Jhonas Enroth to see more starts?

When the Los Angeles Kings signed Jhonas Enroth to a one year contract in July, they knew what they were getting.

They knew they were adding a solid backup goaltender who could bring experience as a starter to work behind Jonathan Quick.

Enroth, a native of Sweden, played the majority of the 2014-15 season as the #1 netminder for the lowly Buffalo Sabres. He was the lone bright spot on a team that was pegged as basement-dwellers from hockey analysts before the season even started. Before he knew it, his strong play behind a bad Sabres team had convinced the Dallas Stars to trade for the 27-year-old in February of 2015.

But after the Stars traded for former San Jose Sharks goalie Antti Niemi in the off-season, Dallas elected to let Enroth walk as a free agent on July 1.

Enter L.A. Kings.

A fantastic preseason performance helped Enroth solidify the #2 role on the Kings’ goaltending depth chart, but it’s his performance in his limited starts this season that have been the most impressive.

Oct 22, 2015; San Jose, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings goalie Jhonas Enroth (1) watches the replay after his team scored against the San Jose Sharks in the 2nd period at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

Although it’s only been 3 starts, Enroth has allowed 1, 0 and 1 goals against in the 3 games he’s played in. He has stopped 94 out of 96 shots and owns a .979 save percentage and 0.67 goals against average to go along with a perfect 3-0 record thus far.

And it’s not like he is going up against bad teams, either.

Enroth has manned the blue paint and delivered solid results against the San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues and New York Islanders this year, all who are in the top four in their respective divisions and boast big-time scorers on its rosters. With timely saves and good vision, Enroth rarely looks to be out of position and carries a calming presence in the net for an LA team that has added a number youngsters the past couple of seasons.

Having a veteran player who has been in the league for multiple years is a great benefit to have in goal. The Kings have seen Quick play for ridiculous stretches over the past few seasons, raising concern to some that it is ‘burning him out’ or leaving him more prone to injury.

What the addition of Enroth does, however, is allow the Kings coaches and players to perform with a confidence that can be missing when a younger, unexperienced netminder takes the net.

Nov 12, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings goalie Jhonas Enroth (1) blocks a tip in off the skate of New York Islanders right wing Kyle Okposo (21) in the first period of the game at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

With all due respect to Jonathan Bernier and Martin Jones – two of Quick’s previous three backups – both had limited playing experience at the NHL level when they owned the 2nd-string tag and that’s all simply because they came up through a Kings system who had a bona-fide starter on the big club that wasn’t going anywhere.

When Enroth signed with L.A., he had already appeared in 131 career NHL games and had experienced the life of being the go-to guy at the game’s highest level.

But only playing every few games can certainly take a toll and prevent a goaltender from entering a groove and staying sharp.

For an experienced guy like Enroth, he knows he is going to get his games in and is aware that it is up to him to ensure he is ready when his number is called.

I have to stay sharp during practice, stay on top of my conditioning and stuff like that, but I feel like I know what to do – Jhonas Enroth

“It’s really up to myself,” Enroth told L.A. Kings Insider Jon Rosen after holding the Islanders to a single goal and picking up his third win of the season.

“I have to stay sharp during practice, stay on top of my conditioning and stuff like that, but I feel like I know what to do, I’ve been around the league for a couple of years now, and fortunately I’m used to it.”

It’s no question that Quick is still by far and away the #1 guy in L.A., but allowing untimely goals and a few shaky starts from the Milford, Connecticut native could see Enroth shorten the span of time between his starts.

When head coach Darryl Sutter was asked about Enroth’s performance after their recent win over New York, Sutter said, “we needed to win a game. We need our goalie to win a game. If you look at the last couple games at home here, we hadn’t given up very much in terms of chances. Tonight we probably gave up more chances than we had in quite a while, and we need him to do that.”

What Sutter is referring to when he said that they hadn’t given up much in terms of chances the past few games, he was pointing to the fact that the Kings had allowed more goals than they should for the amount of shots faced.