As noted in our earlier article with Justin Williams, the Kings’ PR staff arranged a special media conference call today. Here’s what Dustin Penner had to say…
On the possibility of facing the Sharks or Ducks:
“Both teams have similar players to our team. We’re familiar with both teams. Obviously, Anaheim would be shorter for travel – a 45 minute bus ride as opposed to a 45 minute flight. But I think if we ended up playing the Ducks, it’d be great for hockey in Southern California. Just like any other person you ask in this situation, it doesn’t matter who we face because we have no control over the situation. We just need to do what we have to do to prepare ourselves for that series.”
On if he feels they have just enough time to rest:
“Well it’s speculation. I mean it’s tough to say. Everyone always says it’s too long, it’s too short. So it doesn’t really matter. There’s no excuse that you havbe to adjust to travel. Just gotta win.”
On if he saw his goal last night and what he thinks of it changing direction:
“Yeah, I saw the replay. Didn’t really put too much thought into the change of direction. It was nice to get a timely goal like that to help the team.”
On how much better he thinks the team has to play in Round 2:
“I don’t know. I can’t quantify it. I just know that we have to be a lot better for 60 minutes. Our special teams have been pretty good…Our 5-on-5 game has to be stronger on pucks and better on our blue line and their blue line.”
On the team’s defensive effort in the series:
“[note: the audio was rough here, so it may not be exactly word-for-word, but it’s 95% or better] It’s been huge. Especially on the back-end, without Greene and Willie we needed other guys to step up, and we’ve had some big contributions from Slava, Muzz, Ellerby, and Martinez – and then Regehr coming in. I think our back end has improved (from earlier in the year)…and taken great strides. Hopefully we can get Greener back. He’s a great leader for our team, and a stalwart on defense.”
On how he compares the Blues series with other series he’s played in:
“That’s a good question, I’m trying to recall other series. It’s pretty similar to the series we had last year with the Blues, (and) with Phoenix. I think a lot of teams come in and try to match us physically. Even though they can’t match us in size, they’re trying to come in and run us out of the building. We enjoy that type of game, and we feed off of it. We welcome it. That was a great series to be a part of. St. Louis played well in Games 1 through 6. We just found a way to get four victories.”
RELATED CONTENT: Justin Williams media call comments
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