What a difference two weeks makes.
After his first three games of these Stanley Cup playoffs, Jonathan Quick was boasting a ghastly 0-3 record, with an .852 save percentage and 5.81 goals-against average.
Tonight, he’s being hailed as the top goalie on the planet.‘We won the game tonight because we have the best goalie in the world’ - @LAKings captain @DustinBrown23
— The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) May 6, 2014
Brown’s quote illustrates just how quickly things turned around. After being lit up for 16 goals in three straight losses to open the postseason, Quick flipped the switch and has been a man on a mission ever since.
Consider what he’s done over what’s now a six-game winning streak:
To put that in perspective -- his “worst” outing was allowing three goals on 39 shots in a win-or-go-home Game 4 against the Sharks, a game that came after three really tough performances. Since then, he’s gotten better and better.
Tonight, Quick was about as good as it gets. He showed his form early, robbing Devante Smith-Pelly with an old-school pad stack:
It’s now fair to suggest Quick is taking up residence in the Ducks’ heads. He’s allowed just three goals over the last 130 minutes and has done a magnificent job in keeping Anaheim’s stars at bay -- Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Nick Bonino and Andrew Cogliano, who combined to score 118 goals during the regular season, have failed to beat Quick once in this series.
It’s the kind of performance that even Darryl Sutter had to gush over.
“The best player on the ice tonight,” Sutter said, per LA Kings Insider, “was the goaltender for the Kings.”