David Quinn met with the media following the OT win to Pitt and said (MSG):

• On the message after the game, “I just thanked them for their effort, it’s been a great group to coach, not the season we wanted to have or the record, we want to be playing past this point next year but they gave it their all, it was a good group to coach, they were attentive and proud of how it ended.”
• “You could say that, we persevered, had a lead, gave one up late, fought back and won the game. Our season might be reflected in this game in a nutshell.”
• On Georgiev, “Our confidence level in him is high from players to coaches to management and I knew it right when I saw it in development camp. He passes the eye test, he’s got a swagger, confidence, aggressive, athletic and is mentally tough. When you add all that up you get a real good goalie.”
• On Brendan Smith’s goal, “he’s done a really good job up front, it’s nice to see him get rewarded for all his hard work. He’s had some great chances since we moved him front and that was a big time goal, he played well tonight, he’s played well up front all year.”
• “We’ve had a lot of people mention this group and how hard we work and it feels good that we have this work ethic and to finish the way we did, we didn’t win a lot of games after the trade deadline but rarely did we take a night off and that is a testament to every guy in that locker room.”
• On Skjei’s goal, “you need five guys to get involved offensively in this day and age and you can’t just rely on your forwards, we ask our D to get involved, we also want them to be responsible in their efforts to get involved offensively, sometimes we don’t do a great job of that and give up an odd-man rush but if you are going to score goals in this day and age you need your defense involved.”
• “still enjoying the win but when we get on that plane it will start sinking in and obviously tomorrow when we go through the medicals and meeting with our players it will start setting in.”
• “we want every guy to put themselves in a mindset to understand that this isn’t acceptable and that we have to learn from our mistakes through the year, we had opportunity to be more successful than we did and we have to be better defensively. If we are going to have success in this league you need to be committed defensively and that will be a theme going into the offseason.”

1st Period

• 06:36 Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby (35) ASST: Jake Guentzel (36), Jared McCann (16) 0-1
  12:49 New York Brendan Smith (4) 1-1

2nd Period

• No Scoring

3rd Period

• 02:28 Pittsburgh Nick Bjugstad (14) ASST: Patric Hornqvist (19), Marcus Pettersson (23) 1-2
• 12:34 New York Brady Skjei (8) ASST: Kevin Shattenkirk (26) 2-2
• 13:50 New York SHG – Vladislav Namestnikov (11) ASST: Neal Pionk (20) 3-2
• 17:25 Pittsburgh Jake Guentzel (40) ASST: Sidney Crosby (65), Justin Schultz (13) 3-3

Overtime:

• 02:09 New York Ryan Strome (19) 4-3

Stats:

Adam Rotter:

• Well, the season is over. Year one under David Quinn finishes with an OT winner which is a nice cap to how this team played and worked all season. The focus this year was on development and the creation of a culture based around working hard, winning and competing. It wasn’t always pretty, they struggled defensively but they have hopefully set a foundation to build on.
• Last summer the Rangers re-signed Ryan Spooner and Vlad Namestnikov even though neither looked like they fit in the long-term plan. Spooner was dealt for Ryan Strome and Strome has now put himself firmly into the middle of the Rangers rebuild. He’s signed through next season at $3.1 million and that is a bargain if he is able to continue developing like he did this year.
• Outside of Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Buchnevich is probably the player currently on the roster to be most excited about. He, like Strome, was terrific in the last stretch of the season and I wouldn’t be shocked if the Rangers investigated more of a long-term deal with him this summer than a bridge.
• So much is focused on Chytil and Andersson and Howden because they are rookies and embody so much of what this rebuild is about. Chytil and Howden both showed flashes this year of being long-term Rangers and it will be interesting to see how they come to camp in the fall.
• Andersson is by no means a bust or anything of the sort as he finishes the first-year of his entry level deal. The issue with Andersson was that he was made out to be NHL ready last year but that was clearly not the case. Once that label was put on him expectations were set and he has not met those expectations so far. Again, Andersson has only played around 50 games in the NHL and won’t turn 21 until next season starts.
• Alex Georgiev has certainly earned at least 30-35 starts next year if not more. Henrik Lundqvist is still the starter but Georgiev has earned a bigger share of the net for next season.
• So overall this was a Rangers season that went as expected. They competed most nights, struggled to defend, got good goaltending during stretches, traded a bunch of guys and did just enough usually to lose. It’s hard to make predictions about next season without knowing who will join Mika Zibanejad up front, or possibly Erik Karlsson on defense, but the expectation will be to be better and much closer to, if not in the Wild Card.

David Quinn met with the media following the loss to the Blue Jackets and said (MSG):

• On the game, “it was nice to have that final moment before the season ends. I think we’ve scored one 6 on 5 goal this season, against Washington, and I thought we did a good job on the 6 on 5 and had some chances before the goal. It’s pretty cool to tie the game up with 6 seconds to go, would have been nice to win in OT or shootout but it’s nice for the guys to have that feeling in the last home game, the emotion of our crowd and what it could be if we have the success we certainly strive to have and think we are capable of moving forward.”
• “Our first period they threw everything they had at us, and I didn’t think we defended really well and we were slow to people in our own zone, didn’t play fast enough in the neutral zone. Georgie played outstanding all through the night but most of all in the first. Proud of our guys to how we adjusted after the first, they may have been a little deflated too becasue they had so many Grade As and frustration set in on their part. I thought we did a much better job defending and not giving up those crazy chances that we did in the first, we were slow with the puck, slow to get to people and didn’t get a chance to establish any D-zone structure because they were winning battles and we were slow to people.”
• On Buchnevich, “we’ve been on him about shooting pucks and he has shot more and his overall game has improved, that comes with maturity and as you get older you get wiser and make better decisions and understand the game a little better, I think that is what happened with Pavel, he’s understanding the full scope of hockey and becoming a more well-rounded player and he is getting rewarded statistically.”
• On Kreider, “he had some chances, that line was really good and gave us a spark, a real first-line feel for sure. Kreids is very explosive, he can kill you on any shift, he can strike and made a heck of a play on the goal, showed some great pose, Mika made a great play and it’s good to see him feel good and get rewarded.”
• On the top line, “every one of them brings something different to the table, there is a good mix there. Kreids with his strength, speed, shot, Mika is as well rounded a center that we have but creeping into the top number one centers in the league, I think, and Buchie’s game is growing, he’s skilled offensively and can create and does a little bit of everything. When those guys are on their game they can be dangerous.”

1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
01:47 New York Chris Kreider (28) ASST: Mika Zibanejad (43) 0-1
3rd Period
02:25 Columbus Ryan Dzingel (26) ASST: Nick Foligno (17), David Savard (13) 1-1
14:27 Columbus Artemi Panarin (28) ASST: David Savard (14) 2-1
19:53 New York Pavel Buchnevich (21) ASST: Mika Zibanejad (44), Ryan Strome (16) 2-2
OT Period
No Scoring
SHOOTOUT
New York Missed – Kevin Shattenkirk –
Columbus Missed – Cam Atkinson –
New York Missed – Mika Zibanejad –
Columbus Goal – Artemi Panarin –
New York Missed – Tony DeAngelo –

Stats:

Adam Rotter:

• Tonight’s game was a pretty good representation of the Rangers season, where they worked hard, had a chance to win but ultimately lost.
• It had to feel nice for the players to see how the Garden exploded when they tied the game. It’s been a long season and a longer time since the deadline but, as David Quinn noted after the game, the crowd reaction showed the players how things can be when the team starts winning.
• What tonight also does is leave a nice memory of what Artemi Panarin could bring to the Rangers this summer. He was dynamic with the puck all game long and the goal he scored in the third was out of this world. He would instantly add a level of skill and production to the Rangers that they can only hope some of their prospects and young players can come close to. He wouldn’t solve the Rangers defensive issues by any means but would help lengthen the Rangers lineup, add to their depth and make them a much more formidable team to play against.
• In a general sense the Rangers picking up a point wasn’t great as it hurt their potential lottery standing but, as we have seen with Edmonton and Buffalo and other teams across the league, lottery picks don’t always equal success. Teams need talent and skill but they also need structure, mindset and a certain kind of culture. The Rangers are trying to build that culture right now and set a tone for the players already on the team. Goals from Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich, with assists from Mika Zibanejad, are helpful as that could be the top line moving forward. Had Vlad Namestnikov and Connor Brickley, two guys likely not to be around for the long-term, scored it may be different, but when guys that are part of the solution are scoring it’s a good thing and helps the rebuild, albeit differently, than another couple of ping-pong balls.