NEW YORK // As the last line of defence for the Los Angeles Kings, goaltender Jonathan Quick is used to being in the firing line, on and off the ice.
During a marathon run of play-off games where his team played the maximum seven games in all three series en route to the Stanley Cup Final, Quick has been routinely pounded by his opponents on the rink and slammed by his critics off it.
“He’s a confident goaltender,” said winger Kyle Clifford, who threw a scare into the Kings camp during practice last week when Quick stopped one of his shots in the throat area before leaving the ice in discomfort.
“We have a lot of confidence in him. We know he’s going to make a couple big saves every night for us.”
Statistically, this has not been Quick’s best postseason. Before Monday’s Game 3 of the finals with the New York Rangers, he had allowed an average of 2.80 goals per game and saved just over 90 per cent of the shots he has faced, leaving him ranked ninth and eighth, respectively, among goalies.
Those statistics are well below the brilliant numbers he had two years ago, when he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player during the play-offs after helping the Kings win the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup championship.
But Quick, 28, has been at his brilliant best whenever it matters, making all the crucial blocks when he needed.
On Monday, he made 32 saves for his second shutout of the play-offs, giving the Kings a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“It’s an exciting time of the year,” Quick said. “It’s why you play hockey, to play in the play-offs.
“Obviously nothing’s done, nothing’s finished. We still have a lot of work to do. We do know the fourth is always the most difficult, so we have a lot of work to do.”
Quick has been under intense pressure throughout the entire play-offs, with the Kings needing to come from three games down to win their first-round series over the San Jose Sharks.
They went the distance in the second round against the Anaheim Ducks and again in the Western Conference Finals with the Chicago Blackhawks, with the decider going to overtime.
“It’s a pretty good feeling as a player to know we have ‘Quicky’ back there,” Kings centre Jeff Carter said.
“We know he’s got our back. We know what he’s capable of.”
Quick gave up two early goals in Game 1 against the Rangers, but saved the last 15 shots he faced as the Kings rallied to a 3-2 overtime win.
He conceded four goals in Game 2 but then turned away the final 17 shots that were fired at him as the Kings won 5-4 in double overtime to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
“Numbers can be construed either way. You can bend a story any way you want,” LA winger Justin Williams said.
“When push comes to shove, Jonathan Quick, just like everyone else on our team, I feel is able to relish an opportunity.”
The goalie, soft-spoken and notoriously cautious with the media, is on the brink of a second Stanley Cup title but was still giving little away despite what looms.
“You just make one save at a time and you try and get ready for the next one. That’s all,” he said.
“Maybe it seems like I’m not having fun. Whether you win or lose, these are the games that you want to play. This is why you work so hard, to play in these types of games.”
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