Following the Ducks morning skate at the Honda Center today coach Bruce Boudreau continued his ploy from the past few days, where he refused to name tonight’s starting goaltender. “You’ll have to wait and find out,” he said when asked. “I don’t know why it’s such a big deal. We’ll have six guys on the ice most of the night.”
Of course, that generated a few laughs from the gathered media. Then, he provided a little insight into his thought process, saying that if by not announcing his starter makes the Kings spend even five more minutes on game prep, it’s worth it. “Make ’em work harder,” he quipped.
An hour later, at the Kings hotel a few blocks away, team captain Dustin Brown laughed off the whole concept when we asked him if Boudreau’s plan impacted LA’s preparation.
“Not really,” he stated through one of his typical wry smiles. “We’ve played both goaltenders, we know both goaltenders. It is what it is. We’ll find out at five o’clock. It’s not like it’s an unknown entity, we’ve played against both goalies this year, so if its five extra minutes of preparation, it’s no big deal.”
More quotes from Brown this morning…
On resetting after the first playoff series:
“It’s nothing that we really haven’t been through before. I think the nature of how we came back last series is different, but over the last few years we’ve won a lot of series and had to reset pretty quickly. It’s just something you kind of get used to.”
On the importance of getting a win early in the series:
“Coming down here, getting ready, it’s just about getting off to a good start. It’s your goal at the beginning of every series. I think the momentum – we talk about momentum this time of year – it’s a new series and I think we kind of have to start fresh and go from there. But obviously we don’t want to start how we did last series.”
On if this first playoff meeting vs. Anaheim will raise the animosity level:
“I think this will definitely help the process along. The teams we have our biggest rivalries with are definitely not the Ducks and that’s a result of not playing in the playoffs. I don’t think, at least not yet, it compares to the Sharks, Canucks and Blues.”
On if the last series gave the team any confidence if things go wrong against the Ducks:
“I think it just reassures our beliefs in ourselves and in each other. If you look at our team historically, we’ve maybe not put ourselves in a 3-0 hole like that. Even correlating that to the regular season, we always find a way to make it difficult and find a way to dig ourselves out. So I think that just reassures our belief system and each other.”
On if raising your game up a level is a result of being in the playoffs:
“first and foremost, it probably doesn’t take much to elevate from the regular season that I had. But in saying that, this is the time you want to step your game up and this is the fun part of the year to play well and be a part of. At the end of the day, it’s just about trying to help our team win and if everyone can crank it up just a notch collectively it makes a big difference.”
On what you noticed in Kopitar’s play against San Jose:
“That’s just Kopi becoming the player that a lot of people probably don’t know that he is. I play with him, been with since he came into the league, so it’s nice to finally see him get some credit. His game is not about points at the end of the day. He’s one of those guys that has an effect on the game in all aspects, but he obviously came up huge on the goal scoring aspect of it. He scored big goals at big times.”
On Matt Greene’s attitude changing at all while he hasn’t been playing much recently:
“No. He’s the epitome of what you want in a teammate. I think from a personal standpoint, he obviously wants to be in the lineup and it was a tough thing not to be in the lineup I’m sure. But in saying that, he was in every warm up and I think a big part of that is because of what he brought to the locker room leading into games and going into warm up and just the vocal presence he brings to our team and everything that entails.”
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