Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Los Angeles is a city that has a plethora
of famous movie stars, musicians and athletes, but the star currently shining
brightest is Jonathan Quick.
The 26-year-old goaltender became the third American ever to win the Conn
Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs on Monday as he backstopped his Kings to
their first-ever Stanley Cup championship.
"You still go about your day the same way you always have," said Quick. "It is
what it is and I think the attention the team is going to get is great. That's
something we've been looking for for so long in this market is to get hockey
the attention that it deserves."
He wasn't needed much in the deciding Game 6 as his teammates did most of the
work in a 6-1 win over the New Jersey Devils, but the Vezina Trophy finalist
was the main reason they were there in the first place.
With a goals-against average of 1.41 and a save percentage of .946, he led all
goaltenders in the playoffs in both of those categories and tied the New York
Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist and Phoenix Coyotes' Mike Smith with three shutouts.
He was a workhorse for the team throughout the playoffs as he played every
game, starting with a 24-save performance against the President's Trophy
winning Vancouver Canucks on April 11 and ending with a 17-save effort on the
final game of the NHL postseason.
Giving up three goals just twice in the playoffs, Quick backstopped the team
to a run of eight straight wins starting with a Game 5 victory in the
quarterfinals to knock off the Canucks, continuing with a four-game sweep of
the Blues and the first three games against the Coyotes.
Losing just four games the entire postseason, he hadn't lost two straight
games until the Devils had taken Games 4 and 5 to push the series to a Game 6.
A Milford, Connecticut native, his brilliant postseason capped an equally
strong regular season that saw him post a record of 35-21-13 with 10 shutouts,
a .929 save percentage and a 1.95 GAA.
A third-round draft pick, 72nd overall, in 2005 by Los Angeles, he led the
league in shutouts, finished second in GAA, fifth in save percentage and tied
for fifth in wins. That helped him earn a Vezina nod for the first time in his
fourth full season along with Lundqvist and Nashville's Pekka Rinne.
This run could put Quick in line as the favorite to backstop the American
hockey team at the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The Sports Network