Jeff Carter on his mouth, payback and the play of several teammates

Sometimes timing doesn’t work out the way you want it to. Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith was scheduled for a 10:30am PST phone hearing today with the NHL to discuss possible supplementary discipline for his high stick on Jeff Carter in Game 3. And with several LA Kings players and coach Darryl Sutter set to meet the media at 11am, the probability of everybody knowing the outcome in time to ask for reactions to any possible suspension was low. So low, that it didn’t happen. However, the intent and damage caused was the hot topic all morning – both with the recorders rolling and off to the side during several smaller scrums.

Eventually, Carter took to the podium, and as painful as it was to watch him try and answer questions with a busted up mouth, here’s what he had to share…

On how he’s feeling:

“Feeling alright, a little sore. I had a bunch of cuts inside and the one outside you can see. Got a bunch of stitches.”

On if he’s angry at Duncan Keith:

“There’s bigger things to worry about right now. We’re in a fight here and down two games to one. So, I don’t think that’s on our minds.”

On him blowing off Duncan Keith’s apology:

“The video showed that I blew him off, but if you watched, I said something back to him.”

On his view of what happened:

“We were battling in front of the net, up the ice, and I think I took a swing at his glove there and he was trying to pick it up. I was in front of him and next thing I knew I was getting a stick to the face.”

On if he thinks it was an accident:

“It is what it is, it’s over with, it’s done with and we have a pretty big game tomorrow to worry about, so I’m not too worried about the incident.”

On if he thinks the hit deserves a suspension:

“It’s up to Brendan (Shanahan). Whatever he thinks, he thinks is right is what’s going to happen. Obviously if he does get suspended it’s a great loss for their team, he’s a big part of their team. There’s nothing we can do about it, just get ready to play.”

On playing on a line with Tyler Toffoli and Dustin Penner:

“It’s been good. Obviously with Mike going out, it’s a huge loss for our team. He’s got a guy that plays in all situations. I think the first game in Chicago, we didn’t really have too much time to think about anything and maybe that was a good thing with Tyler coming in. Chicago’s not an easy place to play and with him coming in there, he played great. Pens has really been going. It seems like were just kind of keeping things simple and when you do that you get pucks deep and work their D low which is something we’ve been trying to do. Good things happen.”

On if he notices a difference in Tyler Toffoli:

“Yeah. I think he’s been great the last two games. Obviously, the more you play, the more confidence you’re going to get and the more success you have the more confidence you’re going to get. He really battles hard on the walls and makes real strong, smart plays. Little quick little passes off the wall and down low and stuff like that. A lot of times you don’t see that in a young guy just coming out of juniors, and I’ve been real impressed.”

On Mike Richards being on the ice today:

“It’s obviously great to see him out there. I don’t know anything more than that other than he skated today. If we can get him back, at some point in this series, whenever it is, it’s a huge luck to our team.”

On how many teeth he lost from the hit last night:

“I didn’t. I had a tough practice in Chicago and my bridge fell out, so those we’re already gone but I cracked, chipped the one tooth, cracked a couple on the bottom, but didn’t actually lose any.”

On how many stitches he got last night:

“I think it was 20, 21, something like that.”

On the play of Justin Williams:

“Yeah, since I’ve got here, you can tell he’s always the guy that plays with a lot of passion, a lot of fire, and he hates losing. It’s pretty fun to watch him play when he gets going, he gets rolling and the confidence is starting to flow. It’s pretty amazing what he can do out there with the puck and with his game. When he’s playing like that, like he has been, he’s a huge help to us.”

On adjusting to playing without Mike Richards:

“It’s been fine. Obviously, going back to center is something I’m familiar with and very comfortable playing in the middle. I think it gives me a little more free reign, if you will, just a few more options offensively instead of going up and down the wall. With the way Dustin and Tyler have been playing the last few games as well has made it pretty easy for myself and pretty easy for our line to get things going.”

On not retaliating after getting hit:

“It’s not time to go out and retaliate and take down penalties. You do that and your season is going to be over pretty quick, especially against a team like Chicago. Highly skilled forwards, they can put the puck in the net.”

On the Kings struggle offensively:

“Quickie (Jonathan Quick) has been unbelievable for us, obviously. There’s not much that needs to be said about him, we know what he does. Offensively, I think it’s maybe some confidence for a lot of guys. You get a lucky one or what not and you start to get rolling. It’s just the way it’s been. We played St. Louis and San Jose, they are two great defensive teams and goals are hard to come by. Chicago plays real solid defense and has great goalies and you have to work for everything you get.”

On Patrick Sharp looking ready to fight:

“I don’t know if I ever saw him fight in person. I saw him fight in Philly-Ottawa (against Jason Spezza), when they had all those fights there, and he did pretty well for himself.”

Video of the high stick by Keith (and his attempt at an apology) can be viewed here… plus, additional comments from other Kings players and coach Darryl Sutter have been linked down below.

WCF Wednesday June 5 – Darryl Sutter comments

WCF Wednesday June 5 – Matt Greene comments

This Kings fan is just ridiculous – no seriously, ridiculous

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville talks 3-1 loss to LA in Game 3 and Keith’s penalty on Carter

Post-Game 3 – Tyler Toffoli talks Kings 3-1 win

Flash quotes from Kings locker room after 3-1 win in Game 3 vs Chicago

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