Kings goalie Jonathan Quick points finger at himself

Soul-searching usually does not happen in a few sound bites on a crowded conference-call line.

But Kings goalie Jonathan Quick, last year’s playoff MVP, was in a reflective mood on Sunday, one day after L.A. was eliminated from the playoffs by the Chicago Blackhawks in five games.

Holding to form, he was tough on himself, saying there was “a big letdown,” in the Western Conference finals. The long-range goal he gave up against defenseman Duncan Keith in the opening minutes of Game 5, for instance, was un-Quick-like.

“Obviously, that feeling of underperforming the past five games is gonna kind of sit with me for a while,” he said. “You’re going to think about that all summer and then you’re thinking about next season.

“So there it goes from here, you feel that sting for a little bit and you take a week or two to rest and recover and then you get back at it.”

He addressed a question about being ready for the start of the lockout-shortened season, in January. Quick had back surgery in the summer and would not have been ready had the season started on time in October.

“I’ll tell you, if I felt I wasn’t 100% in January, I would have told the coach and wouldn’t have been playing,” Quick said.

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