As I mentioned earlier, Erik Ersberg was the first goalie off the ice today, while Jonathan Quick spent a substantial amount of time on the ice with Bill Ranford. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Ersberg will start tomorrow, but it is a piece of circumstantial evidence, let’s say. The team spent a big chunk of practice working on shootout drills, so the goalies got plenty of work. Afterward, Ersberg talked about preparing for his next start, whenever it might be…
ERSBERG: “I feel good in practice. I felt good today, and I’m just trying to work hard. I try to do some stuff that can be used in a game, not just taking shots. That’s the hard part, getting ready for those situations. You always get shots, but I’m really excited to get back in there.”
I followed up by asking Ersberg what he could do in practice to best simulate game situations…
ERSBERG: “We do some drills in practice that are more system-oriented. Like when they circle in the zone, you just try to play it as a game. Sometimes we do some drills with Billy too, and that helps a lot.”
Ersberg will look at break a significant streak. His last victory came on Dec. 13 of last year against Minnesota. Since then, he’s 0-7-2, including his 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Oct. 14.
There would be, in my opinion, a couple reasons to start Ersberg tomorrow. One, he hasn’t played in a long time. Two, Murray has expressed some displeasure with Jonathan Quick’s game. Three, let’s face it, the Hurricanes don’t score many goals. Four, it might help Murray determine how to handle this weekend’s upcoming back-to-back set. Should be an interesting day.
Five – Get Ersberg, your backup, some confidence and break the negative streak so he can be ready if anything should happen to Quick. I’d rather have him playing where Quick could jump in and save him if there’s a problem rather than an untested rookie.
I see Rich reads the blog too….
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Quick does need a rest. Between the 2nd and 3rd goals I saw him start to struggle to make basic stops and said to my self one is going in soon. Sure enough 3 min after I said it, Quick was fishing the puck out of his net. However EE against a team with this much to prove is a bad idea!
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Hopefully Ersberg will play well tomorrow and get the win. Then, maybe have him start 3-4 games in a row. He needs to play at least 25% of the games anyway to stay sharp and feel like he’s contributing. Also, Quick could use a break long enough to allow him to relax and regroup.
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really? a rest? he is a #1 goalie in the freakin’ NHL not a pee wee goalie that eats orange slices and sips on apple juice during period breaks from his mommy.
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Ersberg needs to get in there. Quick is tied for the lead in most games played so far this year. (tied with Anderson and Nabokov with 17 games played)
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Boo Hoo, really? I guess the other 29 teams are playing their number one guy 82 games a year?
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and if Ersberg loses, Murray can backtrack and say that he should have stuck with his number one guy…
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No offense to Ersberg, but if he has another showing like he did in NY, this could be his last game.
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I’m glad that Erbserg will be starting soon. I think he can bounce back and believe he is still a serviceable back-up goalie.
I had more to say about Quick and Bernier and that whole argument, so I wrote an article on it.
http://lakingsnews.com/2009/11/10/a-quick-fix/
Come and take our poll as well, which concerns when you think Bernier should get a crack at the NHL: http://lakingsnews.com/polls/
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Murray has made two mistakes here. 1) playing Quick 16 games as a brodeuresque #1 goalie. Let’s face it, he is far from Brodeur 2) not allowing ersberg atleast 3-5 games. This allows practices by goalies to be more intensive as they wouldn’t really know or be 100% sure who is starting..
Keep the competition going forward terry.
This post in no way blames quick for any losses we have incurred
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Any discussion on Legace starting tomorrow and the return of Whitney and how that will affect the game? With a team coming in with something to prove, and a former NHL goalie to back them up, it could put the momentum in their corner.
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Canes will win if we can’t score at least 4 goals. They have nothing to lose and everything to win. I don’t care who we start in goal, we need a lot of scoring to win Wed.
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Ok if EE has another bad game we may have an option. In a recant interview an old enemy may be on his way out of Anaheim. Giggy said he would rather retire than be a backup. Also said either Hiller goes or he does. I know Giggy hasn’t been the same after his son died, but I would rather have him than EE. The TSN version of the piece is at TSN.ca and was also in the L.A. daily news.
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Quick has shown flashes of brilliance and I enjoy watching him play. The amount of game time he has carried has to be hard on him. He’s never played a full NHL season. So I agree give him a break. Hopefully he can recharge and come back for another strong streak.
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the play would be to grab Biron for the remainder of the season IF DiPietro is ready to come back… THAT makes sense. One year, low dough deal… can handle the load as a #1 guy or be Quick’s far more reliable backup as the team TRIES to play past April Fool’s Day…
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I can’t believe we are talking about Ersberg having ANOTHER bad game and trading him when he was played just 1 Game this season.
Talking about acquiring Biron and having him as Quick’s back up? Do they have Internet at the Looney Bin’s nowadays?
If Biron or any other accomplished NHL goaltender was ever on this team he would not be backing up Johnathan Quick.
I am supporting Quick despite not being his biggest fan.
I do think he has played too much so far this year BUT I AM SUPPORTING HIM. However, ladies and gentlemen, we do have a completely unproven #1 goaltender…
Let’s go Ersberg and lets go Kings
The game after let’s go Quick
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I like the looney bin. Biron is a far better choice than EE when we make a run for the playoffs. EE was a bad signing, there’s a reason he’s only played one game this year.
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Ersberg would be my number 1. This kid can play! I remember what he did for us two years ago. Last year, Ersberg was hurt by lack of playing time and an injury.
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Ersberg was a fantastic find and signing!!! Remember the impressive shutout he posted against Heatley and the Senators, two years ago, 54Fighting?
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I was about to mention that Senators game. A 40-save shutout of the Senators. Look, Ersberg can play. Anyone who follows the Kings closely has seen numerous strong games from him. Also, you can’t let a backup get too rusty.
Carolina would be perfect for Ersberg. Bear in mind that Cam Ward is down, and most likely Michael Leighton will get the start. Ersberg was somewhat unfortunate in his one and only game that he opposed Lundqvist who was playing lights-out for the Rangers. I do like an Ersberg-Leighton matchup.
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