LOS ANGELES -- There is something about Game 7 of the Stanley Cup
Playoffs that brings out the best in Justin Williams.
Limited to just a pair of goals in the first 12 games of this season’s playoffs, Williams exploded for a pair of goals
less than minutes apart in the second period to lead the Kings to a 2-1
victory.
The two goals now give Williams
five career goals in deciding Game 7s and his teams are a perfect 4-0 in
those games.
“I don’t know. I certainly enjoy pressure situations," Williams said. “I know everyone in this dressing room does. Goals are tough to come
by, it just so happened I was able to get a couple tonight. I think I could have had a few more
also. Sometimes the puck bounces your
way. I was certainly glad to help out
tonight. We pride ourselves on being a team that, when push comes to shove,
we’re going to get it done. We’ve been
through it before and we know we can do it.”
While Williams provided the all the offense, goalie Jonathan
Quick once again was outstanding in the net. Last year’s playoff MVP was nothing short of brilliant, coming up with
many big saves throughout the night especially in the third period, where he
made 13 of his 25 saves.
Seemingly down and out, Quick committed highway robbery
stopping Joe Pavelski with just over five minutes to play in the game.
“I couldn’t find a way to control the initial shot and I put
a rebound right on Pavelski’s stick,” Quick said. “You’re just trying to get
body coverage and I was fortunate it ended up in my glove. At the end of the day we’re happy to be
moving on. It was a great team we were
able to get four wins against.”
Though Anze Kopitar joked after Game 5 that Quick's
outstanding play is becoming old hat, defenseman Rob Scuderi was once
again singing the praises of his prized goaltender.
“It’s kind of scary, to be honest," Scuderi said. “When that rebound went out to Pavelski and
you’re trying your hardest to get back and you are thinking the worst and then
he comes up with the save and you’re like geez, thank god that guy is in
net. He gives us such confidence and it
radiates throughout the locker room.”
“We couldn’t get one extra past Quick, that’s probably what
it was. When I look at the game tonight,
they got a power-play goal that we didn’t," said Sharks coach Todd McLellan. “So
in the end we probably made one more mistake than they did and we couldn’t find
a way to get another puck by Quick. We’d
love to go back and play Game 2 over again, the last four or five minutes. That’s probably one that we needed and didn’t
get.”
The Kings now await their opponent in the Western
Conference Finals as the Blackhawks and Red Wings square off in Game 7 on
Wednesday night in Chicago. A Red Wings victory would give the Kings home-ice
advantage in the next round, while a Blackhawks victory would force the Kings
to start the series in Chicago.
