Saturday was Martin Jones’ night. The 23-year-old Los Angeles Kings goaltender certainly wasn’t overworked as the New York Islanders managed just 16 shots on goal, but he was solid when he had to be to earn his first shutout in just his second NHL game.
At the same time, Ben Scrivens was the first goalie out for the pregame warmups, leading to the assumption that he would get the start.
After the game, Kings coach Darryl Sutter was repeatedly asked about the change and while he confirmed that Scrivens was initially penciled in to start, he didn’t feel the need to explain why Jones ended up playing between the pipes.
Eventually, Sutter grew tired of that line of questioning, arguing that they should ask him about the guy that just got his first shutout instead. To simplify matters, Sutter decided to be the one to take the initiative.
“‘So, Darryl, how do you think Martin Jones played today?’” he asked himself before going on to answer his own question. “‘I thought he was really solid. Made some big saves for us. Jeez. Really held us in there in the first period. I thought he was outstanding.’”
If you want to see his postgame interview, you can view it below:
For his part, Jones didn’t want to get ahead of himself after posting a 0.97 GAA and .955 save percentage in two NHL games.
“It’s been a good start, but I’m not here to win two games,” Jones told LA Kings Insider. “There’s a lot of work ahead, and I don’t want to stop now. I want to keep on building off this and keep continuing to get better.”