The Rangers certainly know how to make a mountain out of a molehill. (Make that one Ranger.)
The molehill – in case you missed it and you were lucky if you did – was yet another lethargic dispassionate home loss to Detroit on Sunday night at The Garden.
The mountain was a volcanic brawl initiated by Jonathan Quick seconds after the green light signaled game-over.
Now You tell The Maven whether or not what the Rangers goalie did amounted to Quick losing his marbles, along with the game. Or not.
So, let us go back to the end of the game:
Quick was on the bench, having been pulled for an extra skater, when Detroit's Mason Appleton sped along the right boards toward the appetizing empty net.
Obviously, he wanted another goal added to his stats but the buzzer sounded as he was about to shoot.
Okay, Beloved Blueshirts fans, what would you do if your name was Mason Appleton?
Would you have flipped the puck over the glass to a high-paying customer? Nah, that takes a bit of effort and, besides, you want to celebrate the win.
Or, you could have innocently skimmed the six-ounce hunk of vulcanized rubber into the corner and left it and that. Nah, Mason was in full skating-shooting motion, so he skated and motioned.
Now, if you were Jonathan Quick viewing such a dastardly act, you could have left it at that, be secure in the knowledge that you played your tooshey off and almost single-handedly gotten your three-toed sloth teammates at least a point.
OR, you'd do what Quick did. Rush on to the ice like he was going to a fire, hell bent for Monsieur Appleton to ensure that Rangers justice triumphed with a punch in the proboscis or eyebrow or Mason's midsection.
There Are "Sure" Things That The Blueshirts Should Do And Did NOT!
Home ice DIS-ADVANTAGE continues to plague the Rangers and nobody has yet figured the how and why of it, although The Maven has a couple of clues:
The mass of New York-Detroit humanity that soon gathered on The Garden pond inspired an exciting New York Post headline: LIVID RANGERS GOALIE SPARKS BENCHES CLEARING BRAWL.
I loved it – the near-riot, that is, because it added mustard to the saccharine Rangers effort. But not everyone agreed. In fact, someone on X/Twitter called Quick childish and suggested something like, "Jonny, you're acting like a big baby."
By contrast, hockey people I know liked every salty second of it. Sean Avery lauded Quick while wondering why Jonathan's teammates didn't display equal spunk.
Blue Collar Blue Shirt publisher Sean MacCaffrey chimed in – "Quick was completely justified; I only wish his fire had spread to everyone else."
Bottom Line: The mad, impetuous Quick made a statement and, whether you liked it or not, the "benches-clearing brawl was more exciting for most fans than yet another home loss.
P.S. Now for the other good news: Nobody got hurt and Quick was a fine post-game interview.