alt="LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond" />After Game 4, Kings goalie Jonathan Quick was true to his nature. It’s to Quick’s credit that, when things go well, he gives credit to his teammates and, when things go bad, he takes responsibility on his own shoulders. Quick’s self-analysis after Game 4 included the observation that goalies need to make big saves in the playoffs and “I wasn’t able to do that for the team.” Quick, under heavy pressure at times, stopped 31 of 36 shots. Today, Terry Murray was asked whether he felt it necessary to keep his goalie from beating himself up too much, emotionally…
MURRAY: “In my opinion, it’s always good to take on responsibility. It’s good to feel bad, as a player, and sense that you could have made a difference in the game, whether you’re a goaltender or a forward or a defenseman. There are critical plays, where something happens and it’s a turnover, and you made the mistake — and I’ve been through that as a player — you’ve got to feel bad. The test is to be able to rebound from that, and know that your teammates are not looking at you and saying, `OK, you’re the reason why.’ Your teammates are right behind you, everybody is in the same foxhole together and we’ve got to battle hard again in Game 5.”
Question: What did you think of Quick’s game overall?
MURRAY: “I thought he did a pretty good job. I watched those goals against on the review here this morning. He had a lot of traffic. There’s some redirections. The one I’d like to see him have back would be the Demitra one. It’s an odd rush, but just off-angle a little bit. You’ve got a goal scorer, a guy who showed what he can do in the Olympics. He’s a pretty good goal scorer and he was able to find the far side.”
Quick did his job well no goals were his fault.
None of the goals were soft….yet as Luongo stopped Fro on a breakaway, Quick needed to make a game changing stop. Ain’t off the Quick bandwagon yet, but he needs to really win us a game.
@thrustable
See: Demitra, Pavol.
SOFT AS A GRAPE.
The difference between the goalies last night was that Luongo made the save on Frolov, which would have put the Kings up two, and Quick didn’t make the save on Sedin, which put the Kings down one. If either of those change, it could be a different game, but we’ll never know.
This is Quick’s time though. Come next year, things could be different. But right now, it’s all Quick. You can’t ask for more as a player.
@Marc Nathan
Not sure what you mean, if you implying that Demitra’s goal was soft, well, I think that was a 2 on 1. Yet, as a stated before, Quick needs to make a BIG stop like Luongo did.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Frolov score on a breakaway.
@khanon
I think he has a couple this season. not sure though
Fro needs to sit, he’s in for offense and he has no goals and only 7 shots.
So then OD should be taking on the responsibility and feel bad on trying to get the puck away on that 5 on 2 that led to the go ahead score, instead of staying in his lane?
Every time Fro had the puck behind the net he tried a wrap around which was well covered. He needs to bring it out or pass it in front.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Williams in Fro’s spot for a game.
Difference between Reboundo Luongo and Jonathan Quick? Luongo was off blaming his team after the loss to the Kings and not taking responsibility for his play. Quick, he took the blame instead of dishing it off to his teammates.
I can’t blame Quick for those goals, but I sure give him a lot of respect for how he feels. He’ll be back tomorrow on the ice and I think he will do really well.
@Kingsfanone
I’m not a hockey strategist, but both Fox and TM said after the game that the better thing to do was to fall back towards goal, not go out and take the man with the puck on the boards, and slow the rush down to hopefully get other Kings back to support.
So OD didn’t get the puck deep during a change, which led to a 2 on 1 goal, and he took the man with the puck instead of falling back….I’m just sayin…..
I have no doubt Quick will have a strong game just as he did in games 1 and 2. It’s interesting that he seems to play more focused and relaxed on the road than at home. I wonder if anybody has pointed this out to him.
If we play like we played in games 2..3..and 4 we should be fine. Three glaring mistakes that lead to goals don’t happen that often.
@thrustable
That’s what I’m saying exactly.
The goals were either goal-scorer’s goals, they were directly as a result of the team not being able to clear, or they were neutral zone turnovers. Quick has been the better goaltender in this series to this point.
We’re gonna have to face it, young goalies with zero playoff experience don’t exactly have great success in the playoffs. Not everyone is Patrick Ru-ah. Yet super-goalie Luongo has a higher GAA than Quick in these playoffs.
Okay, Bloggers, the time has come for everybody to get off the backs of the individual players and just show support for the team. We never won the cup with Gretzky and remember Deadmarsh’s fabulous last minute goal! This team has done well so far and on Friday and again on Sunday (whatever time it starts) they are going to be spectacular. They’re going to dominate the faceoffs, shutdown the sisters and Samuellson, score on 5 on 5’s and win them both(games, that is). Onward and upward, say I.
@Sam
Luongo had a bad game in game 3. Yet he made the save of the game in game 1 in O.T. and made the save of the game against Fro in game 4. That’s what we need from Quick, that game changing, game saving play.
Perhaps we need not panic. Many thought that the Kings were going to tank it the last couple of weeks and miss the playoffs, and we righted the ship. After game 1 we were ready to fire DL, TM, and bring in Bernier. After game 3 it was all good. We lose game 4 and here we go again with the negativity. We’ll make it to the next round.
For this team not being in the playoffs for 8 years, they could have a lot more glaring problems than the ones they’ve been facing. The inexperience as a team is showing, but they seem to be able to correct them mostly. The Nucks should have loads more experience than the Kings, yet they are having trouble in this series. Hell, they were down 2-1 before last nite. The Nucks have a lot more issues to correct than the Kings do, I think.
Kings are fine, just don’t make repeat the glaring mistakes and kick them out of their own barn Friday.
Watchin’ the Pens-Sens game. Pens havin’ a “white-out”. Glad I was at game 3 doin’ the “black-out”. The “white-out” is lame.
Latest News on LA Times website:
“Lethal Fungus Moves South From Canada”
A potentially lethal fungus normally found only in the tropics has established a foothold on the Pacific Coast of British Columbia and has slowly made its way southward…
This must be the same fungus that turns Canuck fans into whimpering crybabies and conspiracy kooks, and makes Shane O’Brien a complete a-hole.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-fungus-20100423,0,7750399.story
Has anyone noticed that Quick has trouble with long distance shots? Maybe he needs contact lenses. No joke. Let’s get his eyes tested.
GO KINGS !
i think the kings are fine also the nucks are a skilled team and are not going to go down easy but the kings are gonna kick some nuck butt tommorrow.go kings go!
It’s good that he can take responsibility, but TM failed to take responsibility and put someone more capable in goal.
Enough with the finger pointing, I really hope this is not whats going on in the Kings Locker Room. Quick is right to cover for teammates, so would OD, but teammates should never call out teammates in the media.
That should be a behind the seens one on one thing, and it should be more of a coaching type discussion. OD did have a bad game thats 1 in the last 10 or so, not bad for about 1.5 mil a year #4 D-man. Well I guess the witch hunt of Jones cant be done, because he was off the ice for the opposing goals.
We need to stop the backseat driving… I am very PROUD of what this team has accomplished! I’ve been a fan for 3 decades and have endured a great deal of failure but through and through I’m a DIEHARD fan that is very proud of our team! Our future is extremely bright and no matter what happens in this series, I’ll still be a DIEHARD the rest of my life! Let’s tighten up our game and limit our mistakes and take it to the CAnuckleheads!! I’ll be there on Sunday hoping that we wrap up the series!! GO KINGS GO!!!!!!
On another note, has anyone else noticed that the team that scored the first goal has lost every game this series? In the nhl that is usually the early indicater of who will win the game normally about 70% of the time.
I will say honestly the team that played the best has won every game this series. We need to cut down on mistakes and get the puck possession advantage, get traffic infront of the nets, and get shots on goal.
We can do it, Go Kings Go!
Rich,
When will they announce the scheduled time for Sunday’s Game?
A few observations:
I think I noticed a lot of high glove shots against Quick…was I just reading into things or are the VC targeting it a-la Lundqvist?
On the Kings breakout, the canucks are expecting that off-the-boards pass about 5 feet from our own blue line. It either doesn’t get fielded cleanly or worse, turns into a turnover. Seen it happen more times than I’d like to.
More puck support on the PP. I know they’re doing incredibly well but once Vancouver started with the one-man high-pressure forecheck, things were a bit off. We couldn’t retrieve dump-ins, the Smyth shot was good but had no support, etc.
Stick control on the opposition — those tip-ins are killing us!
I’ve noted before during the olympics — Bobby seems to have a tough time playing pucks by his feet. Please plan on having the same mentality that Simmonds and Doughty had that resulted in their goals.
Offensively, get those shots on or near Luongo and look for rebounds. They’re still there. Jack Johnson going with wristers instead of slappers — best-decision-ever.
When in doubt, play like Richardson. :)
Hope we can learn from the last game and win game 5.
Richardson is a MONSTER. Causing havoc and playing alot bigger than his size.
Adi …must be a Nuck fan in disguise.I love quick . in TM WE TRUST
Bottom line the two games Vancouver won Loungo made the big saves. thats why he is paid the big bucks, Quick just didnt make the critical saves late in the game. Not mad at the guy he has been pretty good this series.. just needs to steal a goal like loungo did last night.
Man if you guys cant see that Fro has picked it up another notch for the playoffs then you just hate the guy period!!!!
Kinda exciting when you hear 1st career playoff goal for simmonds and brown and all our youngsters… i cant wait for next year already!!!
“pretty good job” doenst win you series’s….
NHL.com says Sunday’s game is a 6pm pacific start
Didn’t Frolov scored on a breakaway against Luongo in the 8-3 win? I believe he started the scoring on a deke to the backhand.
He is right, he should have made a few big saves. Luongo did!
@Sydor25
And? That was weeks ago in the regular season, not sure what your point is.
Frolov did bring it up another notch which doesn’t mean much considering the notch he was at.
Make some sense, people! Quick was the better goaltender in two of the games, and Luongo is supposed to be some kind of phenom. Quick has outperformed expectations. Admit it.
The same thing goes for the team, as someone else pointed out above. This team looks downright competent in the playoffs, which is why we took it hard when they got off track in the third period–because they’ve been so good, not because they’ve been so bad.
Things are looking up, and I wouldn’t sell these guys short.
LOLz…the fungus is probably psybocilin. That would explain a lot!
Adi says:
April 22, 2010 at 5:38 PM
It’s good that he can take responsibility, but TM failed to take responsibility and put someone more capable in goal.
…………..i dont even know why iam gonna comment on that lame statement……hmmmmm….actually..I WONT!!
Somebody ask what was the point bringing up frolovs breakaway from a few weeks ago. U gotta think that play is fresh in both their minds. Fro shot
quick this time and even loungo said he tried something different on this breakaway. Sounds like it meant alot to loungo
@Adi,
Is it even POSSIBLE for you to make a post without taking a shot at Quick? Sheesh…
@ Sydor 25,
You’re right, he did!
@ thrustable,
Someone stated thet had NEVER seen him score on a breakaway – THAT was his point.
@Adi Well here is just a wee bit of info for you……Brodeur who is a veteran”elite goalie” who has raised Lord Stanley played 4 games in the playoffs is heading to the golf course. Quick a rookie goaltender who is making his playoff debut is still playing and oh yes has a better save% than Brodeur in 4 games. Just something to think about before going after Quick. Oh yes Ryan Miller is also on the brink of elimination.
Oops sorry Brodeur played 5 games.
Quicks save % is now .902 for this series and is even worse than his last (or next to last) ranking for the season. He even admitted that the last loss was his fault! He did not make any key saves and allowed a couple that a better goalie would have made! I’ve been saying it all year…he’s not the kind of goalie to steal a couple of games for the team. He will always be a very good BACKUP for someone like BERNIER who will beat him out next year.