With the Stars 5-2 win over the Kings on Thursday night they’ve now defeated their division rival 103 times total – their most victories against any NHL franchise.
Here’s what their head coach and a few players had to say following the game…
– Coach Glen Gulutzan on the overall game: “Thought we played a decent game, faceoff circle gave them a lot of chances. I think we were 27% after two periods in the faceoff circle. I didn’t see the final tally, but a bulk of their chances were off lost draws, and shots were coming off there. And we need to do a better job as a group.”
– Gulutzan on Kari Lehtonen’s performance: “Solid, right? Solid and comfortable. He looks comfortable and confidence. So coming into a game like this, they’re a great team; they play hard. They’re big, they’re strong, they work, they’ve got skill. I mean they won the cup for a reason. I thought today we were okay, but we got goals…Timely goals when we needed them. Our power play got two. Cody Eakin made a heckuva play at the end of a period where we didn’t have much going on. And I thought we played better in the third.”
– Gulutzan on Jaromir Jagr: “For 20 years he’s been in the right place at the right time. I gotta think something’s going on there. He’s just one of the best that’s ever played. Simple as that. He’s engaged and he’s having fun, and he’s working extremely hard. Practice, away from the rink, at the rink; so he’s just having fun playing.”
– Gulutzan on the team’s depth players contributing: “We have a nice blend….Reilly Smith and Cody Eakin I thought played strong tonight. The goal and the setup to Brenden on the 3-2, I thought that was a heckuva play for a young guy. So yeah, they’re helping us; all of our young guys are. They give us some youthful enthusiasm, and they give us some juice, and they’re giving us some production.”
– Gulutzan on the Kings team they faced vs the Kings team of the last two weeks: “I didn’t think they looked that different. They play hard. It was a hard game. It just happened that we got timely goals and made a couple plays. But I thought they played strong. You could see why they have such a good home record. Certainly here I think it was six in a row that they’d won, or five, of the last here at home. You can see why. Tonight we got good goaltending, and we got timely goal.”
– Gulutzan on play picking up after the Doughty hit on Goligoski: “Yeah, I think we got a real close knit group in there, and Goose is a top D for us, and our guys got a little into it a little bit more. It always sets a little fire underneath you, and I thought that helped us a little bit. Usually it can go the other way, but they didn’t need momentum. I thought we did, and we responded.”
Bonus quotes…
Foward Cody Eakin on the overall game – “It took a full 60 minutes to beat them. I think the second period we bent a little bit and they took a bit of momentum but we stuck with it and stuck with our system. You start strong and it starts in the net. Kari has been great for us all season. It’s great to have him back. We continued to make smart and solid plays. Forwards were getting open for them and we were blocking shots. We battled and it turned out well for us.”
Goaltender Kari Leftonen on the overall game – “We had a few days off. This year it’s different, we usually play every other night. It was nice to have a few days off and then come out strong. 2-2 after two periods it was anybody’s game and we were able to get all those goals. We are happy about that. I think I was fine. A couple of goals and couple of good saves. I was happy I was able to do well in the third when it mattered the most. It was a fun way to get the win.”
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