"It was late in the Kings' 3-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche last Saturday when goaltender Jonathan Quick finally lost his cool.

Quick had been stoic during his teammates' scoring struggles, bailing them out so well that he became only the fourth Kings goalie chosen to play in the All-Star game (Sunday at Ottawa, 1 p.m. PST, NBC Sports Network) and the first since 1981. But against Colorado, his 31st start in which the Kings scored two goals or fewer, Quick could not suppress his emotions.

With under two minutes left he took a hard, one-handed slash at Avalanche forward Daniel Winnik, earning a minor penalty. It didn't affect the outcome, but it grabbed his teammates' attention.

Right wing Justin Williams said he apologized to Quick after the game.

"I know he's frustrated with the late penalties and he's frustrated that we're not scoring goals supporting him," Williams said. "I'm sure he'll never say that, but we've got to do that for him as well."

Williams was right: Quick did not criticize his meager support, though he could not be blamed if he whacked the knuckles of every underperforming King. Quick said his main motivation for taking "a selfish penalty" was annoyance that Winnik had clipped him a few seconds earlier and irritation over giving up three goals that only he considered stoppable.

"Guys on the team have said that to me: 'Forget about it, I'd be frustrated too. We're not scoring,' " Quick said. "That wasn't the source of the frustration. It was based on my play. And no matter what has happened all year, if I look at those three goals I see something I did wrong in each one of them. ""