The Colorado Avalanche trailed the LA Kings in shots 12-5 after the first period. The game was scoreless.
LA was up 1-0 after 40 minutes and led in shots 21-12.
Then, with less than six minutes remaining in the game, Ryan O’Reilly scored to tie it. Nothing happened in overtime. And the Avs’ Milan Hejduk – a Kings killer his whole career – scored the only goal in the shootout.
After Colorado’s 2-1 win, here’s what they were saying in the visiting team’s dressing room…
Coach Joe Sacco on the overall game – “We have some confidence if we do good in shootouts. We have some guys who really know what to do with the puck and when you feel good about yourself and those situations you can build that confidence. It’s a big win tonight. Obviously it’s another conference win against a team that we’re fighting with in points. It’s a good game. Our goaltender was solid all night long. Varly (Varlamov) played really well, gave us a good chance to win tonight. After that first goal that they got we started to get our legs and started playing more. Good result tonight for our team.”
Sacco on his team’s goaltending – “Both goaltenders were solid. All we ask of our goalies is to give us a chance to compete and a chance to win every night and they’ve definitely been doing that. You need goaltending in this league. We have certainly got our fair share from our guys and they continue to play well for us. I like our whole game though. Tonight was a tough game for us.”
Hejduk on the overall game – “We had a tough start. They were all over us but we came back. It was a hard battle to the end. I felt like in the second and third periods we started rolling (our lines) better. We spent more time in their zone creating some scoring chances there and finally put one in there with five minutes left.”
Hejduk on never giving up – “This year we won so many tight games and we are pretty comfortable in this position, being down a goal. We still battled and knew it was a one goal game and we kept coming. (Varlamov) gave us big saves when we needed them and finally we scored one goal and won in a shootout.”
Hejduk on his shootout goal – “I just tried to skate fast and slow down a little bit so he’s deeper in his net and look for what was going to be open.”
Goalie Senyon Varlamov on the overall game – “We played much better in the third period. Got some moments and we scored so it’s really good.”
Varlamov on his success in shootout (where he’s undefeated this season) – “Nothing special. I don’t know, maybe just good luck. I don’t like shootouts.”
Varlamov on team defense – “Defensively we played very well today. I saw every shot. The defense is doing a great job playing rebounds.”
To read exclusive quotes from the Kings Jarret Stoll – who had lots of praise for the Avs players and coaches – click here.
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