The Los Angeles Kings were the defending Stanley Cup champions, but after falling behind the St. Louis Blues in the playoffs, the team may have been too far out of it to rebound for a repeat, but with a fantastic performance by Jonathan Quick, the team brought the series to 2-1 as Game 4 stays in LA.
Quick, who won the MVP last season in the playoffs, was fantastic once again and made 30 saves to notch his fifth blank slate in his career to give the Kings momentum heading into the next matchup. The team has played well as of late and after the 1-0 victory, the Blues will be looking to rebound from the paltry offense and the crowd at the Staples Center is expected to be loud. The team has been able to rally the troops when needed and that will happen again on Monday night.
Both goaltenders had to dig deep in the face of wave after wave of attack as each team earned four power plays during another hard-hitting and tense encounter. The inspirational Quick made 30 saves to complete the fifth playoff shutout of his career and lead the Stanley Cup champions to a gritty 1-0 win in Saturday's Game Three of the National Hockey League playoffs that followed successive losses in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.
Armed with reflexes to match his surname, Quick helped his team win their first Stanley Cup last year with a series of brilliant postseason performances, allowing just seven goals in the best-of-seven finals against the New Jersey Devils.
Kings captain Dustin Brown agreed fulsomely, saying: "Quickie had to be really good for us, but the way he played is no surprise to anybody. We need to clean up our D-zone. They had a lot of opportunities."
Quick, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy last season as the most valuable player in the playoffs, has so far stopped 93 of 97 shots in this series, and none of his team mates accepts he should have taken the blame for the losses in Games One and Two.
