Darryl Sutter on Fraser, Clifford, injuries and discipline

After returning to LA with a 2-0 lead on the Coyotes, the Kings reported to Toyota Sports Center earlier today for another day at the office. Although the team didn’t take to the ice for practice, several were made available for questions with the media. We’ll get to those comments in a separate article shortly. First, here’s what coach Darryl Sutter had to say on a variety of topics…

– On the absence of Colin Fraser: “He’s back in Alberta. Not that easy to get there or here.”

– On any possible injuries for the Kings coming out of game two: “I think there’s lots of injuries as it goes along, right? But that’s usually not something that gets talked about from our side or from the players’ side.”

– On the Kings’ discipline, in a game that could’ve easily turned ugly: “Well, it’s nice to talk about it, right? But this is a physical game. You know, there’s a time and place for that. Numbers don’t change, unless they change teams.”

– On the play of Kyle Clifford after having been out of the line-up since game one in the first round: “Short notice. He knew he was going in warm-up. I talked to him around 2:00 so he knew he was playing. He got a few shifts. You know, quite honestly, he was the logical guy to go in for Fraser because they bring the same sort of thing. Can’t take penalties, has to play hard, has to be responsible and be on the right side of the puck. If he does that, he gets a chance to play.”

– On Dustin Penner‘s suggestion that the Kings still haven’t played their best game: “You know, it’s always the best thing about being a player, is if you can say that and you honestly believe that, then that’s a good thing. Sometimes it’s talked about, and that’s not the case, where they can actually go to another level. I think as a group, clearly, I said it last night, I know everybody thinks that I’m not answering properly sometimes, but we were better in Game 1 than we were in Game 2.”

– On the Kings travel so far in the playoffs: “I think the big thing was the time between series. That’s the most important when you look at it for our team. That means that you won more than you lost significantly. A lot of times when you lose more, if you lose in four or five, you get lots of rest, too…When you look at it, it’s not very normal that you’ve only played this few of games in the third round, so…That to me is the biggest difference I see.”

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