Iron man, or too much?

Is Jonathan Quick playing too much? That seems to be a big question on everyone’s mind (and maybe a future poll question here?). New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur leads NHL goalies in games (68) and minutes (3,970:22) played this season. Quick is second in both categories, at 66 games and 3,922:27 minutes. I asked Terry Murray today if there was any concern, on his part, going down the stretch about possible fatigue in Quick’s game.

MURRAY: “I have awareness to the number of minutes. I don’t have a concern with it. With the number of games played, No. 1 goaltenders have to play those number of games. The history of the game shows that when you have a clear-cut No. 1, he’s going to get up there in that stat. I think he’s looking good. He’s strong, he’s feeling good, he’s got a really good attitude about coming out and playing every night, and I think, in the big picture of his career, I think this is going to be tremendous for his mental toughness.”

If Quick starts at least seven of the Kings’ final nine games, he would finish the season with a team-record 73 games. Over the past three seasons, only six goalies — Brodeur, Miikka Kiprusoff, Marty Turco, Evgeni Nabokov, Ryan Miller and Roberto Luongo — have started 73 or more games (Kiprusoff has done it three times, Brodeur twice).

Quick was on the ice today for the team’s optional practice. In an ideal situation, Quick probably would have stayed off the ice today, but given the Kings’ compacted late-season schedule, there isn’t a lot of practice time, and practice is when goalies get the chance to work out potential flaws in their games.

MURRAY: “Absolutely. Just a little maintenance work. All the drills that were done with him were about focusing on the puck, absorbing the puck, freezing it, on pucks that are shot into him. That’s just the way of bringing attention and focus and concentration to follow the puck.”