Quick's performance is the least of the teams worries
Los Angeles Kings two-time Stanley Cup champion goalie, Jonathan Quick, seems to have now turned the corner after a rough start to the season.
He has permitted two goals or fewer in five of his last seven starts.
Head coach Todd McLellan, in his first season as skipper of the Kings, never lost faith in his 33-year-old goalkeeper.
McLellan will never forget how the Kings completed a memorable comeback in the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, becoming the fourth team ever to rally from a 3-0 series deficit while defeating the San Jose Sharks, and eventually winning their second Stanley Cup. McLellan was the Sharks head coach and witnessed the Kings riding on the back of Quick's stellar performance in that first round Western Conference playoff series.
He thinks that Quick's performance is the least of the teams worries and mentioned that the defense needs to step it up to support their goaltender.
He's still that good, in my opinion," McLellan said. "When you're the goaltender, when you're the pitcher, when you're the quarterback, all eyes are on you. It's as simple as that. He's the last line of defense for our mistakes, and we made our share of them."
Over the course of Quick's 13 NHL seasons, he has earned a 2.38 GAA, .915 save percentage, a reputation as one of the league's stingiest shot-blockers, and a two-time Jennings Trophy winner.
Last year, Quick had a career-worst season that saw him go on the shelf with a lower-body injury after the first game, and then struggled to return to his usual form when coming off of injury reserve. He had a 3.38 GAA and a .888 save percentage - previously never having a GAA above 2.54 or save percentage below .902.
Some of the fans seemed ready for the Kings to move on and look to the franchise's goalies of the future, Jack Campbell and Cal Peterson.
But don't count Quick out just yet. He turned aside 24 of the 25 shots he faced during a 4-1 win against the top-notch New York Islanders on Wednesday, and seems to be moving in a positive direction, now sporting a 7-9-1 record with a 3.33 GAA and .885 save percentage.
"I feel like I'm seeing the puck OK and felt good about my game coming into the season," Quick said. " The games I've played so far are a small sample-size and making any definitive judgments, especially at my position, would be premature."
As the season unfolds, we'll see if more bounces go Quick's way and the defense continues to improve.
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