Quick big in slow start

Less than two minutes into Thursday’s game, the Blue Jackets already had a 7-0 edge in shots, and they spent four of the game’s first nine minutes on the power play. The Kings were, to put it mildly, scrambling. Except in goal, where Jonathan Quick was really the only good thing the Kings had going for them. Fortunately for the Kings, Quick was very good.

Here’s what Terry Murray and Sean O’Donnell said about the Kings’ rough start, and Quick’s effort…

MURRAY: “The start was great from Quicker’s point of view. From my point of view, for Quicker, I suppose. He was really good in the first 10 minutes. We got through those first two power plays, and got settled in a little more and started making some plays and doing the right things through the middle of the ice. In my look at it, watching it over again, the problems were brought on by ourselves, with faceoffs. We lost some faceoffs, we dropped some sticks, we turned the puck over in the middle of the ice, for counters back at us. Then we ended up taking a couple of hooking penalties that kept the momentum coming at us. That’s part of it. The other part of it is, we have to get ourselves more prepared to come out ready to do the right stuff, right from the very beginning.”

O’DONNELL: “I think, last night, we did a good job in the first eight or 10 minutes of holding the fort, with some really good saves. We were a little flat, but give them credit. In the first 10 minutes, they really took it to us. Then we were able to get a couple goals there, and it seemed like that kind of quieted them down, and they were flat after that. I don’t think we played a perfect game, or a great game, by any means, but a good solid road game. We weathered the storm and then played a good 50-minute game.”