NHL Playoffs 2012: LA Kings Goaltender Jonathan Quick Is This Year's Tim Thomas

Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick's impressive performance in Sunday's 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues helped his team earn a berth to their first Conference Finals series since Wayne Gretzky captained the franchise against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1993 Campbell Conference Finals.

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“L.A. plays the way you need to play to win the Cup,” said St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock via the Washington Post, who won the title with Dallas in 1999. “Over the disappointments of the last three or four years, they’ve figured it out.”

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Quick is without question the favorite to win the Conn Smythe Award as the MVP of the NHL playoffs this season, and he has proved to be this year's version of Tim Thomas.

Thomas led the Boston Bruins to their sixth Stanley Cup title last season with tremendous play throughout the playoffs and several record-breaking performances.

The Bruins goalie made all the big saves when he had to, stepped up when Boston needed him the most, and won three Game 7s, including a shutout on the road in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in Vancouver. He was rewarded with the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Quick has been equally impressive thus far for the Kings and has shown just how dangerous a team can be when they have a hot goaltender in the playoffs.

The Bruins players were very confident when Thomas was in net during the playoffs last year because they knew that if a mistake was made, he would be there to save them.

The Kings are playing with this same confidence right now because they know that they can take chances offensively and Quick will bail them out. This is evident when you watch the Kings because they look so relaxed right now, and firmly believe they can ride Quick all the way to the Cup Final.

Thomas was 6-5 on the road in the Bruins' Stanley Cup run last season and while that looks like an average record, it would have been much better if Boston didn't give him poor offensive support away from TD Garden.

Quick has been fantastic on the road for the Kings in the playoffs with a perfect 5-0 record.

Even though Thomas and Quick have different goaltending styles, their ability to stay calm and composed in high-pressure moments is nearly identical.

The Kings, like the Bruins last season, are built on strong goaltending, physical defensemen and a forward group that understands the importance of giving a strong effort at both ends of the ice.

With their series win over the Blues on Sunday, the Kings have become the first eight-seed ever to defeat the top two seeds in the playoffs, and with Quick in goal, there's nothing stopping them from lifting Lord Stanley's Cup in June.

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Nicholas Goss is an NHL Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and was also the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Final in Boston.