Goalie talk stays quiet

If you know, for certain, who the Kings are going to start in goal for Sunday’s preseason finale against Anaheim, you’re part of an elite group. Terry Murray won’t say. The goalies say they don’t know. The only thing known is that Jonathan Quick is expected to play the entire game Saturday in Las Vegas, leaving Sunday for Jonathan Bernier, Erik Ersberg or some combination thereof. Murray declined to announce his plans today, saying, “I still have to let the other goaltenders know who it’s going to be.”

The fact that Murray hasn’t outright committed to playing Ersberg in a game isn’t good news for Ersberg, given that Bernier already has 100 minutes of action in the preseason. Asked today about Ersberg, Murray indicated that he would use past performance (all seven of those starts from last season, apparently) as part of his decision process, given that Ersberg missed time during training camp with a hand injury.

MURRAY: “Injuries are hard. When you come in, as a player, and you’re looking to impress everyone in the organization with readiness and play, you basically have five games to show your stuff. When you’re missing two or three of them, it makes it pretty difficult. We have to refer back to how he has played in the past. To me, it looks that way. I still haven’t decided on the game in Anaheim. Maybe there is an opportunity there for half of the game. I really haven’t come to a conclusion on that yet. It’s a conversation I’m having with the goaltender coaches, and we’ll probably arrive at that tomorrow.”

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