NEW YORK — Jonathan Quick had every reason to be angry.
The 39-year-old played as strong a game as he might have in 2012 — when he was at the peak of his powers and one of the best goalies in the world — but came away with a loss. He made 40 saves Sunday, for the most part blanking a dangerous Detroit Red Wings power play and keeping the New York Rangers in a game that easily could’ve been a blowout.
His teammates didn’t do enough in front of him for it to matter.
Quick, though, said the Rangers’ 2-1 loss wasn’t the source of his ire in the moments after the game. That eruption came because Detroit forward Mason Appleton fired a puck into the Rangers’ empty net while the final horn sounded. Quick, on the bench as the Rangers tried to score at six-on-five, charged onto the ice and shoved Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin while trying to get to Appleton. That led to the Rangers’ and Red Wings’ benches emptying. A 38-man shoving match broke out on the ice.
“The horn goes, couple seconds (pass), and (Appleton) shoots it in the net,” Quick said. “I don’t know why they were surprised. That’s usually the response when something like that happens.”
APPLETON SHOT IT INTO THE NET AFTER THE BUZZER AND THE BENCHES CLEARED 😱😳 pic.twitter.com/SQAhvEADJB
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 17, 2025
With both teams in their centennial jerseys — blue for the Rangers, red for the Red Wings — neither club was wearing primarily white jerseys, a rarity for NHL games. It led to a mass of color as the officials tried to separate players in the New York defensive zone. Ultimately, no one dropped the gloves to fight, though some found themselves pulled to the ice during the scrum. The officials gave Quick and Appleton a misconduct, adding an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for Quick.
Quick might have insisted his frustration after the game “was a complete separate issue from the 60 minutes that took place,” but the result probably didn’t help his mood. New York didn’t play particularly well at even strength and gave the Red Wings five power plays. Quick made 15 saves on 16 shots while short-handed. Detroit’s lone power-play goal came midway through the second period: Lucas Raymond got a shot through Quick, and Alex DeBrincat swept it from behind the goalie into the net. Quick was irate after the goal, taking off his mask to scream at the officials about contact he felt in his crease.
“You’re getting tripped in your crease,” he said. “That’s supposed to be a whistle right away. It’s tough enough killing a penalty as is. When you’ve got guys in the crease tripping you, it makes it more difficult.”
Quick’s fire endears him to teammates. Will Cuylle has called him a leader in New York since his arrival in 2023-24, and the forward likes the passion with which he plays. It was on full display against Detroit, from the saves he made to his officiating complaints to his post-buzzer pugnacity.
Playing without head coach Mike Sullivan, who was away for personal reasons, the Rangers (and the Madison Square Garden faithful) didn’t like some of the penalties, including a questionable holding-the-stick call on Sam Carrick. But Detroit had legitimate gripes, too, namely on a botched non-reviewable Moritz Seider delay-of-game penalty. The officiating might’ve been flawed, but it was flawed in both directions.
The Rangers’ biggest issue was getting outplayed by a Detroit team against whom they could be vying for positioning in the standings all season.
“I thought we were inconsistent with our purpose,” said assistant coach David Quinn, who split head-coaching duties with fellow assistant Joe Sacco. “It looked like we might be able to steal a point there as the game was evolving. Just weren’t able to get it done.”
Mika Zibanejad scored on the power play shortly after DeBrincat’s goal, and the score remained tied until late in the third. Raymond entered the zone with possession, wrapped around the net and skated across the front, waiting until Quick was off-balance and then shooting past him.
During five-on-five play, the Rangers had 46.33 percent of the expected goal share, according to Natural Stat Trick. Cuylle noted they got outshot 42-19 at all strengths and said he thought New York turned over too many pucks and got away from playing predictable north-south hockey. Both the Cuylle–Zibanejad–J.T. Miller line and the fourth line struggled to create offense.
Concerning for the Rangers, they weren’t able to build off their first home win of the season Monday against the Nashville Predators. New York is now 1-7-1 at Madison Square Garden and has scored one or fewer goals in seven of its nine home games.
“I just think we were a little bit more inconsistent tonight than we were on the road over the last two games,” Quinn said.
All except the goalie. And that’s often not enough.
The Rangers weren’t able to help Jonathan Quick enough in net during another home loss. (John Jones / Imagn Images)
Quinn, Sacco split responsibilities
Quinn did not offer much of an update on Sullivan after the game.
“From the coaches to the players to the organization, we’re certainly thinking about Mike and his family,” he said. “Never an easy situation when you have to attend to your family. That’s all I can give you right now.”
Quinn, who coaches defensemen, said he managed which pairs went on the ice, and Sacco, the assistant focusing on forwards, handled which lines went over the boards. Quinn didn’t find it to be an issue for himself, Sacco or the players.
As for who yelled at the referees? “I think we both took turns,” he said, smiling.
Six-on-five goals missing
Appelton’s after-the-buzzer shot notwithstanding, New York didn’t allow a goal on its empty net late. But it also didn’t score at six-on-five, a continuation of an issue that has plagued the team since last season.
The Rangers’ most recent tying goal with less than three minutes remaining came on March 2, 2024. In total, they scored three goals in those circumstances in the 2023-24 season, as well as three the season before. Last year’s team failed to score a late tying goal with its own net empty.
Perreault heads back to Hartford
The Rangers sent top prospect Gabe Perreault back to AHL Hartford after three games. The 20-year-old rookie had an assist in his first NHL game of the season but played fewer than 13 minutes each of the next two games. In those games, Sullivan moved him down in the lineup late, opting to put Cuylle in the top six while protecting a lead.
The coach said before Perreault’s season debut, “I don’t know that it makes a whole lot of sense to call a player up like that and put them in a bottom-six role.” After a short early-season stint, the Rangers didn’t feel Perreault was ready for top-six responsibility.
“When you play on the top two lines, you play against everybody’s top D pairings, and you play against everybody’s best players, and that can get a little overwhelming for you physically and with the pace,” Quinn said.
Perreault will have ample opportunity with Hartford, for whom he has five goals and 10 points in nine games this season.
“We just felt like this was part of the growing process and the development process for him, giving him an opportunity to come here, play meaningful games,” Quinn said. “Now he’s going back down, and I’m sure this experience will be beneficial to his development.”
With Perreault back in the AHL, Jonny Brodzinski re-entered the lineup for the first time since Nov. 8. He played 10:06.
Borgen remains out, Morrow debuts
With defenseman Will Borgen (upper body) out for the second consecutive game, the Rangers called up defenseman Scott Morrow, who came over in the K’Andre Miller trade. Quinn didn’t give him much responsibility in his New York debut, playing him for only 9:46, a game-low among all defensemen. The Rangers earned 55 percent of the five-on-five expected goal share with him on the ice, per Natural Stat Trick.
“I thought Scotty did a good job,” Quinn said. “I thought he kept it simple. He moves the puck well, got us out of our end when we needed to get out of our end when the chances presented themselves. I thought he defended well.”
New York misses Borgen in the top four, though. Carson Soucy, Borgen’s normal partner, had a five-on-five expected goals rate under 40 percent in each of the past two games, per Natural Stat Trick. That’s well below his season rate (48.5 percent). He was also defending Raymond when the Red Wings standout scored the game-winning goal.
Brooks tributes continue
The Rangers paid tribute Sunday to Larry Brooks, the longtime New York Post reporter who died Thursday. The team left flowers, a photo of Brooks and his seating chart name tag at his normal seat on press row, then played a video tribute to him on the Madison Square Garden video board before the game. Players, fans and staffers joined in a moment of silence afterward.
Lovely tribute for Larry Brooks in the #NYR press box. pic.twitter.com/ylA4WJSrgQ
— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) November 16, 2025
Brooks’ funeral took place earlier in the day. Henrik Lundqvist, Chris Drury, Adam Graves, Lou Lamoriello and Bill Guerin were among those in attendance.