Game 4: Thornton thinks Sharks played well enough to win

Comments from the Sharks locker room following their 6-3 loss to the Kings in Game 4…

Coach Todd McLellan on the overall game:

“We had some open nets in situations that we didn’t score on but that happens sometimes, you have to be able to respond and be resilient after that. If we give up five tonight, we’re not winning against a team that can defend the way they do and have the goaltending the way they do. We can talk about the ones we missed but I’m a little more concerned about the ones we gave up.”

More McLellan on the overall game:

“I didn’t like our net play, simple as that. I thought we had some intensity to our game and I thought we were as desperate as they were, but we didn’t execute anywhere near the way they did. When we go back to the goals it’s quite easy to pinpoint some of the mistakes that we made and for us to have success moving forward, that has to get cleaned up quickly.”

McLellan on net play:

“When I say net play I don’t mean our goaltender. I better make that really clear, I’m not talking about our goaltender. I’m talking about the goaltender, the d-men, the forwards down low and the secondary chances we gave up. I’m definitely not talking about one individual with pads on.”

Joe Thornton on the overall game:

“I don’t necessarily think the scoreboard did us justice. I think we played a pretty solid game, I think they just got some more of the puck bounces tonight, but you know we showed a lot of fight, we came down here and did what we’re supposed to do, now we have to go home and do our job.”

Thornton on if letting the Kings back into the series was a big worry coming into the game:

“I think we played good enough to win tonight. You know, just some weird bounces, but we played solid now we just go home and be in front of our fans and try to finish this thing off.“

Thornton on the power-plays:

“I think they got momentum off the power play. The power play looked dangerous all night. I think we might have had three power plays; we probably should have scored on all three, looked sharp. I think once we didn’t score on that one, they came back and scored two, but it looked sharp and it was a positive thing for us tonight. “

Logan Couture on the overall game:

“They played in our end a little bit more, up until the third there, they played well. We didn’t fore-check the first two periods the way we wanted to, but we came back in the game, we had chances, tightened up a little on our d-zone and scored on a couple of our chances. Score could have been reversed so, we’re still up 3-1, we have to go home and we have to win a game at home… We played well but we also made a lot of mistakes, and we’ll go over that I’m sure tomorrow. We know we need to be better to beat that team, we know that they were going to be desperate tonight, they were and the first two periods they were better than we were, so in the third we played better and hopefully we’ll start on time in game 5.”

MORE POST-GAME CONTENT:

Dustin Brown after Game 4 – ‘It’s about pride’

Game 4: Sutter and Williams talk Kings 6-3 win over Sharks

GAME 4: Sharks Dan Boyle breaks down Quick, Kings and Sharks

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