Los Angeles, CA – 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.
"I don't see it changing too much," said Quick. "You know, obviously you still go about your day the same way you always have. It is what it is. I think the attention the team's going to get is great. That's something we have been looking for in this market for so long, is to get that attention towards hockey. It's just an honor to be on this team. I'm glad to be a part of it."
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.
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