Comments from Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville after his team’s 4-3 loss to the host LA Kings in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final…
Q. I think you out-shot something like 18 to 7 in the third period. Was it alarming the sense of urgency wasn’t there for you?
QUENNEVILLE: No. I think very comparable getting behind from the last game to this game. We got behind and we looked to open it up. They had two power plays before they made it four, got to the fourth goal. After that we got a little loose in our coverage. 40 minutes kind of comparable to that last game what happened tonight.
Q. What did the Carter line do so well?
QUENNEVILLE: They scored a big goal. Second goal was a tough bounce. Went right to them, it’s in our net. We were playing well at that point. They got some momentum off it. They got some quickness.
Q. Duncan mentioned he thought there was a discipline issue on some of those penalties?
QUENNEVILLE: No, we took three. First one, you know, you have to look at each one individually. If we get two or three a game, I think we should get through it. Scoring a shorthanded goal helped right off the bat. Would have helped to get through that one.
Q. (On changing up the lines.)
QUENNEVILLE: We’ll see.
Q. The top line was noticeable. Are you getting enough from everybody? Do changes have to be made?
QUENNEVILLE: We’ll look at our lines. We look at basically nine periods there, seven of them pretty good, pretty effective as far as what we’ve been doing, as far as chances, generating what we’re looking to do. They’ve had two big third periods on us. That’s the difference in being down 2-1. We can look at the lines. I don’t know if we got to shake them up too much.
Q. Do you think the rest of the lines matched Toews?
QUENNEVILLE: He’s special. I think his work ethic is contagious. We got to make sure we all look to play as hard as he does.
Q. As far as the power play, you got a couple opportunities. Has that taken the wind out of the sails?
QUENNEVILLE: Our power play tonight really didn’t help us. I thought that was the difference in the game, losing some momentum. We generated enough in that second period to put ourselves in a good spot. You know, we not only didn’t generate much, but we lost some momentum off those power plays.
Q. You held them to four shots the second period, but they got two goals off that. How do you feel about that?
QUENNEVILLE: Both chances went in. I think both plays were so innocent, you know, it was kind of like exactly what happened last game. We got to know the importance of every shift. They got some guys that can make plays. They don’t need much of an opportunity to score on. We got to make sure that we give them nothing.
Q. What did you think of Shaw’s performance tonight?
QUENNEVILLE: It was okay.
Q. What makes Jonathan Quick such a difficult goalie to score against?
QUENNEVILLE: We’ve had some chances. Take three on the road, even though the third was kind of late. You know, it’s not like we’re not scoring on them. We got to make sure we’re keeping the puck out of our net.
Q. A couple games in a row you talked about innocent chances winding up in the back of the net. Does that give you pause of anything on your back line? What do you look at when that starts to become a trend?
QUENNEVILLE: Well, I think you see trends. They got a fortunate bounce late in the second period. They got one in the second period right off the bat to make it 2-2. Third goal, we haven’t seen too many goals given up by our team in that situation at all. It was one of those, a guy makes a good play, splits our ‘D’ that should have been on that puck.
To see what the Blackhawks players had to say about the loss click here.
Comments from the Kings Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty have also been posted here.
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