Some raw post-game quotes following the Kings 5-3 loss to the Jets in Winnipeg on Friday – followed by some pretty funny Darryl Sutter audio…
– Justin Williams on if he can put a finger on where things went off the tracks: “It was just a balance thing. They got stronger and we slowly got weaker as the game went on. They pushed the tempo in the second period in a response to our first period. We weren’t able to get it done. They were just better and our comeback came back one short.”
– Williams on if back-to-back games are harder at the start of the season: “I don’t know. We relish back-to-backs. I like playing when people expect you not to play hard, not to come out and dictate a game. We challenge ourselves through these back-to-backs. We came on this road expecting two wins and we failed and got one.”
– Coach Sutter on what he takes from the first two games of the season: “Two points.”
– Sutter on whether the back-to-back games were too much, if they were too tired: “Nope. It was a pretty close game, wasn’t it? [Reporter: They came on strong, they evened the shots, they dominated…] You’ve got to ask them why they came on strong. I thought we were pretty good.”
– Sutter on if there was anything he’d want to change: “Nope.”
– Sutter on the decision to pull Jonathan Quick: “There are three reasons you pull goalies from a coach’s standpoint. Number one, momentum. Number two, goalie’s performance, and number three, team performance. I think at that stage, I would say momentum.”
– Sutter on what he saw from Ben Scrivens: “You change goalies when you’re down in a game. The goalie goes in and his job is to hold the fort. He did that. They didn’t score on us.”
– Sutter on what he saw from Mike Richards: “He was real good, early. I think you’d like to have a turnover dock in the two-one goal or the three-one…Olli’s goal. I’m sure he’d like to have that back.”
– Sutter on if the lapse in the middle of the game was a byproduct of playing last night and then coming to Winnipeg: “Could be it.”
– Sutter on when the opposing goalie stops 17 out of 18 in the first period and chances are generated, if he says anything to the players or lets them talk: “That was the same thing last night. So it’s not just about shots, is it? There was a point last night where they were outshooting us that same score, but I wouldn’t say we were being outplayed. Last night we were outshooting them by that same margin but we were putting pucks on the net. Not much difference. Teams were pretty close. The score is up 4-3, empty net goal.”
Now, listen closely to this Sutter audio from after the game. Following a local media guy pressing him on what the Jets did, LA’s coach answers the question… then, under his breath, it sounds like he tells you what he really thinks of the guy’s question…
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Special thanks to David Minuk of IllegalCurve.com for supplying the post-game audio from Winnipeg.
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I was listening but I didn’t hear him mutter under his breath. But he mumbles so much anyway, it’s hard to tell the difference!
Around the 42 second mark.
Did he say “strange”?
Don’t know how well DS got along with the media in SJ but in Calgary it became increasingly more adversarial during his tenure there first as Coach-G.M. and later just as the G.M. He undoubtedly believes most covering hockey don’t understand the game in depth. He tends to limit his quotes to provide less ammunition to them when things are going poorly and on occasion uses his comments to interviewers to “message” his players.
The Kings were sloppy last night and continued to take some really stupid penalties. It was, however, a pretty entertaining game.
The bottom six forwards are basically incapable of generating offense. This is a continuation of last year but not reflective of the previous season’s Stanley Cup playoff run where King, Lewis, and even Stoll had some goal scoring success. Unless Kopi becomes a scoring machine overnight and Frattin really starts lighting it up the Kings may get only enough scoring to be a winning team, but not good enough to win the Cup. This problem coupled with the question marks on left defense will not bring the Cup back to L.A. no matter how well JQ performs in net.
Muzzin played well offensively last night but was still a -3. I’m not bashing him for his play last night as I thought he actually played better than he did in the playoffs last season.
The Kings may have to wait on Pearson, Toffoli, Shore, Andreoff, Deslauries, and Forbort among others to get back to a championship level of play.
I do agree it looks like they may need some more scoring, but figure that by midseason Toffoli will take someone’s spot. And Brown was noticeably slow (and I didn’t think it possible: Regher looked even slower to me). But, I wouldn’t go too far overboard based on last night’s game. They did not play well, but obviously it is early, and they weren’t dominated. Basically there were a couple of weird goals against. It will take some time for the D to get their act together since Mitchell and Greene (save a couple of weeks in the playoffs) basically missed all of last year. And those guys need to stay out of the box-Greene’s penalty was just dumb.
Yes, Toffoli may take someone’s spot before the season is over, but the question is who does he bump?
He’s really a top-six guy and plays the right side. Barring injury it’s unlikely JW or JC is going to move off right wing. Lewis is a fixture on the third line and now we’re talking about the bottom six anyway. You’re right in that Brown doesn’t look to be 100%.
My point is the Kings should be good this year but maybe not quite good enough until the overall roster talent level is improved. Pearson and Shore are more talented offensively and should be better all around players than anyone currently playing in the bottom six in L.A. Right now it appears that King, Clifford, Stoll, Lewis, Frazier and Nolan just don’t have enough talent. Lewis is fast and figures to be the most helpful of that group going forward but is never going to be a goal scorer or big playmaker. You can certainly have role players in the bottom six but you also need some offense and speed from those guys.