by Sports Xchange

Coach Terry Murray essentially decided, in mid-October, that he wasn't pleased with backup goalie Erik Ersberg and would ride Quick until he thought Quick had played enough.

That point might soon arrive because -- statistically, at least -- Quick had his second consecutive rough outing in a 4-1 loss to Chicago on Monday night.

The Kings play their second game in a five-game road trip Wednesday night at Carolina and also face back-to-back games against Atlanta and Tampa Bay this week.

Murray previously said that it was likely Ersberg would start one of those games, and that likelihood increased Monday when Quick allowed four goals, including one by John Madden that slipped past Quick's pad at the near post.

"Certainly, on Madden's goal, Quick would like to have that one back," Murray said.

BLACKHAWKS 4, KINGS 1: Third periods have been a strongpoint for the Kings of late, but not against the Blackhawks. After two fairly even periods, the teams went into the third period tied 1-1, but Rob Scuderi's interference penalty in the final five seconds of the second period came back to haunt the Kings. Chicago scored 93 seconds into the third period, then twice more in the next 10 minutes to put the game away.