Game 5: Kings and Sharks talk LA win in The Cage

Following the Kings 3-0 win over the Sharks in Game 5, here’s what was being said in both locker rooms…

Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan on decisions for Game 6:

“Do we have a decision to make? Yep, just like any other night. We have two good goaltenders. We will have to make some decisions throughout our lineup in every position because we weren’t obviously near good enough tonight.”

McLellan on Sharks tempo:

“No, I don’t have an explanation for that. I thought we were slow. SImply put, we were slow. We didn’t have legs. We didn’t execute well which made us even slower. We had poor puck support and that made us slow.”

McLellan on Sharks lines:

“Part of the plan went out the window after about four shifts in when we were standing still watching. There wasn’t one line combination that stayed the same throughout the first thirty minutes of the game. Trying to find legs, trying to find pairs of players that were capable of executing, trying to find momentum. I don’t think you can read too much into that early switch with Pav and the rest of the group. You know just a little bit of desperation trying to find pairs.”

Joe Thornton on the loss:

“Usually we have really fast starts in this building and that wasn’t the case tonight. They started faster than us. It’s a rarity around here. We have to have better starts. That’s the bottom line. The last two games we have not had very good starts.”

Dan Boyle on playing five defensemen:

“Obviously, playing five [defense] is not something you are used to. The problem is playing five [defense] when you are down 3-0. That’s where it gets a little bit difficult. Five [defense] when you are up, you can keep it simple. ”

Joe Pavelski on the game:

“We’re on right now. The switch is on. We’re in playoff mode. It has been that way for awhile. At the end of the season we knew that was coming. We knew it was going to be a tough series. We worked hard to get to that 3-0. We got to find a way to win that fourth game now. We have not done that yet. We will take what we can but you go to bed and you’re still thinking about the game. You wake up and you’re thinking about it. You go to the rink everyday and you’re thinking about it. Our switch is on and we want to be a lot better than we were tonight.”

Kings Head Coach Darryl Sutter on Kings third line:

“They were good–they helped save us from elimination.”

Jonathan Quick on the game:

“It was a long game. I can’t say we took (the game) it away from them (from the beginning), we had a good start. We had a few good shifts, kept building on it. They came with a lot too, they had a big push back. It’s not easy to win against this team, they’re a great team for a reason. We’re fortunate to get a second win out tonight. We’ve got game six so we have to focus on winning another one.”

More Game 5 coverage…

Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar quotes after Game 5 here.

VIDEO of the Stoll hit on Vlasic is up here.

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