The Kings played their best game of the season on Sunday and lost to the Detroit Red Wings. Fortunately for them, they brought the same attitude and commitment to St. Louis and were able to leave town with a 4-1 win.
After the game, here’s what the home team was saying back in the Blues’ locker room…
Captain David Backes:
– On the team’s recent play: “There’s been some rough ones. But, when you see where we’re at, I think we had four home games where we normally play well. I think we just got a little complacent, took our foot off the gas, and it’s no one’s fault but our own. The guys in this room really need to take a look in the mirror and be better for each other starting tomorrow at practice. You know if it waits too long, even a couple minutes… It’s going to continue to be games where we’re giving up unnecessary goals, taking chances, and it ends up in the back of our net. We just can’t have that in this room.”
– On the team’s erratic play: “It’s no secret. It’s going out there and playing for the group. You got too many guys out there looking at the stat sheet and wondering how many goals and assists and cookies they got rather than taking a hit to make a play and getting run over to get a puck out so that maybe your teammates can have a three on two. So you can block a shot or kill a penalty when we really need it so we can stay in a game, and we just don’t have that desperation, that accountability, that responsibility to each other and that’s the thing – look at the team we played tonight. They all have that. Their guys that are willing to get run over for the guys sitting next to them. And I said it after the playoffs and it still rings true. We need all 20 guys to have that mentality that if I’m the guy to sacrifice my body or on the stat sheet so that we can be successful. All twenty guys need to have that mentality every single night or we’re going to continue to have interviews like this.
Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo:
– On the overall game: “Not good enough, I mean we’re not working hard enough on both sides of the puck. We’re not playing our game. We’re not playing 60 minutes. It takes a lot to win in this league…We’re not there yet.”
– On the Blues’ recent struggles: “(Part of the) problem is we’re behind teams playing comeback hockey. We gotta find a way to start games better and get ahead of teams and shut them down; that’s when we’re at our best… It’s never easy when you lose four games in a row. It’s going to be a bit of a process here, but it’s got to happen right away. There’s not a lot of time in the (season) so it’s got to happen now.”
– On mistakes being made: “Mistakes in the D-zone. We did some good things (tonight). We definitely did some good things, but it takes 60 minutes, especially against this team. I mean LA is a really good team. We knew that coming in. We’ve just got to find a way to play a full game.”
Goaltender Brian Elliott:
– On getting the last minute start: “I didn’t know until about five minutes before the game. So it’s a little surprising. I mean you prepare the same way – that you’ll have a chance to go in; so it’s your job to be ready…. (But), it’s a little tough. I’m a guy that likes to kind of prepare the night before and know going into the pre-game skate what you’re going to be facing and stuff. So it’s a little tough…when you just get thrown into the fire sometimes it’s better when you’re not thinking about it and you just go out there and play.”
– On any defensive breakdowns in front of him: “I don’t want to make any excuses. Whether you say you have a chance on something or other; there’s always a chance, and we all have to compete better to get the results we want. That starts from goaltending out. You’re just competing and once you get that on a high level that’s when things start turning around.”
To see MLB and NFL play-by-play guy Joe Buck call part of the second period – including Davis Drewiske’s goal – click here.
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