Blackhawks fans will likely dismiss their 4-0 loss in LA as not that big of a deal, especially considering they were without captain Jonathan Toews. On the other side of the ice, Kings captain Dustin Brown figured prominently in the outcome – scoring the game’s first three goals and assisting on his team’s other marker.
Chicago entered the night holding a 10-1-1 record in the last 12 match-ups versus LA, with their only loss in regulation being a 2-0 game at the United Center on December 28th. So, the Kings now hold back-to-back shutouts over the team with third best offense in the Western Conference. Even with the win though, the Kings are still on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs, while the ‘Hawks sit sixth in the standings.
After the game, here’s what they were saying back in the locker room…
Patrick Sharp on the overall game – “There’s room for more offensive chances; there are ways to get stronger and get more pucks to the net. There’s nothing really more to say, we’ve got to find a way to put one in the back of the net. We need to get some guys on it, and do the things that we’re doing and find a way to get it in the back of the net and it’ll be a huge positive for us.”
Sharp on the power play struggles – “The frustrating thing is that we’ve had success on it in the past and we’ve tried different things and we’ll continue to do that so there is no point in hanging our head and feeling sorry for ourselves. We just have to find a way to make a difference on it.”
Brent Seabrook on the overall game – “Every point’s huge for us right now, and we dug ourselves a huge hole and we’ve got a young team. We didn’t have the performance we wanted tonight and I thought LA came out early and turned on the PP. They buried a couple early on us and our response wasn’t there.”
Seabrook on the power play struggles – “We’ve got to work harder on it, we’ve got to work together and do a better job of getting in front of the net, getting our shots from the point as defensemen. We’ve got to outwork the PK and do it for a full two minutes. It’s frustrating because we’re just not working hard enough on the PP and we had some good looks tonight but Quick was good and their forwards were doing a good job of getting in lanes. And we need to work harder to do a better job.”
Coach Joel Quenneville on the power play – “I think the power play really took a lot of momentum out of our game. They scored early on their power plays and they got two and we lost our team game on account of that… Overall, it was tough watching it.”
Quenneville on desperation – “Well, you could say our desperation wasn’t where it needed to be. I think we lost our confidence and pace in our game because the power play has been having a tough go and it’s slowing us down.”
For highlights from the game, click here to watch them now.
NOTE: We’ll be playing sound bites from our exclusive talk with Blackhawks defenseman Sean O’Donnell on the MayorsManor live show later tonight. He talks about his time in Chicago, approach to his playing time and shares some thoughts on his former teammates in Philadelphia, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. Listen in or call us up with your questions about tomorrow’s trade deadline. The show starts at 7pm PST. For more info, click here.
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