Taking the blame

After Game 4, Kings goalie Jonathan Quick was true to his nature. It’s to Quick’s credit that, when things go well, he gives credit to his teammates and, when things go bad, he takes responsibility on his own shoulders. Quick’s self-analysis after Game 4 included the observation that goalies need to make big saves in the playoffs and “I wasn’t able to do that for the team.” Quick, under heavy pressure at times, stopped 31 of 36 shots. Today, Terry Murray was asked whether he felt it necessary to keep his goalie from beating himself up too much, emotionally…

MURRAY: “In my opinion, it’s always good to take on responsibility. It’s good to feel bad, as a player, and sense that you could have made a difference in the game, whether you’re a goaltender or a forward or a defenseman. There are critical plays, where something happens and it’s a turnover, and you made the mistake — and I’ve been through that as a player — you’ve got to feel bad. The test is to be able to rebound from that, and know that your teammates are not looking at you and saying, `OK, you’re the reason why.’ Your teammates are right behind you, everybody is in the same foxhole together and we’ve got to battle hard again in Game 5.”

Question: What did you think of Quick’s game overall?

MURRAY: “I thought he did a pretty good job. I watched those goals against on the review here this morning. He had a lot of traffic. There’s some redirections. The one I’d like to see him have back would be the Demitra one. It’s an odd rush, but just off-angle a little bit. You’ve got a goal scorer, a guy who showed what he can do in the Olympics. He’s a pretty good goal scorer and he was able to find the far side.”

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