Kings can win division title and goaltending award

There aren’t any arguments about East Coast bias, social media outcry or charges of resting on past laurels when it comes to one particular NHL award.

That’s the beauty of the William M. Jennings Trophy.

It’s all in the numbers.

Goalie Jonathan Quick and the Kings are in a tight, three-way race with the Ducks (Frederik Andersen/John Gibson) and the Washington Capitals (Braden Holtby) for the award given to “the goalkeeper(s) having played a minimum of 25 games for the team with the fewest goals scored against it.”

The Ducks, who have two games remaining, have given up 189 goals. They play Colorado on Saturday and Washington in Sunday’s season finale. The Capitals, who also have two games left, are at 190. The Kings (191 goals allowed) face the Winnipeg Jets in their regular-season finale Saturday.

The Kings can clinch the Pacific Division title with a victory over the Jets or a regulation loss by the Ducks to the Avalanche.

“I think it’s something when you get to this time of the year and are playing hockey in the spring, you have to be able to win low-scoring games,” Quick said Friday. “And if you’ve grown accustomed to that over the year, it helps.”

Said Kings Coach Darryl Sutter: “If you look at the best goalies, they’re all playing now. If there’s no injuries involved, they’re playing 60 to 68 games. That what it is. That’s about winning. Teams that split [the workload] or who are not sure who their No. 1 are, which means they’re still not a great goalie or looked on as a great goalie or they haven’t won a championship.”

Quick could capture his second Jennings in the last three seasons, but this campaign is a far cry from his assignment while winning the 2013-14 award. This season, he has been responsible for 40 of the Kings’ 48 wins. No. 2 goalie Jhonas Enroth has recorded seven wins, and Peter Budaj has the other.

In 2013-14, Martin Jones and Ben Scrivens each appeared in 19 games for the Kings, taking on the heavy lifting after Quick suffered a serious groin injury at Buffalo on Nov. 12. Quick would appear in 49 games — a light workload by Sutter standards because of the injury layoff — and won 27 times.

“I remember saying afterward, if I had known that, I would have got Jonesey in more,” Sutter said of the 25-game minimum.

Scrivens, now in Montreal, won the next three games on the Eastern trip after Quick was injured. Jones, now with the San Jose Sharks, ended up winning 12 games that season for the Kings, four of them shutouts, and could end up facing his former teammates in the playoffs.

“You can say this too, if it wasn’t for their play, we don’t even get in the playoffs that year,” Quick said. “Never mind the Jennings Trophy; we don’t win the other one [the Stanley Cup] either, if they don’t play as well as they do. It’s kind of funny how it works out.”

KINGS NEXT UP

VS. WINNIPEG

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

On the air: TV: Prime Ticket. Radio: 790.

Update: The Jets, on their first three-game winning streak of the season, are busy playing California spoiler with late comebacks against the likes of the Ducks on Tuesday and the Sharks on Thursday. Dustin Byfuglien had a four-point night at San Jose, including the game winner with 9.9 seconds left in regulation. It was the fourth four-point game of his career.

Follow Lisa Dillman on Twitter: @reallisa