Bernier getting off the bench

Eight games, and 24 days. That’s how long Jonathan Bernier will have waited between appearances by the time the puck drops tomorrow night in Nashville and Bernier starts in goal for the Kings. That’s certainly not approaching Erik Ersberg territory, given that Ersberg went more than 40 days between starts at one point last season, but clearly Terry Murray has deviated from his early-season plan of getting Bernier into at least one game per week. The timing, now, is obvious though, and was obvious even before Jonathan Quick allowed five goals against St. Louis. The Kings have back-to-back games at Nashville and Chicago, Quick has started eight consecutive games and Bernier is 2-0 against Nashville in this calendar year. Murray said today that his decision to start Bernier against Nashville was a chance to rest Quick and get Bernier — last seen in a rough loss to Montreal — back on track.

MURRAY: “It’s probably both. I mentioned this, I think, yesterday, that I was thinking of playing him [Bernier] in the game at home against Minnesota. Quick had been playing well, and I just wanted to stay with that. (Bernier) did have a good game here last year against Nashville, and with back-to-back games and a 6 o’clock start in Chicago, the rest factor kicks in on that one too. So he will get the start tomorrow.”