alt="LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond" />Jonathan Quick has started 25 of the Kings’ 27 games, and he will get the call again tomorrow in Anaheim. Here’s what Terry Murray said today, putting Quick’s recent stretch into some context…
MURRAY: “This year, his game has been good. There were times, in games this year, that I think he’d like to have a couple of those goals back, but that’s part of the process of young players, young goaltenders in particular. The last couple of games…I thought he was outstanding. He was tremendous in the game at Vancouver and very big in our game against Chicago, a big part of our penalty killing against one of the premier teams. He made some big stops. I think playing lots is benefiting him. He’s really getting into a groove and into a zone where he’s feeling good about his game and it looks to me that he’s playing, right now, like he showed us last year at the end of the season.”
As a follow-up, Murray was asked about Quick’s style of play, and whether it can sometimes be maddening for a coach to watch a goalie play the type of aggressive, challenging style that Quick usually employs…
MURRAY: “Well, that’s Quicker’s game. He’s a very athletic, very mobile goaltender. He’s got great lateral movement. That’s the `catch’ situation that you get into. If you’re not out challenging, then you’ve got the shooters with these new composite sticks that can fire the puck so well. If you’re not in the right position on the angle, and challenging aggressively, then they can blow it by you. At the same time, you know that sometimes, if you’re not covering back-door, there’s that lateral pass that you have to make a great save on too, which he’s very capable of doing.
“I think that gets back to playing well in front of the goaltender though. We were talking about that at the beginning of last year, taking away or limiting those grade-A scoring chances. We’re getting to be a better team in that. We still have areas to improve, but it seems like lately, whenever we’re giving something up, Quicker has been right on the spot for us.”
2 years ago, even one year ago today, how many people would have predicted all of this success for Quicker :) Love it! Bernier can wait
[Reply]
Let’s shut down Perry and his 18 game point streak. Score 18 goals on Giguere to crush his confidence. And Ivanans, please destroy Evgeny Artyukin.
[Reply]
Quick finally looks like that player from last year. His last 3 games have been solid and his best game was in the loss to Vancouver. If he can play this way consistently I hate to even say it but Bernier will have a hard time finding a spot.
I still think Quick could use a strong Veteran backup to play along side him and learn the little things that coaches can’t teach…..No offense to Ersberg!
[Reply]
Barry, If the kings are playoff bound they will need a veteran backup. Biron will be available for acquirement around Christmas time.
[Reply]
Biron for Purcell. After all they do love Moulson
[Reply]
When Quick is in the zone…it’s a thing of beauty to watch. I’m glad he’s made his way back to where he left off last year and hope he keeps the momentum.
I won his autographed stick and puck at Tip A King last year and he promised to make it worth alot of money one day. He was dead serious, and I really believe he has the hunger and determination to be a GREAT goalie.
[Reply]
Off-topic, but anybody see vokun get hit in the head by ballard? Look it up on youtube and also Ovechkin needs to be suspended. He got another 5 min major and misconduct after going knee on knee with gleason. Bother were injured and ovechkin assessed the following above.
[Reply]
yeah but if Percell ends up another Moulson some fans will bust a gasket.
[Reply]
The only thing more amazing to me than Quick’s recent play (and subsequent praise) is how fast people on here gave up on him only a few games ago…
“Quick is not a #1 goaltender. Every game he give up an awful goal and never gives the team a chance to win.”
“Quick isn’t doing anything to change my mind that he isn’t a #1 goalie and that not giving Bernier the #2 spot that he earned in training camp was a mistake too.”
“Reasons Terry Murray Should Be Fired: 6)Quick in the lineup.”
“get rid of quick and bring in bernier and we’ll win more games.”
“He doesn’t steal games for us or carry the team on his back.”
“quick sucks!!!”
“Seems to me that Quick is just content with where he is.”
“But we do need to call up Bernier, Quick was below par for a few of those goals…”
[Reply]
One thing i love about quick is his quickness…ha ha seriously though, so acrobatic, kinda reminds me of fuhr with the unbelievable agility, i believe he will follow fleurys development path, fleury took a few seasons to and now is an incredible talent!
[Reply]
Wavesinair,pretty much the common theme as far as proffesional anylists,and commentaters around the NHL is that Quick is a good young goallie.I haven’t read,or watched anyone say the guy sucks.Is that your opinion or do you base this off some other information.
[Reply]
Waves…they are Kings fans…what do you expect?
[Reply]
Good job, waves. I agree. I felt bad that Quicker was struggling, but I wasn’t ready to toss him overboard yet. I’m glad they stuck with him. Now, Ersberg…either needs the work or needs to go somewhere else.
[Reply]
lol, i love quick. always have.
i’m basing it on all the quotes i listed, which are all from this blog. and there are many more…
is that confusing?
[Reply]
my bad I thought you were quoting your self.
[Reply]
that’s for Dominick… sorry.
exactly mrbrett. painful.
[Reply]
ahh, sorry for the confusion!
[Reply]
Waves went back and read your post again.I’m an a**.
[Reply]
no worries ;)
[Reply]
Waves-
It’s fun playing the ‘Conscience’ isn’t it? ;-)
[Reply]
People want consistency from Quick, b/c it’s been so long since we’ve seen it between the pipes. That’s the source of the frustration. If he continues to play at this level, he’ll be more than accepted and lauded.
Question: If Dean gave Quick a three-year deal or extension or whatever it is, what signal does that send to Bernier?
[Reply]
I spend alot of time lately defending the guy.Not because I think he’s Martin Broduer but the fact that he’s pretty solid.He’s let in a few softies,but what young goalie wouldn’t.
[Reply]
Scaught… what dominick said. He won’t continue to play at this level yet. It takes TIME.
As for your question, it tells JB he’s not going to be given a G-damn thing. He’s has to take it from Quick.
[Reply]
I don’t think Quick’s extension sends any signal to Bernier, any more than Visnovsky’s deal or O’Sullivan’s deal signaled anything to anybody. The Quick extension means that he’s locked up at a fair price. That’s all it means. If DL wanted to trade Quick, signing him to a good (i.e. tradeable) contract is important.
On a related note, I’ve been reading Edmonton blogs about Patrick O’Sullivan, and people are grumbling about how hard it would be to get someone to take on that contract. POS’s contract was seen to be a bargain a year ago; now, the same contract is over-priced. Good investment by Lombardi; classic “buy low, sell high.”
[Reply]
To me, I think Quick and Bernier know that they will be competing against each other for quite some time. Tying into Waves point, Bernier is being shown that the job won’t be handed to him. At the same time, Quick doesn’t have much slack and that sensation he feels is Bernier constantly breathing down his neck.
[Reply]
As soon as Notso learns how to negate the rebound when outfront playing “aggressively” he will be unscoreable. He’s always been good in close.
[Reply]
I won’t favor the shoot-out until they make all games worth the same. (3pts regwin, 2pts OTwin 1 to the OT loser), but since we have it, I can’t think of a goalie in the league I would RATHER have in goal than Quicker!
[Reply]
3 good games in a row doenst make Quick a number 1 goalie yet…..
[Reply]
Deker, I believe the word you’re looking for is unscoreonable.
[Reply]
Put away all your samurai swords people. AEG will never let us down again….Would they?…….Could they?
[Reply]
Let’s remember also here that goalies aas a rule always tend to start seasons slowly. Look how Luongo struggled, same with Kipper, even Brodeur to an extent. Not Quicker is too young to be compared to those to, but just keep in mind a lot of goalies start slow, i didn’t see any fans from other teams turing on the above mentioned like some around here did on Quicker…
[Reply]
I love Quick! Best goalie we have had in years!
[Reply]
That’s my quote and I still feel that way. “Quick isn’t doing anything to change my mind that he isn’t a #1 goalie and that not giving Bernier the #2 spot that he earned in training camp was a mistake too.” 3 good games does not a #1 make. My bigger points are that signing EE was a huge mistake and that we need a solid vet backup if DL is going to keep Bernier in Manchester.
Your post should say ‘Wow, how fast you guys are to jump on the Quick bandwagon after a few good games.’
He has been playing very well lately but he needs to find his consistency and stop letting in the ’soft’ goal. This is his first full year so he’s going to have ups and downs and I expected this as well (one of my questions to Rich in the Open Forum section).
I think the most frustrating thing is knowing how good/well a guy can play and then not seeing it. Cough*cough*Frolov*cough*cough.
I also mentioned before that if Quick had something close to Bernier’s GAA or Save % where would the Kings be?
[Reply]
Personally, I hope Frolov and Quick both know that there are many fans who beleive in them and appreciate the hard work they are putting in.
And, I hope the critics come to realize (understand) that the player must work with what he’s given, just like Terry Murray.
[Reply]