Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick shows he still has game at age 40
Jonathan Quick is winding down a Hall of Fame career as the backup goaltender for the New York Rangers, the team he rooted for while growing up in Milford, Connecticut. There have been a lot more downs than ups this season playing on a team that’s headed for its second straight non-playoff finish, and there’s no guarantee the 40-year-old will be back on Broadway when the 2026-27 season begins.
But if this is the swan song for the winningest U.S.-born goaltender in NHL history, he left Rangers fans with something to remember him by on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Quick made 21 saves to help the Rangers defeat the Calgary Flames 4-0, giving them a 4-1-2 record since returning from the Olympic break. The victory was the 409th of his career, 12th on the all-time list. The shutout was his 65th, moving him past Rangers legend Henrik Lundqvist for 17th all-time.
Of course, “The King” had all of his shutouts with the Rangers. Quick’s shutout of the Flames was his seventh in three seasons with the Blueshirts; he had 57 with the Los Angeles Kings and one with the Vegas Golden Knights late in the 2023-24 season.
“Any time you’re mentioned with Hank’s name in anything, it’s special,” Quick said when asked about passing the winningest goaltender in Rangers history on the League’s shutout list. “I know what he means to this city and this organization, what he’s done for goaltenders everywhere. Lots of young guys look up to him. Just being in the same conversation with him, any stat, anything, it’s humbling.”
Quick also passed another Hall of Famer to earn a line in the Rangers record book. At 40 years and 48 days old, he became the oldest goalie in the franchise’s ’ 100 seasons to post a shutout, surpassing Terry Sawchuk, who was 40 years and 35 days old when he shut out the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-0 on Feb. 1, 1970.
“It was great. All game long, we battled hard, defended well,” Quick said. “We did a great job in all three zones … just a good win.”
Jonathan Quick gets milestone shutout in win vs. Flames
Though Quick wasn’t tested often by the Flames, he earned his shutout with a “save of the year” stop on Calgary’s Matt Coronato, getting his arm on what looked like a sure goal with 6:34 remaining.
“I took off and saw him make that save – it was unbelievable,” center Mika Zibanejad said. “Just the way he played today, and to finish it off with that save to keep the shutout and get his milestone. That was cool.”
Even with the win, Quick is 5-15-2 this season and has just two wvictories since Nov. 7, when he won for the third time in his first four starts. But coach Mike Sullivan said after the morning skate that the three-time Stanley Cup champion’s been better than his numbers – which include a 3.05 goals-against average and .892 save percentage – and that they don’t tell the whole story, especially because Quick wound up carrying the starter’s load after Igor Shesterkin was injured on Jan. 5 and didn’t play again until play resumed after the Olympic break.
“Stats can be deceiving,” the coach said. “I think the toughest part was when ‘Shesty’ went down for the period of time that he went, I think that had an impact on ‘Quickie’s’ overall numbers. When the roster was put together, I don’t think anybody had the intention of Quickie having to take the ball for that length of time, so I think that had an influence on his overall numbers.
“But if you look at his game-by-game performance, he’s digging in and giving us a chance to win. He’s making timely saves for us most nights he’s in there, and that’s really what we can ask of him. I think he’s an inspiration to our group just in how he carries himself. I think our room has a tremendous amount of respect for him for his body of work in the League and what he continues to do at 40 years old.
“He’s a Stanley Cup champion; I think he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. The biggest thing for me is that he’s a fierce competitor. He loves hockey, and that’s contagious.”
Zibanejad agrees that Quick’s value to the Rangers goes beyond his stats.
“He’s a guy who means so much to us — and who has meant so much to us the whole time he’s been here,” the explained. “You could see why he’s been so successful. I’m obviously happy for him today.”
