Goaltending plan `erased'

There’s a bit more to come back to on the Frolov situation later, but here’s something you might find interesting…

As has been mentioned here, Terry Murray told Helene Elliott of the L.A. Times yesterday that, in hindsight, he should have stayed with Jonathan Quick in goal against the New York Rangers, rather than going to Erik Ersberg. Murray has said, a couple times now, that the Kings dominated that game, the clear implication being that with better goaltending, the Kings would have won. They went on to lose the next night, in Detroit, with Quick in goal.

Today, Murray elaborated on his self-analysis and indicated that Quick will be in goal for quite some time to come…

MURRAY: “I was wishing I had just stayed with a player, Quicker, who was starting to get his game and playing well.”

Question: What does that mean for the next few games?

MURRAY: “It means I’m playing Quick right now. I had a plan that was penciled in, and I erased it.”

Question: Do you still have faith in Ersberg?

MURRAY: “I need him to be looking really, really good in practice. He’s got to be right on top of things right now. It’s been a long time since there’s been a win for him, going back to the middle of December last year, and I really need to see `A’ game in practice. You know, he’s battling the flu right now himself, so there’s just no way that he’s going to go in until he gets himself back to full strength and then builds from that point, and then we’ll decide.”

Question: Any thought, on your part, of bringing up Bernier?

MURRAY: “On my part? Me, specifically?”

Question: You and Dean…

MURRAY: “No, there’s not. No. Bernier is, from what I’m reading, is doing great. He’s playing, he’s winning, the team is winning, they’re in first place down there, and that was part of the decision coming out of the training camp. This is what he needs to do, Bernier, is to go play. I’ve got confidence that Quick is going to do the job for us.”

Question: You’ll keep playing him until he gives you a reason not to?

MURRAY: “The more he played… You know, he was getting on a roll and he was starting to play a real solid game when we got into New York. The only reason I made the change was because of my plan. Right now, I’m just going to play Quick.”