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Jones gets second straight start over struggling Quick

Toronto Maple Leafs v Los Angeles Kings

Toronto Maple Leafs v Los Angeles Kings

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After shutting out the Leafs Monday, Martin Jones will get his second straight start for the Kings when they host the Devils tonight.

Which means that regular starter Jonathan Quick will sit for the second straight time.

“We need both our goalies to win games. Simple,” coach Darryl Sutter explained today, per LA Kings Insider.

“We’re giving Quicker another chance to get at least six or more days between games, and you need your other goalie to win you games. ... If we wouldn’t have won the other night, then Quick would’ve played tonight. It’s not somebody ahead of the other. We’re trying to win games going into the break, be in a playoff spot.”

Quick, you may have guessed, has not been all that sharp of late. In his last four appearances, he’s allowed 13 goals on 76 shots, for a save percentage of .829.

In fact, Quick hasn’t been all that sharp the last month or so. Eight times since Dec. 11 he’s allowed three or more goals in an appearance, including five times when he’s allowed four.

That’s not how the Kings have won so many games the past few seasons, and last week Sutter relayed his displeasure with the goaltending his team had been getting.

“Our schedule in December was one that, even though it was the most games we played, it was also, in terms of how it was set up, in terms of the days off and all that, was the easiest month for goalies,” he said.

The defending champs enter tonight’s game with the 11th-lowest goals-against average (2.46) in the NHL.

Last season, they had the lowest (2.05).

In 2011-12, when they won their first Stanley Cup, they had the second-lowest (2.07).