Practice habits keeping Jones sharp

Because Jonathan Quick suffered a wrist injury in the playoffs that required surgery and sidelined him from game action through much of training camp, there was an outside way of thinking that the he wouldn’t be rushed back into service, and that Martin Jones would be of great value as Quick played himself back up to the level established as an all-world goalie.

It sounded logical – and it never happened. Quick felt comfortable even during his abridged preseason workload, and to this point has appeared in 775:16 of the 914:42 total time in which a Kings goalie has been in the crease. Quick ranks third in the NHL in minutes played and tied for second with 13 starts, while Jones has posted a 1-1-0 record and has allowed four goals on 56 shots in 139:26 of action.

With the Kings playing three games in four nights beginning tomorrow in Anaheim and continuing with Dallas’ visit on Thursday and a home Ducks game on Saturday, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Jones earn a spot at some point in the upcoming back-to-back. One reason Jones hasn’t seen as heavy of a workload this early in the season is because the Kings have only played in two back-to-backs out of a league-low nine sets of back-to-back games. He started the back end of a back-to-back on October 12 and stopped 29 of 30 shots in a 4-1 win over Winnipeg, and started the front end of a back-to-back while stopping 20 of 23 in a 3-0 loss at Pittsburgh on October 30.

It’s an interesting equilibrium for the goalie who emerged from platoon situations with Dan Spence of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen in 2007-08 and with Jeff Zatkoff of the Manchester Monarchs in 2010-11 to become a featured starter through much of his career; even when Quick was injured last season, Jones played so well following his recall that he eventually began absorbing Ben Scrivens’ minutes.

Otherwise, apart from his duties spelling Quick during the second half of the 2013-14 season, he hasn’t spent a lot of time wearing a baseball cap and sitting on the team’s bench.

“It just puts a little bit more emphasis on your practice habits [and] making sure you’re staying sharp,” Jones said. “I’ve dealt with it a little bit before, my first couple years in junior and first year in Manch. It’s a little different for sure, but you just have to make sure you’re staying sharp in practice.”

Martin Jones, on how the coaches inform the goalies that they’re starting:
I think a lot of it is you kind of see how it goes. They’re usually pretty good about letting us know the day before, whether we’re playing. Things changes and the nature of the position is you have to be ready to go whenever. [Reporter: Do you ever find out the day of?] I have before. Like I said before, you have to put a lot of emphasis in your practice habits especially when you’re in my position. You’re not sure when your starts are going to come. Obviously you’d like to know in advance.

Jones, on whether he prefers to play the front or back game of a back-to-back:
No, it doesn’t really matter to me. It’s whatever.

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