Jonathan Quick, Darryl Sutter Reach New Milestones
Picture from The Hockey Writers.com
LA Kings Legend Rogie Vachon
(AP Photo/ Mark J. Terrill)
With a 24 save shutout performance in net, Jonathan Quick passed LA Kings Legend Rogie Vachon’s record of 171 wins to become the winningest goaltender in franchise history. He is now two shutouts behind tying Vachon’s record and three away from breaking it. Both records have stood for nearly 40 years (which tells you to just how bad the Kings’ goaltending depth has been over the years).
After tying Vachon’s record on Thursday night by stopping two of three Washington skaters in the shootout, Quick, who has a 35-20 lifetime record in the tiebreaker was reluctant to accept any accolades for his achievement.
“It’s special and, obviously, wins are a team effort, so I think that makes it a little more special because it’s 20 guys contributing toward the win. Obviously, if it was not for the shootout, I would be another season behind (Vachon). He didn’t have the luxury of the shootout, so in my mind, I’m still chasing him.”
Following Saturday afternoon’s win over the Florida Panthers, Quick again deferred credit to his teammates.
“I said it earlier, when you talk about wins, it’s the 20 guys it takes to win a game… You know, the goalies are always kind of nominated to receive some of the, most of the celebration as far as, you know, wins and shutouts but it’s a group effort. It means a lot that I’m able to celebrate it with the guys in the locker room, too.”
Photo courtesy of LA Kings PR, via LA Kings Insider
Post game, Vachon sat next to Quick kindly obliging reporters with a double interview all the while looking very much like a proud papa at the “puppy” that had just broken his record. He noted Quick’s lightning-fast ability to move laterally as one of the things he first liked about Quick’s game saying that it’s “absolutely phenomenal. I’d never seen that before. The save that he made today in the second period coming from one side and going onto the other side to grab it, very rarely do you see that in the league even now.”
Here is the save Vachon is referencing.
Quick robs Fleischmann on the PP – LA Kings
It’s a little hard to tell in GIF form so I added the video below. Quick pushes off and snags the puck off the goal line while his team was killing off a penalty. At that point, down by two, a goal would’ve been huge for the Panthers. However, video review held up the referee’s call on the ice as no goal.
Quick received thunderous applause from the crowd and even cracked a smile (possibly from the crowd’s reaction or it could’ve been whatever he was seeing on the jumbotron).
RT THIS FOREVER RT @TheWoozleWuzzle: @theroyalhalf Quick cracks a smile http://t.co/Dekmr5Vj3e
— The Royal Half (@theroyalhalf) March 22, 2014
The LA Kings Insider has more quotes from the Legend and Quick here along with some great photos.
Photo via Mayors Manor.com
Jonathan Quick wasn’t the only member of the LA Kings to reach a new milestone on Saturday as Darryl Sutter got his 501st win in 1028 regular season games coached. According to LA Kings Insider, the win ties him for 16th place with Pat Burns on the all time wins list. He also tied his brother Brian Sutter for 17th place on the NHL’s all-time games coached list. Sutter is 501-374-153 overall in his career and 91-54-22 with the Kings.
Depending on how far the Kings go in the playoffs this spring, Sutter could reach another career milestone and potentially tie Joel Quenneville for first place amongst active coaches for all time playoff wins. Per LA Kings Insider, Sutter is currently tied for third with Ken Hitchcock and tied for 11th all time in NHL history.
