Stanley Cup Predictions 2012: Jonathan Quick Will Carry Kings to Cup

The proof is in the numbers and in the results, both of which clearly say this: Jonathan Quick isn't going to roll over and start giving up cheap goals with a Stanley Cup on the line.

He's been the best and most consistent goaltender this postseason, and in the Kings' Game 1 overtime win over the Devils on Wednesday night, he proved why: He just doesn't give in, and he won't until the Cup is firmly in LA's hands.

There aren't a lot of teams who have found a way to score more than once—maybe twice, if they're lucky—against Quick. And the simple truth is, to beat the Kings' offense, they need to. This team is nearly impossible to beat without scoring three or four goals per game, and that simply doesn't happen against Quick. It certainly doesn't happen enough to win a seven-game series. 

In the Kings' first-round series against the top-seeded Canucks, Quick surrendered three goals just once. Unsurprisingly, the Kings lost that game, but they won three in a row before it and one afterward to close out the series.

In four games against the Blues in the second round, Quick surrendered six goals total. Needless to say, St. Louis couldn't scrounge up one measly win in that series.

The conference finals were a repeat of the first round for the Kings: Win the first three, close out the series in five. Though he only allowed more than two goals one time in that series, it surprisingly wasn't in the Kings' only loss, a very uncharacteristic 2-0 shutout. Game 5 was the only game of the series the Kings managed to win when more than two pucks sneaked by Quick.

The Kings have been able to win because their offense and their defense usually click. Of course, it helps that their goaltender doesn't need much offensive support, but when he does, it's there. Quick can count on his teammates to give him at least 2-3 goals per game, and they can count on him for the win. 

Will the Kings sweep? Probably not. It's the end of a long, grueling postseason in which players are routinely hydrated with IVs in between periods. There's no question that these two teams are nearing mental and physical exhaustion, which makes Quick's consistency throughout the last two months—and on Wednesday night in particular—so impressive.

The Devils might win a game, but look at how the rest of this postseason has played out for the Kings. Given how dominant they've been, are they really going to just collapse right now?

At this point, no one cares that the Kings were the No. 8 seed when this all started. Nobody has done a better job than they have of proving why that doesn't matter. It's a new season when the postseason begins, and Quick—who was great during the regular season—took it as an opportunity to up his game one step further.

So far, it's definitely working.