There’s only one game remaining in the regular season and many different things could still be left to accomplish for the Kings. Is it important to secure home-ice for the first round of the playoffs? Does Anze Kopitar need a goal? Do they want to work on the power play? Penalty Kill? Do a few of the new lines need to click?
So, what’s left to accomplish? We asked a few players and coach Darryl Sutter after practice today…
– Drew Doughty on the most important thing to accomplish tomorrow night: “A win, that’s it. (big smile)”
– Doughty on the importance of getting home-ice in the playoffs, especially considering how much better the Kings have been at home this season: “Home ice is important, period. Sleeping in your own bed, in front of your own fans. Going into another teams rink, in the playoffs especially, having a sold out crowd and having the crowd cheering for the other team, it’s tough. You go in there and the team’s are always flying in the first period, and we can use that if we get home-ice. We can use that momentum on our side and hopefully put teams away with the first couple games of home-ice.”
– Doughty on if there are still some things to work on within the defensive group: “Oh there’s for sure work to be done, playing with a different D partner, it doesn’t just happen. There’s a lot of work that goes into it, watching video, a lot of talk and we’re good with the communication part and all that and I think we’ve been good, playing well together. I think we can be a lot better and once we get used to what each other are doing we’re going to be a very good pair.”
– Jarret Stoll on the most important thing to accomplish on Saturday: “Win, just get two points. You know we’ve played well at home, gotten a lot of wins at home, we’ve found ways to do that and just continue to do that. I don’t care what else comes along we just got to get two points, just win the game. Worry about that, you know at the end of the day if that gets us home ice, it gets us home ice, if it doesn’t then there’s not much you can do about that, you got to play well and try to win the game.”
– Anze Kopitar on the most important thing to accomplish in the final regular season game: “I think last couple games we were playing on our heels a little bit, but now we got to establish our game right off the start, and just push the pace really. We know we can be successful when we play our game and play our system and then now it’s just a matter of doing it.”
– Trevor Lewis on the most important thing to accomplish against San Jose: “We need the win. We still have a chance at home-ice. So I think that’s the biggest thing for us.”
– Kyle Clifford on if earning home-ice is the most important thing going into tomorrow: “Yeah, we still have a shot at getting home ice with a win. So, we want to go into the playoffs playing our best hockey. Tomorrow is a good way to get going there and get ready for the playoffs.”
– Dustin Penner on the importance of home-ice: “It doesn’t matter how you get there. It’s what you do when you are there.”
– Brad Richardson on the most important thing to accomplish Saturday: “I think everyone wants to get their game where they need it. Last couple games I don’t think we’ve played close to our best. And I think guys…I don’t know if you want to say slipped, but guys just didn’t play their games. You want go into the playoffs playing well, and have some positive reinforcement. I think everyone…First thing we want to go in, we want to win. And we want to play our best. We just want to get ready for the playoffs and be on a high note going in.”
– Sutter on if there’s anything specific he wants to accomplish on Saturday besides a win: “That’s the end result of whether you win or lose. It’s not as important as the players making sure they’re all trying to play as well as they can so that they’re ready for – not looking ahead, but so they’re ready for the first game. That’s more important.”
RELATED CONTENT: Kings players react to all the line juggling this week
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please include a link to www.MayorsManor.com
