Following the Coyotes 3-2 loss to the Kings at Staples Center on Tuesday night, here’s what they were saying over in the Phoenix locker room…
– Shane Doan (who scored two goals, and also led all players in the game with 11 shots on goal and 13 hits) on the overall game: “Obviously everybody in this room is frustrated and disappointed. We have to start with a desperate game and play the full game as desperate as we can. There are a lot of good things in the game. We have to take the positives and keep going. We could have just as easily won that game but we didn’t. That’s the way it goes.”
NOTE: Per Elias Sports, Doan’s 13 hits were the most by any NHL player in a single game this season.
– More Doan: “We were desperate. They found ways to win. There’s a reason why they are Stanley Cup Champions. I think they probably don’t think they played their best game but they found a way to win. We played good and didn’t find a way to win. We have to get that figured out and in a hurry.”
– Radim Vrbata on returning after foot injury: “It was a good to be back after four weeks. Timing was a little off. It got better as the game went on. Made more plays with the puck in the second and third. Hopefully with conditioning and timing it will get back quick. It’s not easy to miss four weeks and then jump into it right away when you don’t have enough team practices. It is what it is.”
– Vrbata on finally scoring (the Coyotes went more than three games without a goal): “It was too late. We had lots of chances and lots of shots. It would be nicer if we scored earlier to get us in a game and not chase a game again. We scored, we have to forget about it and focus on the next game now…If we would have scored first it would have been a different game. It’s not easy to chase a game. When you are down two goals it’s difficult. The good thing is we stayed with it and got a couple of goals and almost tied it at the end. It wasn’t good enough though.”
– Coach Dave Tippett on the overall game: “We had a great effort. It’s too bad we didn’t win. Our guys deserved to win tonight; we played harder than they did. We had more chances. Unfortunately we had a couple of calls that went against us and they dictated the game. We had lots of push in our game tonight. We missed far too many opportunities. This was a game that probably shouldn’t have been close.”
– Tippett on Shane Doan: “He recognizes the situation we’re in. We need wins. We’ve had to take it to another level and he’s the one that lead us in that department. He was a bull out there. He scored two goals. It was disappointing; our team deserved a better fate tonight.”
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Tippett is a terrible coach that places blame on the refs. If anything the calls went in their favor. They made the right decision on the Muzzin incident.
BEST QUOTE FROM DOAN HERE “We were desperate. They found ways to win. There’s a reason why they are Stanley Cup Champions. I think they probably don’t think they played their best game but THEY FOUND A WAY TO WIN. We played good and didn’t find a way to win. We have to get that figured out and in a hurry.”
THEY {THE KINGS} FOUND A WAY TO WIN….
For me, this trumps individual talent and that is why I BELIEVE THE KINGS WILL DO IT AGAIN – HEAR THAT EAST COAST!!
So who cares if nobody talks about the Kings or everyone else has written them off – except for their fans..That’s cool… JUST WAIT WHEN WE LIFT THAT CUP AGAIN. #GKG
13 hits… that is ridiculous. Somebody needs to beat Doan to the ground, the guy was running around like a damn freight train.
Besides Clifford, Who does the Kings dress that can handle Doan? Maybe King if he ever got a mean streak. Besides that??? No one.. Kings are very soft in the fighting department without Nolan dressed. Hell even with Nolan, you only got Cliffy and Nolan…
2 goals. 11 shots, and 13 hits. I can’t stand that guy. But I can’t remember another time a NHL player had a triple double.
These jokers have such a Napoleon complex about LA, I need to vent for a minute. Please indulge me. Thank you.
Regardless of Phx’s lack of skill, they’ll never win as long as their leadership (Tippet & Doan) continues down their current path. I think Tippet is a really solid coach who gets the most out of a tremendously average group of NHLers, but inferring that the referees and NHL is conspiring against them is both embarrassingly adolescent and aggravatingly stupid.
On the hockey side, all his comments do are provide his players an excuse to lose every time they play LA. On the conspiratorial side, how Tippet could make those comments after the refs made no calls after Doan went from: on the ice in a, “my knee is blown out, my career is over” position; to, dropping the gloves and racing over to fight Muzzin, shows just how on-tilt they both are. That’s unsportsmanlike conduct (diving), unsportsmanlike conduct (instigating) and instigating with a visor (aka, ‘The Mike Richards rule’). Those calls are as obvious and mandatory to make as any you’ll see all year.
Re: Doan – he had a monster game statistically, but what the stats don’t show is how his thuggery changed the focus of his entire team for the rest of the 2nd and part of the 3rd. As a result, they took dumb penalties which led to Stoll’s (ultimately game-winning) goal.
Now, the last thing I want is to offer those two some advice, but no one can lead like that and expect their guys to follow with anything but similar bullying and pre-determined excuses about why they lost.
Doan is a despicable player with no sense of sportsmanship. In my opinion, here’s a great piece from “the two line pass” (Preds’ blog) about him – http://thetwolinepass.com/2013/03/more-embarrassing-garbage-from-shane-doan/
I still don’t get what Tippett is complaining about. How is it the ref’s fault that 40 if their 42 shots didn’t go in?! I could see if the Kings had more shots on goal because of a few poorly called penalties, but that wasn’t even close to the case. In fact, if Doan would’ve been penalized for trying to instigate a fight with Muzzin, he wouldn’t have been able to score for the Coyotes. So Dave, please, help me see what the refs did wrong (against you) last night! Every time the Coyotes lose, it’s the ref’s fault. Man up and take ownership of your team!
Absolute spot on analysis Doughty99! How Doan won the Messier award is beyond me!
Thanks, Natalie B.
The peeps who voted for Doan must be the same ones who had no problem with Ryaene Cloewe playing the puck from the bench.