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Notes and quotes after the Kings’ 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay

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Courtesy of the Kings’ fine media relations squad:

-- The Kings’ 18 points in their first 12 games is tied for the third-most in club history (the 1974-75 club was 7-1-1=18 points). The most points after 12 games in club history is 21 (the 1980-81 club was 10-1-1).

The five-game home winning streak to start the season is the third-longest in club history (the 1975-76 and 1980-81 clubs started 7-0-0).

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-- The Kings have the most points in the NHL (one more than Philadelphia, which is 8-4-1=17 points).

-- Jonathan Quick recorded his ninth career shutout. He is tied with Mario Lessard for the sixth-most shutouts in Kings history. Quick has stopped 243 of 258 shots in his nine games (.942 save percentage). He is 8-1-0 in those games.

-- The last time the Kings won, 1-0, was March 20 over the New York Islanders. Quick was in goal.

-- Justin Williams extended his goal streak to four games, tying a career high (his other four-game streak was Dec. 19-26, 2006). He also extended his point streak to six games (4-3=7).

-- The line of Ryan Smyth, Jarrett Stoll and Williams has combined for 30 points in the last 10 games (12-18=30). Stoll got an assist on Williams’ goal by getting his stick on the Tampa Bay pass that the Kings captured inside their blue line and was fed by Smyth to Williams.

-- The Kings have only allowed seven goals in the third period this season.

-- The Kings have killed 38 of their last 41 penalties (92.7%). They were three for three Thursday.

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-- Drew Doughty, who missed the last six games, led the Kings in ice time at 24 minutes, 44 seconds.

Kings coach Terry Murray on the physical play Thursday: ‘There were a few hits, a few confrontations, a little old-time hockey there with the scrums that were going on. But it’s a very competitive two teams out there tonight. Both are first-place teams, and there’s quite a bit on the line from that side of it, and so the battle heats up and there are lots of little things going on. I thought the referees did a real good job in that they let two teams play pretty hard and still kept it under control.’

On Quick’s performance: ‘Not bad when you get a shutout. It’s not bad. There’s a lot of pucks coming around the net. There might not have been a lot off the rush, but when you get the puck in deep, everything’s going to the net from anywhere in the offensive zone. They make little plays behind the net, throwing almost a hope pass, in that things will connect. That’s a demanding kind of play for a goaltender, so he had a lot of work here tonight and responded.’

On how Doughty looked in his first game back: ‘I thought he was really good. He was real good in the first period. He showed a lot of composure on the offensive zone, made a couple of those spin moves again to evade some pressure and get some plays to the net. It’s just great to have him back. He looked real excited and enthusiastic, and really contributed to the game tonight.’

Quick on the game:

‘No matter what’s happening, you have to maintain an even keel and realize what your job is -- your job is to stop the puck, and stay in it mentally. You can’t get too excited or anything like that. It’s great to see [Justin Williams] step up and get a goal like that. At the same time, you still have a job to do out there and stop the puck, that’s my main job and that’s all I need to be focused on.’

On the game: ‘It’s a team effort. You just look at the way they played tonight, it’s one of the top offenses in the league and they didn’t get too many quality scoring chances. We were extremely responsible in the defensive zone, and we were smart and didn’t take too many penalties. They have a top power play in the league, so we were smart keeping them off. [Williams] took advantage of a nice little break there and made a nice play and it was a big goal.’

Tampa Bay Coach Guy Boucher on the game:

‘That was a playoff game, and nobody’s going to give each other an inch. There wasn’t much out there for either team to get some offense. I think we’re similar teams and we don’t give much to the opponent; it was going to be for who’s going to make a mistake, and we made the mistake and they capitalized on it. ... It’s one of those games that I got to be proud of my players because we had four guys that were out. ... I think we went toe-to-toe with a top team in the league with all these guys missing and injured and sick.’

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About his team’s power-play chances: ‘They didn’t let us any time to set up, so there was no power play. Basically when you look at our side too, we didn’t give them much on their power play either, so it wasn’t a power-play game on either side. It was going to be fought five-on-five, and it was going to be the last mistake.’

Tampa Bay defenseman Mattias Ohlund on the game:

‘We had our chances and obviously we’d like our power play to be maybe better than today, but other than that, I thought we had some chances.’

Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith on the game:

‘It was a playoff-mentality hockey game for both teams. I felt like both teams played pretty well defensively. They got an extra break at the end there in the third and got a goal, but it was a hard-fought game by both teams; both are good hockey teams. Just because they beat us doesn’t mean we’re a bad hockey team. Tonight wasn’t our night ... but I think we’ll be better because of this game.’

On the Kings’ defense: ‘They’re a pretty good defensive hockey team and didn’t really give us too much, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t get in there. We had some pucks around the net that could have gone in too. It was tough to get quality scoring chances.’

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The Kings will practice at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo.

-- Helene Elliott

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