Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick blocks a shot by San Jose Sharks right winger Melker Karlsson during Thursday’s game.Paul Rodriguez/The Associated Press
The Pittsburgh Penguins are down to their third goalie, Jeff Zatkoff, after injuries sidelined Marc-André Fleury and Matt Murray. The Detroit Red Wings switched to Petr Mrazek after Jimmy Howard faltered in the first two games against the Tampa Bay Lightning. New York Rangers turned to Antti Raanta for most of the opener against the Penguins after Henrik Lundqvist took a stick in the eye. The New York Islanders are using Thomas Greiss because No. 1 Jaroslav Halak isn't ready to play.
In Dallas and Anaheim, Kari Lehtonen and John Gibson won the coin flips to start for the Stars and Ducks, respectively, even though their counterparts, Antti Niemi and Frederik Andersen, made more regular-season appearances, making them the 1s in a 1-1A rotation. But the Ducks switched to Andersen after dropping their first two games to the Nashville Predators, in the hopes that he can do for them what Mrazek did for Detroit, and get them back in the series.
By the time the playoffs roll around, NHL teams traditionally want to designate a starting goaltender and then roll with him.
But this year, with so many goalie injuries and so many teams switching to netminding tandems, the established clearcut No. 1 is more the exception than the rule.
For the teams that have it, it is a luxury they're prepared to exploit, especially in Los Angeles, where goaltender Jonathan Quick essentially saved their season with an exceptional performance in Monday's 2-1 overtime victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Quick gave up a goal on the first shot he faced – to the Sharks' Joe Thornton – and then stopped the remaining 23, many of them coming on high-quality, gold-plated chances produced by San Jose's excellent power play. Quick's work enabled the Kings to narrow the gap in the series to 2-1, and breathed new life into their Stanley Cup hopes.
"Personally, I've never played in front of a goalie like that," said Kings' defenceman Luke Schenn, who joined the team midseason from the Philadelphia Flyers after breaking into the NHL with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Schenn has played with a curious collection of goaltending talent, including the immortal Ilya Bryzgalov, and so it's not surprising that he says: "To play in front of a guy like [Quick], he gives you so much more confidence. You feel like you can make a mistake or miss a guy in coverage and he's there to bail you out.
"He's so mobile back there and always comes up with those saves that you're not sure if any other goalie in the league would get to – those ones you feel like he's down and out and all of a sudden, he comes across and he's doing the splits or some acrobatic move back there.
"It's unbelievable back there. He's been awesome. He's our best player. If you want to win, he's going to have to continue to be."
The Kings won Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and 2014, two years in which Quick developed a reputation as one of the best pressure goalies in the world. On the nights when he's on, his focus and concentration creates a level of confidence among the position players playing in front of him.
"Everything trickles down from Jonathan and his attitude," said Dustin Brown, the Kings' captain. "There's a swagger about him and when he's dialled in, it's almost like a momentum swing really. We've seen it in the past with him – where he makes saves and you see the other team just dip a little and our guys get excited about it. He's been doing this for years, so you kinda get used to it. He's a big-game goalie."
Sharks goaltender Martin Jones got to watch the way Quick carried himself in the years he spent apprenticing with the Kings, before a series of trades took him to San Jose. Facing his former mentor in this series, Jones has played well, too.
"The physical tools, his composure and his mental makeup, it all screamed 'this is a starting goalie,'" said Sharks' coach Peter DeBoer, who, like Jones, is in his first year with the San Jose organization. "But until you actually throw a guy out there for 60-games plus, you never know if they can handle the day-to-day mentality of being a starter, which is very tough.
"I did it with Cory Schneider when he came to New Jersey. We threw him in for 20 games in a row; he took the ball and has run with it. We had the same philosophy with Jonesy. He's done the same thing. That's not always automatic; I think that's been the most pleasant surprise for me."
San Jose acquired James Reimer from the Toronto Maple Leafs at the trading deadline, so they would have a reliable goaltending option in case they needed it. So far, Jones's play means they haven't had to switch to Plan B the way so many others already have in these playoffs.