Los Angeles Kings’ Jonathan Quick tames Canucks in playoffs

Are you ready for some shutouts?

Bring on the goalies - the Kings’ Jonathan Quick and the Blues’ Brian Elliott. They both recorded shutouts in the last regular-season meeting between Los Angeles and St. Louis, on March 22, at Staples Center. The Kings eventually won, 1-0, needing four rounds of a shootout to settle the issue.

The Kings and the Blues will meet in the second round of the playoffs, starting in St. Louis, possibly on Friday or Saturday.

But first, though, a word or two about the past before exploring the future.

Quick allowed eight goals in the entire first-round series against the Canucks, recording a 1-0 shutout in Game 3. For some perspective, the Bruins and the Capitals combined for seven goals in Game 6. The Penguins scored 10 goals in Game 4 against the Flyers’ duo of Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky.

That, of course, was a wild ride, well outside the norm. You could say the same thing about Quick, at the opposite end of the spectrum. Then again, he has been that way all season.

The highest compliments came from Canucks goalie Cory Schneider, who has been going up against Quick since their East Coast prep-school days.

“He didn’t make any mistakes,” Schneider told the Vancouver Sun after Game 5. “Usually you make one or two you would like to have back, but it seemed like he didn’t miss on a single puck the whole series and made us work extremely hard.”

Quick’s brother-in-law, Islanders’ forward Matt Moulson, delivered his summation after the Kings clinched the series on Sunday night, via Twitter:

“Congrats to @JonathanQuick32 what a series #brickwall my only criticism is u need a new head shot for tv #tooserious”

And speaking of Twitter ... the official Twitter feed of the Kings @LAKings did not punctuate the series with any cheeky salvos. It had sparked a mini-controversy after Game 1 by Tweeting - “to everyone in Canada outside BC, you’re welcome.” The Kings ended up apologizing the next day.

Sunday? Twitter tame:
“The Kings advance to the 2nd round for the first time since 2001.”
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Los Angeles Kings’ Jonathan Quick tames Canucks in playoffs