Quick Continues to Get Job Done for Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are two wins away from claiming their first-ever Stanley Cup title, and they can thank goaltender Jonathan Quick for getting them this far.

Quick made 16 and 32 saves, respectively, in Games 1 and 2 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Final at the Prudential Center in Newark as the Kings recorded back-to-back 2-1 overtime victories over the host New Jersey Devils.

For the 2012 playoffs, the Connecticut native and UMass product is now 14-2 overall, including 10-0 on the road, with a 1.44 goals-against average, a .947 save percentage, and two shutouts. No. 32 has made 432 saves on 456 shots so far in the post-season, allowing just 24 goals in 16 games.

He's also garnering serious consideration for the Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP, and is already a Vezina Trophy candidate for best league goaltender.

"We know Quickie's back there," said teammate Jarret Stoll to the Los Angeles Times following Game 2. "He kind of calms us down too, with the way he plays and how great he is back there."

It's a far cry from the last two years when Quick and the Kings went 2-4 each time in a pair of first-round losses.

Quick, who has posted 109 regular-season wins for the Kings over the last three years, will attempt to backstop LA to its fourth consecutive 3-0 lead in these playoffs in Game 3 Monday night back home at the Staples Center.

Quick Outduels Schneider as Kings Oust Canucks

They faced each other in New England high school hockey, and again right after in NCAA play when UMass did battle with Boston College.

They finally faced off in the NHL this past week with even higher stakes, and it was Jonathan Quick getting the best of Cory Schneider as the Los Angeles Kings eliminated the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks, four games to one, in the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Quick came out ahead in prep school when his Avon Old Farms team defeated Schneider and Phillips Andover Academy, and did so again in college during the 2006-07 season when his Minutemen took two of three head-to-head meetings with Schneider's Eagles.

Quick completed his trifecta/hat trick on Sunday night as eighth-seeded LA ousted host Vancouver, 2-1, in overtime. Jarrett Stoll's left-circle shot over Schneider's right shoulder put an end to another President's Trophy-winning campaign by the Canucks, and sent LA on to the second round for the first time since 2001 when the Kings defeated Detroit in six contests.

''To close out this series, for me personally, and a few guys in the room, it's something we've never done, so it's a great feeling,'' said Quick, from Milford, Conn., afterwards at yahoo.com.

He finished with 165 saves in the five games, allowing just eight goals while also recording one shutout. He went 35-21-3 during the regular season with a 1.95 goals-against average and a club-record 10 shutouts.

Schneider, of Marblehead, Mass., who will be an unrestricted free agent in the off-season, made 43 saves in a 3-1 win in Game Four in LA to keep the Canucks alive for one more game. He had 35 stops on Sunday, while Quick posted 27 saves and shut the door after Henrik Sedin scored just over 14 minutes into Game 5.

"Quick didn't miss on a single puck the whole series," said Schneider, who finished 20-8-1 in the regular season with a 1.96 GAA and three shutouts.

Canucks starter Roberto Luongo took a pair of 4-2 losses in Games 1 and 2 in Vancouver before giving way to Schneider, who made 97 saves on 101 shots in three-plus games, but couldn't extend the Canucks' season in what might have been his final appearance with the club.

The Kings will now face the second-seeded St. Louis Blues, a five-game winner over San Jose, in the second round. The Canucks will go back and try to pick up the pieces, one year after falling one win short of their first Stanley Cup championship.

Hockey East "Hat Trick" on One NHL Play Sunday

Three former Hockey East players all figured in a penalty-shot situation on Sunday night, in an NHL contest between the Chicago Blackhawks and the visiting Los Angeles Kings at the United Center.

Chicago's Viktor Stalberg (Vermont) was upended by Rob Scuderi (Boston College) as the former broke in on Jonathan Quick (Massachusetts) in the third period. Quick made the ensuing save on the penalty-shot attempt by Stalberg, who could have become the goat of the game towards the end when he drew a penalty in the final minutes of play. The Blackhawks killed off that infraction and the game went to a shootout that was finally won by the Kings, 3-2.

Stalberg helped the Catamounts to the 2009 NCAA Frozen Four, while Scuderi was a linchpin on the Eagles' 2001 national title team, and Quick backstopped the Minutemen to the 2007 NCAA Tournament as a sophomore. Former UVM skater Patrick Sharp scored one of Chicago's two goals in regulation on Sunday night, but misfired on his shootout attempt, while Stalberg was again stopped by Quick. The former UMass netminder ultimately pokechecked Marcus Kruger on the final shootout try to preserve the win for Los Angeles.

The Second Most Wonderful Time of the Year

After the NCAA Hockey Tournament and the Frozen Four, it's the Stanley Cup Playoffs. No, I won't say that claiming the national championship trophy is as storied as picking up Lord Stanley's prize - it's just that college hockey is as sudden death as you can get. Win four and you're number one; lose one and you're done.

The Stanley Cup champion, meanwhile, will have slogged through four rounds of attrition, and as many as 28 games in all before getting the chance to hoist the celebrated 35-pound silver chalice. The first round is arguably the best, with eight series going on in all, and as many as four games on TV a night.

I've still got college players on the cranium watching the pros play in the post-season, though. San Jose beat Los Angeles in the opener of their Western Conference series on Thursday night as Joe Pavelski wristed a shot past Jon Quick in overtime. The first thought that came to my mind was that Wisconsin just put the puck past Massachusetts - and they won't be the last former college skaters in the spotlight as the first round turns into the second, and third and fourth. Perhaps another former NCAA player a la Jonathan Toews will again be the very first player to hold the Cup high when everything is finally sorted out sometime in June.

The only bad thing about the playoffs, NHL or AHL or ECHL, is as the number of participating teams dwindles and you finally get down to the last two, you know another hockey season is almost over and then it's going to be wait until October again.

Luckily that's not for almost another two months.