Sports

David Quinn, Kevin Shattenkirk are ready to move on

MONTREAL — David Quinn and Kevin Shattenkirk have kissed and made up after the coach benched the veteran defenseman for the third period of Thursday night’s 3-0 whimper of a defeat at Ottawa.

“We all have families and we all have disagreements,” Quinn said following Friday’s practice in preparation for Saturday’s match against the Canadiens. “We still love each other.

“It’s just the way sports work. Sometimes actions calls for those reactions.”

Neither the coach nor player would explain what action prompted the reactive benching that Quinn, immediately following the game, made clear was other than for performance reasons. In fact, Shattenkirk led the Rangers with 13:58 of ice time through the first 40 minutes and was among the least of the problems in the lackluster effort.





But The Post has learned that an emotional Shattenkirk said something on the bench toward the end of the second period the coach deemed out of order. And so Quinn immediately sat the 29-year-old with whom he has had a close relationship for more than a decade.

Friends and family, yes, since the days at Boston University, when Quinn was the assistant coach and Shattenkirk was a freshman on the blue line, but more to the point, mentor-mentee and coach-player. Quinn was even Shattenkirk’s head coach for a brief time with AHL Lake Erie at the start of this decade.

“We talked about it, we’re fine and we’ve moved on,” said Shattenkirk, who will rejoin partner Freddy Claesson against the Habs. “I think having the relationship we do makes it somewhat easier to understand each other and to not have anything linger.





“Sometimes the game can get frustrating, and I can be an emotional guy, but what happened is behind us. We both move past things pretty quickly. With our background, it was easier to approach him and have an adult conversation. There’s mutual respect, and I have great respect for him as a coach. So now I get back to the job.”

Interestingly enough, Quinn said he thought having the type of relationship he does with Shattenkirk made the aftermath of the benching, “probably a little more difficult.” But, the coach added, “When you make those decisions, you just make them, because it needs to happen.

“There’s zero issue moving forward.”

Zero issues between Shattenkirk and Quinn, perhaps, but a variety of issues confronting the Rangers, who have been slovenly in losing three of their last four overall and whose road play (3-7-2) has been substandard most of the way. Yes, the extended absences of top-six right wingers Mats Zuccarello and Pavel Buchnevich have taken their toll, but a slippage in work ethic has been the most disturbing aspect of the recent downturn in which the Blueshirts have been blanked twice in seven days. This has been noticed and addressed.





“I think our skill is our work ethic,” Brendan Smith told The Post. “Some teams are known for having a really good power play or top first line, but our identity is in how hard we work and I think we’ve gotten away from that from time-to-time. That’s why we’ve had these dips.

“It’s fun when everybody is competing. It makes the game easier. But if half the team isn’t pulling on the chain, we can’t get away with that. I’ve never been on a team where work ethic is the team skill and identifying characteristic, but that’s what we have built here and have to get back to. It’s the only way for us.





“The last few games have been a reminder for us,” said Smith, who will partner with Brady Skjei while Tony DeAngelo sits as the healthy scratch. “They’ve reinforced what we have to do in order to be successful. It’s been an opportunity for us to do a self-check.”

Quinn, typically vocal on the ice, reassembled the Chris Kreider-Kevin Hayes-Filip Chytil unit that had recorded six even-strength goals in its six games (GAG Line, anyone?) before the coach mysteriously broke them up for the contest against the Senators. Jimmy Vesey moved to the left side with Mika Zibanejad and Jesper Fast while Brett Howden skated between Lias Andersson and Ryan Strome. Vinni Lettieri, summoned from the AHL Wolf Pack following practice, will join Tim Gettinger and Steven Fogarty on the fourth line as the Rangers search for their misplaced hard hats and work ethic.

“We’ve talked about it, for sure. It’s just not acceptable to play the way we have on the road lately,” said Quinn, who will change it up by holding a full-team morning skate. “We’ve got a big test [Saturday], not only against our opponent, but we’re going to be testing ourselves against ourselves.”





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