Jonathan Quick is Kings’ ultimate advantage in 2-1 win over Wild

Remember when goalie Jonathan Quick didn’t finish the Kings season-opening loss to the San Jose Sharks?

That was so two weeks ago. In fact, not even two weeks ago.

Quick and his surgically repaired wrist have passed every test — big and small — since then. The latest featured a barrage of shots, a 40-save effort by Quick that was the difference in the Kings’ 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon at Staples Center.

Scoring for the Kings were the kids, linemates Tyler Toffoli and rookie left wing Tanner Pearson. Pearson’s team-leading fifth goal of the season turned out to be the game-winner in the third period. The line of Pearson, Jeff Carter and Toffoli has combined for 20 points in the last five games and a plus-25 rating.

It was the Kings’ fourth straight victory and the third consecutive win for Quick.

“I know if we had lost one of them, it would be a calamity,” Kings Coach Darryl Sutter said with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

Front and center was Quick’s sharp performance and the robust showing by the penalty killers. The Wild went 0 for 5 with the man advantage and still has not scored on the power play this season, going 0 for 16.

Minnesota had an eye-popping seven shots on goal on one third-period power play when Kings forward Mike Richards was off for high sticking Justin Fontaine. Quick has faced 84 shots on goal in back-to-back wins over the St. Louis Blues and Wild, allowing one goal.

Fairly soon, facing 30-something shots is going to feel like a light night for Quick.

The Kings are without defenseman Jake Muzzin, who could return later this week. The timetable is not as favorable for injured forwards Marian Gaborik and Trevor Lewis, according to Rob Blake, the team’s assistant general manager.

But they are winning with a combination of the Carter line, penalty-killing and Quick.

Quick has long been the master of looking forward. He often mentions the next opponent in postgame interviews.

“You play 82 [games] just to try to get a chance to play some more games,” said Quick, who had wrist surgery in June. “You’ve got to be good about letting go, whether it was a really strong game or a real bad game.

“Because you see both of them. You’ve got to be good about letting it go and get on to the next one.”

The Kings have killed 14 straight penalties since allowing a game-winning power-play goal in overtime at Arizona. Against the Wild, the Kings were outshot, 41-16, and recorded a mere four shots on goal in the third period. Quick endured a barrage in the final 20 minutes, facing 17 shots.

“It’s kind of similar to a couple of nights ago against St. Louis,” Quick said. “We killed four or five penalties the other night and probably the same tonight. They’re a great team. They’ve got a lot of different plays, off that goal-line play they work. We try to be prepared for all of them. The guys did a great job.”

The Kings built a 2-0 lead behind the creativity and passing of the Carter line. Toffoli’s goal on the power play made it 1-0 at 13 minutes 54 seconds of the first period as a Mike Richards pass intended for Carter hit Wild defenseman Ryan Suter’s skate and went to Toffoli. Pearson, who has points in four of the team’s six games, scored 2:58 into the third period to make it 2-0, set up by Toffoli and Carter.

Then the Kings clung to the lead. Matt Cooke was the only Wild player to solve Quick, going in alone and converting a backhander at 6:47 of the third.

“You don’t want to be in those situations, but if you are, you bear down and it almost excites you,” Kings center Jarret Stoll said of the penalty-killing effort.

“If you can kill a penalty to win a game or kill a penalty to get the game to overtime, whatever the case may be, the type of guys we have, it’s a welcoming challenge. We take a lot of pride in that. We do that pretty well.”