Jonathan Bernier gets kudos from former Kings teammates for fight

Jonathan Quick’s timing was pitch perfect.

The Kings goalie was talking about the now-famous goalie fight on Sunday night between two guys he knows quite well, the Buffalo Sabres’ Ryan Miller and former teammate Jonathan Bernier, now of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And how about Quick’s most-memorable scrap?

“Me?” he said, pausing.

“Off the ice or on the ice?”

Well played. For the record, he said he had not been in a full-on fight on the ice where “you square off with anyone.”

Quick said he spoke to Bernier on Sunday night, but not Miller, and said the important thing was that the goalies seemed to emerge uninjured. Of course, Bernier, who was traded from the Kings to the Maple Leafs in June, emerged with an enhanced reputation.

“That was awesome. I texted him after and told him it was pretty sick,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “I always knew he [Bernier] wanted to fight. And I knew he’d win if he did get in one. So I’m happy for him.

”...He’s going to be a legend in Toronto now just for that fight. He’s off to a good start.”

Quick may have had the best takes about the comic sight of goalies fighting.

“We look like idiots when we do it,” he said. “You’ve got all that equipment on and you can’t really throw just because [of] your chest protector. I think Jo [Bernier] was able to get his arm out of his chest protector and he’s able to throw a couple of shots there.”

In fact, Quick was often thought of the feisty one, not Bernier, in the Kings’ organization. Quick remembered a few chats with former Kings assistant general manager Ron Hextall, the once hot-tempered goalie turned mild-mannered executive. Hextall is now in the Flyers’ front office.

“Everytime I’d get into a little scrum like that, I’d always kind of be waiting on a phone call from him afterwards, telling me I’m an idiot,” Quick said. “Coming from him … I didn’t know what to believe there.”

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