Six Quick flicks fix what ails Kings

Last season, Kings Coach Terry Murray played Jonathan Quick too much and wore out his young goaltender.

This season Murray might not be playing Quick enough -- but that could soon change.

Quick faced a season-high 41 shots by the Boston Bruins on Saturday in regulation and overtime and was perfect in a six-round shootout, keeping the Kings afloat until Michal Handzus rifled a wrist shot past Tim Thomas’ stick for a 4-3 victory at TD Garden.

The Kings, playing on the second successive night and teetering after losing three straight games, had built a 3-0 lead early in the second period on goals by Brad Richardson, Handzus and Jarret Stoll. They let it slip away in the face of a frantic onslaught by the Bruins and a foolish third-period penalty that Boston turned into the tying goal on a one-timer by Patrice Bergeron at 13:44, sending the teams beyond 60 minutes for the fourth time in a row against each other.

Quick’s poise and presence proved the difference. His acrobatics, which included 16 saves in the third period and two in overtime, are likely to change the schedule Murray had crafted to give him more rest and give Jonathan Bernier more time in net.

“It’s getting close to that,” Murray said. “I might wait for that decision after we get back from this road trip.”

Murray scheduled Quick to play Monday in Ottawa and Bernier for the finale Wednesday in Montreal, Bernier’s hometown. Murray said he wouldn’t hesitate to change that if he felt it necessary but doesn’t plan to alter the rotation.

Quick’s performance Saturday was a persuasive case for increasing his workload and was a huge boost for the Kings (13-6-0), who recognized the importance of ending a slide in which their defense, special teams and goaltending had been less than stellar.

“We said it before the game, I think it’s a great challenge for us. This is the first adversity we had this season and that’s how we grow as a team,” Handzus said. “We said, ‘Have a great game,’ and we didn’t play as well, but we stuck to it.”

Quick, whose 11-2 record is the best in club history after 13 decisions, was sharp enough to shore them up.

“I felt good. Obviously, there’s some mistakes there I need to clean up. Every game you’re going to make mistakes,” said Quick, who has a 1.82 goals-against average and .935 save percentage. “I was fortunate it wasn’t too many mistakes that we couldn’t battle back from.

“I’m just glad to get the two points. It was a long time. Like Zeus said, it was the first adversity we faced all year and I think we battled hard and we deserved the two points.”

Richardson had given the Kings the lead 57 seconds into the game, scoring on a 20-foot wrist shot in his first shift on the left side with Trevor Lewis and Kevin Westgarth. Each of his linemates got an assist, with Westgarth recording his first NHL point.

Handzus, on the rebound of a blocked shot, made it 2-0 at 11:17 of the first period, denting Thomas’ league-leading save percentage. Stoll extended that to 3-0 by finishing off a give-and-go with Justin Williams at 2:50 of the second period, his 100th career goal.

The Bruins cut that to 3-1 less than two minutes later, when Blake Wheeler’s shot during a scramble trickled past Quick. With a delayed penalty pending against the Kings, Gregory Campbell made it 3-2 on the rebound of a shot by Shawn Thornton that Quick had stopped with his glove.

The Bruins pressed in the third and pulled even, but Quick denied them repeatedly after that. In the shootout he stopped Bergeron, Tyler Seguin, Milan Lucic, Michael Ryder, Nathan Horton and David Krejci before Handzus, who had time to note that Thomas was staying deep in the net, surprised him by changing up his speed. “He did a good job,” Thomas said.

But Quick was better. And he has been better than Bernier (3.18, .891).

“We feel confident when he’s in there and obviously this game was pretty much his game,” Handzus said. “That’s what you need from your goalie -- to steal those games, especially back-to-back games. You need the goalie to steal the game and he stole it for us.”

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helene.elliott@latimes.com

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