A lot of Quick work down the stretch

The Kings have 12 games remaining in the regular season, including one set of back-to-back games and one two-game road trip. How many of those games will goalie Jonathan Quick start? Before the season, Terry Murray spoke of his desire to keep Quick’s start total in the high 50s. Quick will start his 50th game tonight, which puts him right on pace to start perhaps 58 or 59 games this season, if all goes well. Quick started a franchise-record 72 games last season and, after the season, Murray expressed regret that he played Quick as much as he did down the stretch. On the other hand, Murray has much more confidence in backup goalie Jonathan Bernier than he did in Erik Ersberg last season, so that has helped the decision-making process. Quick and Bernier evenly split the recent four-game road trip, and I asked Murray today if his goalie plan for the final 12 games would be based around playing one goalie more heavily…

MURRAY: “Yeah, it is. We talked about this before leaving on the road trip, where it’s important to start to put the focus on one goaltender a little bit more now. That’s the plan, and I’ll follow through with that plan, if everything works out accordingly. I plan on using Quick more, to get him ready. He’s been our No. 1 goaltender, right from the beginning, and that’s where I plan to go to. I want to say this, though. Bernier, his game is real good right now. He’s sharp. His adjustment to the NHL shooter is progressing the right way, and we’re real happy with how things are going.”