Following their 3-1 win over the visiting LA Kings, here’s some of what was being said in the Coyotes’ locker room…
– Keith Yandle on if they had the urgency they needed against the Kings: “Yeah, I think so. I think the first ten minutes of the game we probably weren’t at our best, but then we straightened it out and got going a little bit. I thought we played well. I think our forwards did a good job of working them down low. We played a good amount of time in their end, and we were able to find some goals.”
– Yandle on how much this win will help to spark a deep run: “Well it can’t hurt. I mean, you say it all the time, take it one game at a time, one period at a time. But, for us, that’s what we have to do. We have to pay solid, especially here at home. We know we have a few home games here, and then we just have to be solid the rest of the year. We have to play like our lives depend on it, and they do. If we play well, we can make a push at it, and hopefully get in the playoffs.”
– Yandle on Jason Labarbera: “He was awesome. He’s been awesome since Smitty went down. A couple of games there on the road we weren’t able to win one for him. But, tonight he was awesome, as he has been. The credit goes to him. The whole year he doesn’t play as much, and he comes in, steps in and plays unreal for us. The credit’s to him working hard every day. Coming in, battling…You love to see stuff like that.”
– Yandle on what he saw on his two goals: “Well, the first goal…We were quick out of our own end and able to play down there. It’s something when our forwards have it down low. We have big, strong, forwards, who can make plays with the puck. I saw Chipper, he was handling it down there. He was able to find me and made a great play.”
– Yandle on if beating the Kings adds confidence, given the rivalry: “Yeah I think so. Anytime you beat those guys it helps out. I think last game we played them in LA, we played hard. We weren’t able to get the win, but I thought we did some similar things tonight, and we were able to find a win. It helps with the confidence when you play these guys well, because they are such a good team.”
– Jason LaBarbera on what the win means for the team: “Oh, it’s huge. We knew going in – especially who knows what happens tomorrow? But we knew we had to get two points tonight. That’s all that everybody was focusing on.”
– LaBarbera on how the team was able to hold the lead: “I thought we were a lot stronger around our net tonight. Our D-men did a good job of blocking guys out. For the most part, I saw the puck all night. Which obviously makes my job a lot easier. LA’s a good team at getting pucks to the net, jamming the net, and scoring on rebounds. That’s how they get a lot of their goals. We just did a real good job, if there were any rebounds of clearing pucks. Our D-men did a real good job tonight.”
– LaBarbera on not letting Justin Williams’ fluke goal harm his confidence: “Yeah, it was a goofy goal. It was a good play by Williams. It was one of those plays where they get the puck to the net, and it goes in. I’m just kind of like, whatever. It was a lucky goal, and just move on from it. Get the next big save. The guys did a good job. Lombardi scored a huge goal in the second. Obviously Yans scored a nice one in the third.”
– LaBarbera on if the team can parlay the win into a winning streak: “Well, there has to be. There’s no other way to put it. We know it’s crunch time. We knew it was going to be big for us just to stick around. We have to hang out and get something going. Get something together. We’ve been playing better, but tonight was a good example of us finding a way to win. Last week we kind of found ways to lose or give up a point. Tonight we found a way to win.
– LaBarbera on how it feels to have the game MVP belt: “It’s pretty cool. I’m pretty happy about that. It’s nice to have. I mean I think this thing’s unbelievable. I think it’s really unique and cool. To finally be able to actually win it for real is pretty cool.”
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Yikes, half the team is blown up