Trevor Lewis

Mike Richards

Rob Scuderi

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- Coach Todd McLellan on the overall game: “Game 5, coming into their building, they were going to have a hard push. We talked about that before the 10 minute game and the 50 minute game, they came hard right off the bat but we got through that without getting scored on, the rest of the night, the other 50 minutes, we weren’t very good and moving forward, maybe that’s a good thing because we have a lot to improve on and need a better effort from a lot of people.”

- McLellan on the performance of his top players: “When we put those types of players out on the power play we should be able to execute a lot better than we did. You have to give LA credit, they played well too. But our go-to guys weren’t particularly sharp tonight, when that happens your depth has to come through as well, and they have to provide a little spark, a little bit of energy and maybe get you one.”

- McLellan on where they go from here: “We are going back to our building; we have a couple of days to regroup, to rest. When we’ve played well this year down the stretch we’ve played quick, efficiently, we’ve made tape to tape passes and that didn’t happen tonight. We weren’t the team we wanted to be.”

- Captain Joe Thornton on not getting the fore-check going and too much Jonathan Quick: “They just did a better job at getting the pucks out. We didn’t put it in a good place to get it back. That’s why they were more effective getting it out. We definitely had our chances but we just got to bear down. We’re getting those opportunities.”

- Thornton on power play issues: “It kind of looked like it was a bit nervous for some reason. I don’t know why. We just have to have some poise. For whatever reason we didn’t have the poise on the power play. If our power play is going good, you can see guys get some confidence and when it doesn’t you can see guys get down and that’s what happened tonight. We’re going home. We just have to win a game at home.”

- Logan Couture on the overall game: “Myself included, we were bad tonight. That’s why we lost. We’re not going to win if our best players are not our best players. We need to step up. Quick played well. When you get chances you have to score; it’s the playoffs. We had enough chances to win tonight. Guys need to start bearing down and scoring some goals.”

- Couture on the start of this game compared to last game: “We weren’t good at the start. We weren’t good at any point of the game tonight. We didn’t deserve to win. Our power play was brutal: our passes weren’t on; guys weren’t shooting the puck; break out was off and timing was off.”

- Couture on the Sharks’ confidence level going back home: “Got to be confident. Season is on the line. We are playing for our lives. I expect to see us as a desperate team. I expect our best players to be way better, myself included in Game 6 and play well at home. I’m confident. I think we are going to go home and win game 6 and we’ll be back in LA. (on having two days off). We have a lot to look at from tonight’s game. We did a lot of things wrong. I’m sure it will help us look at some video and get better.”

Bonus video with goalie Antti Niemi:

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On if tonight was the 60 minute game the Kings were looking for:

“Yeah, I think it’s fair to say that this was probably our best effort in the playoffs, consistent effort. We carried that emotion and desperation that we had in Game 4 out there. And last last period, we went at them pretty good. Came up short, but that was probably the key, coming out strong and really dictate the tempo.”

On Jonathan Quick’s play:

“It’s really getting old. There’s nothing new to say. He gives us a chance every night and that’s all you really want.”

On getting a goal tonight:

“It feels good, especially because we we’re pressing pretty good, and we just come off a power play when we had some plays going, some momentum in their zone. Just to score that late in the period, it’s pretty good. And we definitely want to go into the third period with the lead. It was pretty nice.”

On what to do to get a win on the road in Game 6:

“Just play exactly the same. There’s obviously areas for improvement, and we’ll clean it up, we’ll look at it. The effort has to be like it was tonight.”

On how to duplicate the effort the Kings gave tonight:

“Do the same thing as we did tonight. Prepare the same and just go from there.”

On if his goal was a relief, personally:

“Yeah, I guess. It just felt great to get us on the board. It doesn’t matter who does it as long as we do it.”

On Trevor Lewis’ play:

“Yeah, Lewey, he made that transition from wing to center in the last couple games and I think he’s been playing really well. we need him to play like that.

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Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please include a link to www.MayorsManor.com

- On the overall game: “We played well. We played hard, came out with a purpose. It’s not easy. It’s not easy to win against this team, they’re a great team. We need that effort, we need more. We expect to win in San Jose. That’s a tough building to play in. We’re going to need a great effort again.”

- On moving past Kelly Hrudey in all-time playoff wins for the Kings: “What Kelly meant to this organization 20 years ago was pretty impressive. Everything he accomplished here and over the past few years. I’ve gotten a chance to know him and he’s a great guy, loves hockey. I remember watching him when I was growing up, he was very competitive and hated to lose obviously. Being able to pass him on that list it’s an accomplishment but wins are team accomplishments, so you got to give credit to the guys you play with. Very fortunate to be on a team with guys that care about winning so much. At the end of the day, it happened in the middle of a playoff run, so your focus is more on the next game than what we were able to accomplish today.”

- On playing a whole 60 minutes: “We played more of our game than I think we’ve seen. We saw it a bit in Game 4. We were down 2-0 and I think we did well. We came out with a purpose like I said. We limited their opportunities on their power play, which we obviously know is always dangerous for them.”

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Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please include a link to www.MayorsManor.com

On the Kings approach to playing on the road for Game 6:

“Just got to get a win. I look forward to it, you know, play our game, which we did a little better job tonight. But just get better.”

On closing out the series in Game 6 in San Jose:

“That’s the plan. We have to be a physical team if we’re going to win. So that’s the plan, just bring it up there.”

On if he felt more comfortable playing tonight in his second game back:

“Felt good, yeah. I felt good. I don’t know if I was better or not but I just felt good out there.”

On if he felt stronger or weaker as the game went on:

“Not really, no. Just felt good, felt into it.”

On if he was better playing at home after getting his first game out of the way on the road:

“No, doesn’t really make a difference this time of year. All the buildings are pretty loud, pretty fun.”

On if he notices a difference in Darryl Sutter’s demeanor this year vs 2012 post-season:

“Not too much of a difference, he’s always pretty intense. He’s always an intense dude, and he’s bringing that now, too. Again, if you’re not playing, you’re not in the room all the time and you’re not in the room in between periods or before games or after games a lot of times. So it’s tough to get a gauge if it was more or less before I was in there. But I think as I’ve seen him right now, I think he’s invested emotionally into the series.”

On tonight’s game:

“I thought it was a battle the whole way through and that’s the way it’s going to be the rest of the series. I think that’s what it’s been, too. There’s been little swings of momentum here and there but it’s been a battle.”

On taking speed out of San Jose’s game tonight:

“Spending more O-zone time always helps. That’s what we wanted to do, just kind of grind them down, get our cycle game going. We established that. If your playing D-zone all the time, you can’t be  slipping through the neutral zone.”

On Kopitar’s goal:

“It’s big time. I think Kopitar does a lot of things that go unnoticed. For him to get a goal, get a reward on the score sheet, is great but we all know his value in here.”

On winning 13 straight on home ice:

“You just want to play well. You want to play well every game, take it one game at a time. Like I said before this morning, if it wasn’t for you guys reminding us what the record is we wouldn’t know, it’s just another game.”

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Follow @mayorNHL

Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please include a link to www.MayorsManor.com

On if the Kings played with the effort they wanted:

“Definitely a step in the right direction.The’res still room to improve as a group, as a team. But that was a solid effort. But it’s about getting better at this time of the year, each and every game.”

On the line changes:

“I think we had them pretty much the whole game. There’s different scenarios with the power play. When you get Kopi (Anze Kopitar) playing with Rick (Mike Richards) and Carts (Jeff Carter), you have to mix it up after that power play, because you got guys from different lines. But for the most part we had same lines.”

On winning 13 straight games at home:

“It’s a mentality, it’s an attitude  Certain teams have it. We haven’t had it here ever since I’ve been here. This is the first year we’ve really had that home mentality. If you look at our record last year, our record the last few years, we’ve been road warriors and that’s been a big part of our success. Just the year, we’ve really buckled down at home and took care of our building. The fans filling the building obviously is a part of that, feed off their energy, and now we have to find a way to do it on the road.”

On what the Kings did to develop their home record:

“Sometimes you get a little too fancy at home. It’s about simplifying your game, and doing the little things that you do on the road. Sometimes you want to run and gun at home, and score goals. For us as a team, to be successful, we have to play a certain way. Sometimes it’s not exciting but it gets the job done.”

On knowing that they can close the series on the road:

“Right now it’s one game. We’re going up to San jose to win. They have a tough building, but it’s about the guys in this room to do whats necessary to win the game. Show them that we can over the years, win on the road, and we have an opportunity to move on and that’s motivating enough to get yourself ready.”

On the Kings starting off strong in the first period:

“It’s about being prepared, individually and collectively. We’ve been talking about having a good start and at some point you need to buckle down and do it. Tonight we did better, we have to build on it.”

On having more speed in his game and how it helped tonight:

“You get the line combos switched up and it just gives players a different look, a different feel. I thought all lines were pretty good. I felt like my line, with Lewie (Trevor Lewis) and Kinger (Dwight King), we got on the fore check pretty good, on the third line. They had a lot more icing, I don’t know the number, but that’s pretty indicative of having them in their zone.”

On having a lot of puck possession is essential to winning:

“Well it’s going to be important in the next game, that’s for sure. Being physical, again, it’s hard being physical. Putting the puck in the play on the fore check where we can get it back, and moving the puck quickly in our zone. I thought tonight we did a really good job, our D did a really good job of moving the puck very quickly. That’s hard to fore check when we’re moving that quick. You didn’t see them stop the puck as much, and that was all our D working back and our wingers getting back and getting available for each other and supporting each other.”

On Matt Greene being back in the lineup:

“He’s a big lift. I think Greener is one of those guys, very much like Scuds (Rob Scuderi). I think the only time you really notice Greener, and this is a compliment, is when he is making the big hits. And he had a lot of those. But otherwise he’s one of those undercover guys, battles hard. Like I said, I always say this about Greener, I love him we traded for him because I hated playing against him. He’s one of those guys that’s a big part of our team both physically and mentally.”

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On watching hockey with Trevor Lewis yesterday:

“It’s tough to not watch hockey playoffs. It’s fun to watch. We don’t watch much hockey in the regular season, but when playoff hockey comes around- any playoff sport I love to watch. Whether is baseball, basketball, I love it. Besides that, we just went to practice, hung out on the couch, cooked dinner. Then we had to be back down here last night after dinner and be in the hotel.”

On how Dustin Penner felt after Game 4:

“To be honest, I didn’t talk to him about it. I know we were all pretty frustrated about it but at the same time, it would have made it a tie, game, I guess.  But that wasn’t the season why we lost, still I don’t think. We didn’t play a good game, we had a really bad first period. I think probably our main focus is not that the call was blown but that we didn’t play well.”

On if the talk of the Kings not playing a full 60 minute game is getting old:

“Yeah, it’s getting old. It’s getting old for all of us. We need to do it. Bottom line, if we don’t do it, then were not going to win games. Even though we keep talking about it and coaches keep telling us about it, it’s the truth. IT’s what we need to do to win.”

On the third period of Game 4 possibly being the best period they’ve played:

“Yeah, possibly. I think we we’re doing some good things. We were better on our fore check, our D was more active,  when they did try to break out the puck, we were pinching and keeping pucks in and I think that’s something we need to do right off the bat tonight in the first period.”

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Following morning skate today, we spent a few minutes catching up. Here’s what he had to say about a myriad of topics, including his once flowing mane…

On if playing at Staples Center now is any different than a few years ago:

“They have a great fan base, it’s loud, comes in here and obviously being the defending champs, it’s a tough building to play in…They have a passionate fan base. Anytime you win a championship, you come in the building, it’s loud, they have a big team here that can wear you down. They’re built for playoff hockey, they proved that last year. It’s a tough building, but we’re ready for it tonight…We feel comfortable, we’ve played a lot in this building and we expect a big game tonight from both sides”

On being a different player since he cut off his hair:

“I think I’m faster now. Got a few pounds of hair off. I have to slim it down any way I can.” (MM: Was it maybe because Kris Letang was taking over the title of ‘Best Hair in Hockey’?)… “Yeah, that might have been it. [he laughed] It’s tough to grow it now too!”

On if it’s the Kings’ depth at center or the defense that makes them so tough to play against:

“I think it’s a combination of everything. If you look from the back end with Quick, they have big, strong forwards that get the puck in deep. They play a tight defensive game. They don’t give you a lot. Every game, every shift, can be a crucial part in the game. It’s shown through the last playoffs with them. They give a goal, they’re tough. They don’t give up much.”

On if he’s has noticed any change in Joe Thornton’s approach or demeanor over the years:

“He still has that causal, sometimes you can call it goofy, attitude. But, he’s serious at the same time. He showed it last game. And I think he’s showed it many times over the past.  I don’t know if it’s a bum wrap.  He comes out, you see him dominate. I’ve seen him dominate games before and come in and it’s just the way he plays. He keeps them up in their own zone. Now, as a whole team, the way we play, with four lines that just keep coming at you. I think that’s credit to the organization but it’s a great group of guys here.”

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Dustin Brown

Kyle Clifford

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Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please include a link to www.MayorsManor.com