Jonathan Bernier‘s stats are starting to enter some rarefied air. After a 3-2 win over the Coyotes on Tuesday night he’s improved his record to 7-0 in games he’s started this season.
During that stretch his goal against average is just 1.63 and his overall GAA of 1.94 is fourth best in the NHL.
It wasn’t an easy win over Phoenix though. The Kings allowed a season-high 42 shots, the most they’ve given up in a regular season game since December 1, 2011 vs. the Florida Panthers. Bernier’s 40 save performance was also a new career high for the young goaltender, as his previous best was 34 saves.
Following the game, here were some of the thoughts he shared…
– On how he felt overall: “Felt pretty good. Obviously we kind of knew that they were going to kind of shoot from everywhere. Because of last game that we played. I thought we did pretty good. I mean our forecheck wasn’t great, but in our zone I thought we stayed tight in the slot, and our D-men did a great job of controlling the second rebounds.”
– On him being at the right place at the right time a lot: “Yeah, you get those games sometimes where you get those bounces. It was one of those games tonight.”
– On playing the Coyotes: “We knew it was going to be a tough one. I thought we didn’t panic too much defensively. We stayed solid. We didn’t let too many shots from the middle, and that’s our game…They’re a big team. They crash the net hard. Especially on their power play with Hanzal, (he’s) a pretty big guy. So, they have some skills and we weathered the storm.”
– On the rivalry continuing to build: “Obviously when you play back-to-back like that, it brings a lot of energy and tension a little bit between the two teams. And we fought hard, and we came up with four big points for us, definitely.”
– On not allowing games to go into overtime, keeping things to two-point games: “We’ve been pretty good at that this year for sure. You certainly don’t want to give an extra point to your division. So it wasn’t pretty at the end, but we found a way.”
– On his overall game this season: “When I see the puck very well, I make it, I guess, look easy. And I stay on my feet more often, that’s my game. So obviously playing more gives me more confidence.”
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Hey Bernier, what’s up with that mask you’re wearing?
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Thank you, mayor!
Do not trade him, Dean.