David Quinn met with the media following the Rangers elimination in Game 3 and said (MSG):

• On what went wrong, “I know our guys internally have talked about the way this series got off in the first-two of the series and thought that being overly physical was the way we were going to have success instead of just playing our game, that certainly wasn’t the case. Give them a lot of credit, after two games you watch the tape and are like ‘who is this?’ This isn’t the team we’ve had the last 2 1/2 -3 months since March 11th. One of the things that I thought happened tonight, for two periods we looked like the team everybody had been watching the last 2 1/2 months. We just weren’t able to get it done, some great scoring chances in the first two periods. Their guy made some great saves, weathered the storm. The situation we are in, we will probably have more pushback. I’m sure they were feeling good after two periods. We had some chances to pad a lead or have a lead and weren’t able to do that. They get the second and then third one, we haven’t, in this stretch here, – give them credit they did a great job of locking things down. The better team won the series, call a spade a spade. You play three games and they unfold the way they did and the best team won.”
• Was this good experience, “As I sit here right now I don’t view this as a good experience in any way, shape or form. Maybe when the dust settles and emotions subside, you look back at this season and the last 2-3 weeks we’ve been together and think ‘we continue to move forward as an organization, but that is certainly not how I feel today.”
• On his own experience in the playoffs, “you are always learning as a coach regarldess of the scenario or situation, always trying to make yourself a better coach during the regular season and through playoff experiences. This is a little different playoff experience than if we were home and home and playing in buildings that were packed and atmosphere, it’s just a different experience. Obviously the stake were higher than the regular series, I’ve referenced that we feel like we’ve been playing playoff hockey type games since January. For me it didn’t feel much different at all. Looking for an opportunity as a coach to get better and learn lessons with each game I coach.”
• On Shesterkin’s game, “He played well, certainly our goaltending wasn’t the problem in this series. Our offense, we scored 4 goals in three games, you are not going to win a series doing that. Our goaltending was the least of our problems.”
• What happened on their first goal and shouldn’t a forward give Staal his stick, “yes he is. A laundry list of mistakes during that stretch, we don’t get it out, running around in our own end, we don’t box out, Staalsie loses his stick, we don’t give him a stick. Mistake after mistake and it’s 1-1 and we were able to ride any momentum after getting our lead.”
• On the uncertainty of next season, “I’m not really thinking about that right now, disappointing part is that we lost and our season is over. It was a great group to coach, it’s been a unique and odd 4 1/2 months since we stopped playing on March 11, and obviously we are living in the moment now with how we played and this hurts. To come up here and basically play 2 good periods out of 9 isn’t anything we envisioned happening or that we are proud of. That’s pretty much where I am at right now.” (NHL Media)
• On the sequence at the end of the second, “even in the first Panarin has a breakaway, we have another partial breakaway. Chytil is the net all alone. We didn’t capitalize on our opportunities. We looked like a hockey team tonight, we looked like the Rangers for two periods. It was nice to see our team kind of arrive at some point in this series but way too little, way too late. I’m sure human nature kicked in when we had the chances and weren’t able to capitalize on them. That is part of being a successful playoff team, managing your emotions and frustration and continuing to play and not getting too high or low and we can learn a lesson from that.” (NHL Media)

1st Period:

2nd Period:

• Chris Kreider (1) Jacob Trouba (1), Ryan Strome (2)
• Teuvo Teravainen (1) Andrei Svechnikov (2), Haydn Fleury (1)

3rd Period:

• Warren Foegele (1) Brady Skjei (1), Martin Necas (1)
• Sebastian Aho (2)
• Sebastian Aho (3)

Stats:

Adam Rotter:

• And that is a wrap on the Rangers season. This was a nice experience for the Rangers young players but ultimately their performance as a team in these three games was disappointing. They got better in each but their better never matched Carolina, their offensive players were unable to get going and that is that.
• Do we have a different result tonight if Filip Chytil beats James Reimer late in the second instead of Reimer making a terrific stick save? Maybe, but probably not. The Rangers got better efforts from guys who struggled through the first two games, but as a team they couldn’t deal with Carolina’s pressure and style of play.
• Igor Shesterkin was good in net and probably made a save or two Henrik Lundqvist might not have made, but with the Rangers struggling to score and create offense, they were only going to win if he was perfect.
• Now the focus turns towards the Phase 2 draft lottery where the Rangers will have a 12.5% chance at landing Alexis Lafreniere.
• In 2005-06 the Rangers made the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons and were swept out of the playoffs by the Devils. They then made the playoffs in 11 of the next 12 seasons before missing these past two seasons. Being in the Qualifying Round doesn’t technically put the Rangers in the playoffs, but this is hopefully the beginning of the same kind of playoff run for the Rangers. In 2006 their rookie goalie was Henrik Lundqvist and he led the Rangers until, well, just about right now. It’s Igor Shesterkin as the rookie goalie now and it’s his turn to lead the Rangers toward their next era. With Panarin, Zibanejad, Trouba, Fox, Kakko, Chytil and others already here, hopefully the playoffs will be a regular part of Rangers hockey for many years to come.

4:42PM: Quinn’s comments to reporters were (NHL Media):

• On starting Shesterkin, “He’s ready to go and whoever we put in the net is who we think will give us the best chance to win so that is why we went with Shesty tonight.”
• Is Lemieux playing, “yes, Lemieux is back in. Fogarty is out.”
• On a young team and an elimination game, “I think there are a lot of different factors that go into tonight but the bottom line is that we have to win a hockey game and all these other scenarios that we all play out, that are real, really don’t matter. There are things we absolutely have to clean up and so many areas where we have been poor in that you watch and think ‘what happened to the team that we watched the last two-and-a-half months and there are a lot of extenuating circumstances that may create that but we felt good coming into the tournament, the first two games certainly didn’t go the way we wanted them to go. We didn’t play well, they played very well, certainly don’t want to discredit Carolina, but at the end of the day we have to do the things we did through the last half of the season that put ourselves in a position to win hockey games and we just haven’t done that. That being said, I think our guys feel good. As crazy as that may sound right now, I think our guys are excited about playing tonight and know that the things we haven’t done well, where we feel we have shot ourselves in the foot, we can correct and give ourselves a better chance to win tonight.”
• On Adam Fox so far, “Carolina has done a lot of things to disrupt all of us, I don’t want to discredit the way they’ve played, but when you just watch us and the things we have been doing, those are things we haven’t done. I can’t tell you how many times, when you sit and watch the games, and think ‘we haven’t done that all year, that is up and down our lineup, it’s not just about Foxy. Foxy, people target him, he’s had a heck  of a season, he’s a heck of a defenseman, they are on top of him but his teammates can do an awful lot more to help him out. I’m expecting a good night out of Adam tonight.”
• Why has the scoring well run dry, “our puck support has been so poor, one of the things I thought we did well in the second half of the season, we supported the puck, helping each other out, quick puck movement, pace to our game, rhythm to our play in the offensive zone and we just haven’t had any of that. Last night we probably had more controlled breakouts than we did in a one-month stretch during the course of the season. We were completely out of rhythm and went we went down 3-1 we lost a lot of our passion and looked deflated. We didn’t quit, but we looked deflated and there is a big difference. We have to have a good start tonight, feel good about ourselves once the game gets rolling and get back into the rhythm we had before the break.”
• Are you getting what you need from DeAngelo, “Our PP in general has to be better. I think one of the things that has happened is that not only have we not been productive from a scoring standpoint but it hasn’t looked great. That can be demoralizing for the team. Everybody has to be better on the PP and everybody has to be better throughout our lineup, not just one guy. I think every guy has taken upon themselves the situation we are in and I think we will get a better effort from everybody tonight.”

4:06PM: Igor Shesterkin will start for the Rangers in Game 3. (NYR)

Shesterkin missed the first two games of the series against Carolina after being deemed “unfit to play.”

With Shesterkin’s start, Henrik Lundqvist’s streak of 129 straight playoff starts for the Rangers will end.

Brendan Lemieux will return from his suspension and take the spot of Steven Fogarty. Jesper Fast remains out.

If the Rangers defeat the Hurricanes tonight then Game 4 against Carolina will be at 12PM on Thursday.

Game 5, if necessary, would be Saturday with the time TBD.

David Quinn met with the media on MSG following the loss in Game 2 and said:

• On Svechnikov, “He’s the whole package. A lot of skill, physical, quick, not a lot he can’t do and it’s why he was the second pick overall. He’s been one of the best players at every level he’s been at and is quickly emerging as one of the best players in this league, that is for sure.”
• On being deflated with the two goals in the second, “without question, we got deflated after giving up those two goals in the first two-and-a-half minutes in the second. It changed the whole game, I liked our first period, we did a lot of the things we are going to need to do. We have been a mentally tough and resilient group and a two-goal deficit hasn’t bothered us at all in the last two-and-a-half months, but it certainly got in the way today. Give them credit, they are playing smart, experienced playoff hockey. Between now and tomorrow night we have to learn that we can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot. Our lack of patience is killing us right now. Is it better than it was the other night, yea, it was, but we didn’t come here to get incrementally better, we came here to win hockey games and we aren’t doing enough. We need everyone in that room to be a little bit smarter, a little more patient, work a little harder, win more wall battles. All these things add up. We draw the first penalty because Phil Di Giueseppe wins a 50/50 puck battle off the faceoff, all those things add up. We did it for 20-minutes and then when we got down 3-1 you could just feel it on the bench and that is not a feeling we have had very often since the turn of the calendar.”
• On Lundqvist and the goalie tomorrow, “I thought Hank was solid. Listen, we get one goal, we aren’t going to win scoring one goal. Certainly left him out to dry with the last two, for sure.” We haven’t decided internally what we are doing tomorrow.”
• On the bottom six being out-worked, “I don’t think it was our bottom six forwards that have to be better, I think our top six forwards have to be better. If you are going to win, your best players need to be your best players and out play their best players. That is something we certainly have to have tomorrow night.”
• Is Carolina taking you out of your game, “I think it might be a little bit of both. They are doing things that they have done to be successful, they are a really good hockey team, played in the Eastern Conference Finals. As I alluded to earlier, we are getting frustrated. There is no easy ice out there and we need to understand that and be consistently trying to earn our ice and they do a good job taking it away. I give them credit, you never want to take credit away, but I know we can be better and we have to be better in a hurry.”