What will Sutter say? Post-game quotes after Kings def Avs 4-1

Quotes from Kings coach Darryl Sutter following the team’s 4-1 win over the Avalanche on Saturday…

– On Keaton Ellerby’s fight: “Well, he’s still trying to find his way on our team. I think he’s the only guy that’s really different (with the organization) from last year. Everybody tries to forge their own identity. It wasn’t an enforcer thing or anything like that. In fact, it was one of the things I said to Hexy [Ron Hextall] after the game, they called the one, Fraser/McGinn a fight. They called that one roughing. I still don’t know what either one of them did. I really don’t know.”

– On Jeff Carter’s recent impressive performances: “He’s been the best player since the first day of training camp.”

– On the momentum swing from Lewis’ goal: “We were playing well, so I don’t think there was really any momentum to gain. A short-handed goal always gets guys excited…so that was good to see.”

– On the team’s current stretch of strong games actually starting with a loss in Detroit: “We played really well in Detroit. There were people standing there that looked at me kind of funny, but I thought we played really well there. It’s not always whether you win or lose, it’s whether you’re winning or losing.”

– On Jonathan Quick’s improvement of late: “I think the competition between our goaltenders the last seven games has been significant to our team’s success. I think both guys are playing really well, and we want them to both play really well to give us a chance to be a playoff team.”

– On the recent consistent production from the top two lines: “The last time we played Colorado we lost 3-1, and our first two lines, as you call them, were significantly outplayed by the Stastny line and the number nine [Matt Duchene] line. So we were able to counter that with performances from those top two lines.”

– On being surprised by Lewis’ recent offensive output: “He did it in the playoffs for us last year. He gives that line some more speed. Jeff likes speed with him, and we’ve had a hard time finding that. So I just said ‘To hell with it,’ quite honestly, in Edmonton. He’s used to playing right wing and I said ‘To hell with it.’ I said you can play left wing. It’s worked for now.”

– On the heritage jerseys: “That was the best part of the day, when I walked into the locker room and saw them hanging up. Even practicing in them the last week. They look cool. I love them jerseys.”

– On the extra time spent on pre-game ceremony: “Well we didn’t know about the extra time for Mr. Buss, we didn’t know that. But as far as Lappy, I told our players, just go play like Ian Laperriere today. You know that was nice to see. An old guy get recognized instead of a star guy. It was pretty cool.”

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