Following their 5-2 loss in Game 4, giving the Kings a commanding 3-1 series lead, the Blackhawks players and coach Joel Quenneville continue to search for answers…
Q. What should the team do to create more chances on the power play?
JONATHAN TOEWS: We got some shots and some chances. It’s going to go in eventually so we’ll keep working at it and the same goes with the rest of our game.
Q. What will be the mindset going into Game 5?
TOEWS: Just don’t look at the big picture. Obviously we don’t like what we see. We’ve just got to focus on the next game. We’re still alive in the series and there’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves. Teams have come back from this situation before. That belief and confidence have to be there. It’s got to be everybody.
Q. What is the mindset going into Game 5?
PATRICK KANE: We were in the same position last year so you can look back at that and say we came out and were successful. Why can’t we do it again? It’s tough in the position we’re in now but at the same time we still feel good about our team here and we all know we’ve done it before. We’ve got to have that confidence to try and win the next game.
Q. What are your thoughts on the first period?
DUNCAN KEITH: It seemed like we had a good couple shifts there early on right away. Unfortunately we made a few little mistakes and it was in the back of our net real quick. That can change the game pretty quick and then we’re playing catch up. I thought we did a good job overall after that but it’s tough to come back.
Q. What went wrong on the penalty kill?
KEITH: It just seems like they’re scoring different goals on their power play in different ways. I think we can try to get clears when we have the puck. If we just settle down a bit out there we’ll be fine.
Q. How frustrating was it to go back on the kill?
QUENNEVILLE: We didn’t take many penalties. We go to the net on the one play, the power play, nullified it. Second half of it, they scored, which was a tough one. We took three penalties. Wasn’t like we took a bunch. In the course of a playoff game, two or three is probably generally a quota. We just got to find a way to get through it – kill, I mean.
Q. Why are the Kings successful on the power play?
QUENNEVILLE: No, they’re shooting the puck. A couple plays there, I thought maybe the first one we could have gone out to that guy, comparable to the last game. They’re shooting, going in. Their power play, we got to be better than that.
Q. Lot of talk about last year’s deficit against the Red Wings.
QUENNEVILLE: Obviously disappointing two games here. Go back, you know, just think of one game, get some momentum Game 5. Look at it like that. Look to come back here. That’s the thought process. Don’t think about anything more than that. Let’s be excited about being home, try to get the momentum back.
Q. Jonathan talked about trying to get the swagger back, confidence. Do you agree?
QUENNEVILLE: Yeah, well, you look at the last two games, for 40 minutes we’re doing the right things, the last 20 killed us. Tonight was different. We started out decently, but lost momentum with our power play there. They scored early, which got them going. Certainly when you’re playing with the lead, you’re ahead in the series, there’s a lot more confidence to your game. I thought we fought back in the second half of the game there, got some good looks and some good zone time. Let’s be excited about next game.
Q. What did you think of Kane, Toews and Bickell?
QUENNEVILLE: I thought they were good. They were all right. They generated enough. They were fine.
Q. Teams have won Stanley Cups before with hardly scoring a power play goal. How much more difficult does it make it when you don’t?
QUENNEVILLE: Well, our special teams all year have been the strength of our team. In the first two series, their penalty killing might have been the reason why we won either series. Right now they’re going in against us. We got to shore up that area. Our power play, our production has been off a little bit. I think we got to make sure whether we’re scoring or not, we got to sustain and gather momentum when the power play’s out there.
MORE: Post-game comments from Kings coach Darryl Sutter are up here… and quotes from several Kings players can be found here.
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