Jonathan Quick and his teammates are starting to assume their squad’s moniker. At the rate they are going at, Quick and his cronies will be the king of Kings – and that is no joke.

After Los Angeles seemed to lose some steam with a 6-8-0 stretch during the holidays and into January, the Kings suddenly forgot how to lose games, winning their last nine games and 11 of 12 overall since Jan. 14.

With Quick minding the net in each of those games, the Kings’ goalie finds himself in rare air – the NHL leader in wins with 34 (one ahead of New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur). By week’s end, Quick may join even rarer air just in time for the NHL’s quadrennial Winter Olympics hiatus – most wins by a King goalie in a season. Of course, the Kings need to win their final three games before the Olympic break, with Quick starting in between the pipes for at least two of those games.

Should that happen, Quick will have at least 36 wins, one more than Mario Lessard’s 35 wins during the 1980-81 season.

Making Quick’s impending franchise-record-breaking season is the fact that only 11 times in the franchise’s 43-year history have the Kings ever won more than 35 games as a team. Even more, Quick is just the third Kings goalie ever to record 30-plus wins in a season – with Mathieu Garon’s 31 wins in 2005-06 now third-best on the list.

Now the question is whether Quick’s individual success will translate to a record-breaking season for the Kings.

When Lessard notched his 35-win season 29 years ago, the Kings garnered a franchise-high 46 wins. This season, the Kings already have 36 wins with 24 games remaining, meaning a new franchise mark is within reach.

Do I hear at least 40 wins for Quick and 50 wins for the Kings, anyone?



All stats as of Feb. 8.