The final two minutes of yesterday’s game between the Los Angeles Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs featured a flurry of chances for the Leafs with an extra attacker, a second penalty shot for Auston Matthews, and some strong shot-blocking. Lost in that were several pokes, prods, and smacks from the stick of Jonathan Quick. At least, it was lost if you weren’t an aggrieved fan of the Leafs.
The fact that you can make a montage of this in one game is astonishing. I’m sure I even missed some. pic.twitter.com/d7r3PmZa2Q
— Flintor (@TheFlintor) November 3, 2017
It was merely the culmination of a night in which Quick made several terrific saves and appeared to unleash his particular brand of wrath on several Leafs. And while the general reaction today seemed to be “That’s just how Quick rolls!”, I can’t recall a game where Quick was so consistently irritated without an obvious cause. Usually we know that Quick turned into Angry Quick because an obvious interference went uncalled, or because someone elbowed him in the head, or because David Perron was in the general vicinity. Why was he that way last night, though? I investigated.
1: He thought the Maple Leafs were getting too close to him!
Recall that in Quick’s last game against Toronto, he took a forearm to the head from Derek Forbort and kinda-sorta got evaluated for a concussion. Zach Hyman, who was tangling with Forbort at that time, was on the other end of a couple of Quick’s stick-whips this evening. Also recall that Matt Martin spent a good portion of that contest sitting on Quick’s lap, while several others got in his zone too.
What better way to respond than by growling at anyone who brushed against him in the crease?
2: He was upset with the referees!
OK, maybe the men in stripes had something to do with it. The Kings’ challenge for goaltender interference was fruitless, but maybe Quick was just angry about the penalty shot called when Anze Kopitar brushed Auston Matthews. Neither team was particularly happy about the officiating last night, but given that Quick wasn’t whistled for any penalties after taking one on October 23 in Toronto, maybe they were just scared of him.
lol, Quick penalty on Komarov pic.twitter.com/mC7oE8ueJX
— steph (@myregularface) October 24, 2017
3: He was mad that Toronto ruined what was supposed to be a relaxing evening!
When Tyler Toffoli put the Kings up 5-0 on his second goal of the game, Quick probably expected he’d be able to do this the rest of the night:
Instead, the Matthews goal made it 5-1, and Morgan Rielly’s tally at the period’s end made it a 5-2 game and ensured #32 would have some work to do in the third. If you got called into work on your day off and had a goaltender’s stick in your hand, wouldn’t you smash it on the nearest surface too?
4: He didn’t win the LA Kings Player of the Month Award!
The fans voted for Dustin Brown!
A big congratulations to Dustin Brown on being named the @McDonalds_SoCal Player of the Month for October! 👏 pic.twitter.com/4TsMQN2YeI
— LA Kings (@LAKings) November 3, 2017
Snubbed!
5: He’s just branching out to new fanbases!
Despite 500+ games in a Kings uniform and at least six starts against every NHL team aside from the Vegas Golden Knights, some fans are clearly still unaware of the Quick Shtick. At least, that’s the only explanation I have for why Toronto Maple Leafs fans were not only indignant, but SHOCKED at Quick’s behavior last night. Every goalie in the league will protect his crease, but outside of the Pacific Division, Quick might not stand out in that regard. So, Quick is clearly on a mission to make supporters of every other team remember him as that guy who tripped their favorite player one time.
Quick’s accomplished so much already. I see his remaining goals as:
1) win a Vezina
2) anger every team’s fans which don’t already hate him— Eric 💎 👑 (@EricJFTC) November 3, 2017
6: He hates the new Olympic jerseys too!
I know Quick won’t be the USA’s starting goaltender in Pyeongchang, but as someone who presumably takes an interest in American hockey, he may simply have been expressing his own anger at Nike for the newly revealed 2018 jerseys.
The best part of the Olympic jerseys is that Nike ruined all of the sleeves and Sweden was like “Ya, no. Stay away from our sacred sweater.” pic.twitter.com/O6YX2o9a9z
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) November 2, 2017
Quick, as he swings his stick: “ONE BLUE IS ENOUGH!”
7: He hasn’t had too much to be angry about and it overflowed!
The Kings have gotten off to a wonderful start. Sometimes, it’s just healthy to get your anger out if you haven’t had an opportunity to do so in a while. If Jonathan Quick hadn’t gotten the chance to yell and flail a little bit before the Kings’ matchup with Anaheim on November 7, who knows what would’ve happened that night? It’s for the best, for all of us.