan, right? No matter who is in the lineup, who is out of the lineup, we do everything we can to prepare for the game [Thursday] night,” said Quick, who will be in net against the Bruins when the club attempts to stop its latest losing streak at four at the Garden. “Go to work.”
The Blueshirts did not provide an update on Shesterkin, who will miss a minimum of seven days in which the club has Boston and a back-to-back this weekend in Washington and Chicago before the Stars come to New York on Jan. 7. At this point, Shesterkin would be eligible to return for the Jan. 9 Garden match against the Devils, but there is surely no guarantee of that.
Quick has not started back-to-back games since April 12-13, 2022, when he was playing for the Kings. Louis Domingue, recalled from the Wolf Pack, will surely get one of the weekend games.
Domingue, who was 4-9-1 with a 3.64 GAA and .888 save percentage with AHL Hartford, has a 1-0 record with the Rangers, having beaten Minnesota 4-1 with 25 saves on Nov. 9, 2023 when both Shesterkin and Quick were unavailable. The Blueshirts promoted the 32-year-old on Tuesday in lieu of 22-year-old Dylan Garand, who is 9-4-2 with a 2.25 GAA and .926 save percentage with the Wolf Pack.
But back to our story.
“It’s a season where, no matter what the situation is, you go one game at a time,” Quick said. “That’s the focus for the whole group, one game at a time and preparing for a really good team in Boston.”
Quick’s numbers have taken a beating during the team’s 4-15 free fall to the NHL’s nether regions. After starting the season 4-0 with two consecutive shutouts, a 0.90 GAA and .970 save percentage, No. 32 is 1-4 since Nov. 23 with a 4.00 GAA and .855 save percentage.
- CHECK OUT THE LATEST NHL STANDINGS AND RANGERS STATS
“You never want to overcomplicate anything,” said the three-time Cup winner who will celebrate his 39th birthday on Jan. 21. “So no matter how the season is going, the last five games, the last 10 games, whatever the situation is, it’s an 82-game season.
“If you start looking at games in the past or in the future, you lose sight of the moment. I’ve always felt that is the best approach, to stay in the moment, one game at a time. Personally, and as a group, it’s, ‘what can I do today to get better and what can we do as a group to get better?’” he said. “We do have to get better today as a group.”
The Rangers did hold a hard-work, spirited practice while going with the same combinations up front and on defense as in Monday’s 4-3 defeat to the Panthers that represented the club’s seventh regulation loss in the last eight games.
The Blueshirts, who dropped five in a row from Nov. 21-29, have not endured two losing streaks of at least five straight in regulation in the same season since 1988-89.
They enter Thursday seven points out of a playoff spot with seven teams to pass in order not to become the third defending Presidents’ Trophy winner to miss the postseason since the award was inaugurated in 1985-86. The 1992-93 Rangers were the first of those clubs.
“We’re not sitting here saying it’s OK,” said Laviolette. “Nothing’s OK right now.
“The starts have got to be on point. The discipline has got to be on point, the specialty teams have to be on point, five-on-five. These are things we’ve talked about all the time, where we need to be better and we’re working toward that.
“We need to put the throttle down and need to realize that these points have to start coming our way now.”