Although it’s tough to call a game in December a big win, tonight was about as big of a win as the Kings have had all season. They wanted to start off the Darryl Sutter era with a win and they did just that, downing the Ducks 3-2 in a shootout.
Anaheim hasn’t won on the road since October and after the game, both coach Bruce Boudreau and captain Ryan Getzlaf seemed to be looking for moral victories in tonight’s loss…
Boudreau on the overall game – “I thought for sure when we got that power play in the overtime that it was going to happen. It didn’t. Then they got it and I thought ‘uh-oh, this is what usually happens’ and then when we killed that off I thought ‘I don’t care, we are going to win it in the shootout.’ I mean, the shootout is a crapshoot—anything can happen with it. Overall, I hate to keep saying it, but I thought we played pretty solid. The difference between winning and losing is sometimes just the attitude and believing that you are going to win or believing you are going to lose.”
Boudreau on the Ducks power play – “The play we drew it up there was the first one and it was a near miss. What I couldn’t understand is why they didn’t go back and try it again because they play was open and it was there and you have options off it but I’ll talk to the guys and we’ll see the day after Christmas.”
Getzlaf on the overall game – “We are a little desperate at this point and we need to take a little bit away from tonight and the fact that we battled hard and played and did a lot of things and responded when we needed to and scored a big goal in the third period. Those are things we have to build on and think about over the break and get ready for a big push at the end of the second half [of the season].”
Getzlaf on the power play – “The chances were there but they didn’t connect. We have to do a little bit of a better job next time at throwing some pucks on net and getting them moving a little bit before we do things. We set up things and we execute them the way we want to, we just don’t put them in the net.”
To read quotes from the Kings head coach Darryl Sutter and captain Dustin Brown, click here.
The Kings now lead the season series 3-1 and they won’t meet again until March 3rd – again, back at Staples Center.
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