Following their loss to the Sharks in San Jose on Thursday, the Kings came home and took a resounding 5-2 win in the re-match on Saturday. Forward Kyle Clifford led the way with two goals, plus they received markers from Dwight King, Jarret Stoll and Justin Williams. They outhit the Sharks 46-36 and outshot them 24-22.
When things were all over, here’s what coach Darryl Sutter had to share…
– On if it was the fight, the great back-check, or the two goals that he liked most about Clifford: “You know, I guess to answer it best would be momentum change a little bit. With the fight, it’s important. Doesn’t happen very often, right? You know what? I’ve said that about Kyle lots in the last couple years. About doing a really good job in certain points in games. Whether it’s a hit, fight, score, back-check. Hard play.”
– On Toffoli’s game: “I think he was fine. I think he passed up a lot of shots he could have taken. I never looked at the final numbers, but he probably had three or four really good opportunities that he could have shot. And he was probably being respectful.”
– On Bernier’s performance: “Key moment. 2-1. Penalty shot.”
– On if he “liked” that Toffoli got back to stop the break away: “You guys asked this morning about Tyler Toffoli. What he was supposed to be, or if he’s a goal scorer. You look at this thing, he’s a goal scorer, but he’s a guy who obviously knows the game, because he’s a very good penalty killer. And he’s always…Even this year, his first year in the American League, he’s scored short-handed goals; so he knows the game. He’s supposed to do that. What do you mean, did I like that? You’re supposed to do that. You’re supposed to back-check. If you don’t back-check you can’t play in the American League, or you don’t play at all. Or you play over-age in the Ontario League. That’s not…Did I like it?”
– On the penalty being called because of Wingels’ stick shattering: “Well I didn’t know he was calling…Actually, I thought he was calling the next…The tap on Jonathan. I forget who it was. Did he shoot it in his glove, or did he make the save?”
– On it being surprising that he sat Nolan and put Penner at right wing: “Who was surprised? (I was) Oh. He played right wing lots in Edmonton. Quite honestly, I’m trying to keep him in the lineup, and Jordan Nolan is struggling a lot. Playing only four or five minutes a game. So you put a kid in that’s 20 years old into your line-up, you better keep Dustin in the lineup, because depending on how the kid does, you probably gotta at some point move Dustin back up, right?”
– On if he thinks Williams has been better the last two weeks: “The other night in San Jose, the line had 26 shots. It’s not about individuals. The line had 26 shots, that’s a lot. So, he’s a big part of that. He’s got jump, he’s had it. The line’s been really good the last little bit, yup. When you break it down, that’s hard to handle. Where it’s not just Kopi, or not just Brownie, or not just Willy. It’s three guys, and they’re hard to handle.”
– On the reason behind the nearly 50 hits recorded tonight by the Kings: “You know the schedule’s really hard, and you can talk about…I’ll guarantee, you wouldn’t have had five tonight after the trip we just had. You know what? The games we’ve just played (are hard). It’s not easy to be… When you say physical or hits – we probably break it down and take a different look at it than what the sheet says. It’s more just time and space, separate guys from pucks, and get to loose pucks. So it’s hard work to play good defense, and the schedule – I’ve said it lots, the schedule’s winning games and the schedule’s losing games. I’ve got to go guys, my wife’s running a marathon tomorrow. So I’ve got to get her home.”
RELATED CONTENT: Jake Muzzin on playing in front of Bernier and other post-game comments
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please include a link to www.MayorsManor.com
[…] RELATED CONTENT: What will Sutter say? Post-game thoughts after Kings 5-2 win […]