Coach Speak: Sutter vs Vigneault after LA 2OT win in Game 2

Comments from Kings coach Darryl Sutter and Rangers coach Alain Vigneault following LA’s 5-4 double-overtime win in Game 2 of the Stanley CUp Final…

Q. Willie Mitchell’s performance tonight?

SUTTER: Played a lot of minutes. Haven’t seen the final. Those four guys played 35 minutes for us.

Q. What do you take away from your team’s ability to come back? Something you’re comfortable with or are you concerned about the starts?

SUTTER: We have to be able to come back. You’re not going to lead every game.

Q. Henrik Lundqvist said he couldn’t move on the Dwight King goal. What did you see on that?

SUTTER: Which was the Dwight King goal?

Q. Him and McDonagh were doing some pushing, goalie interference.

SUTTER: Take his word for it.

Q. Some sort of wisdom that you lay down when you’re down two goals? It’s a nightly ritual.

SUTTER: Is that a good ritual (smiling)?

Q. Not going to complain being up 2-0. But the giveaways were fairly high. What do you make of the overtime game?

SUTTER: The forechecks caused some of our guys some problems, for sure. It’s the strength of their team, so…

Q. How much fun are you having with this group of players? Amazing run two years ago. This is arguably the greatest run of all time you’re going on now.

SUTTER: We had a good run last year, too. You try and do it every year.

Q. You played three overtime games in a row now. Any concern going forward about a fatigue factor?

SUTTER: Darn right. Thought about it late in the third, and I thought about it in the first overtime. Takes its toll. Always does. It’s like the question you asked about Willie Mitchell. There’s a lot of guys that played a lot of minutes. It’s like the games, 23. That’s a lot.

Q. Does anything about being behind 2-0 and 3-1 and 4-2, do you worry about asking the guys every time to go back to the well?

SUTTER: I didn’t ask them tonight. I mean, it’s concerning at the point where it’s hard to score three goals. So I give our team a lot of credit for scoring four and then five.

Q. What was the reason for keeping Robyn Regehr out tonight?

SUTTER: It’s a gut you have. That’s all. Trying to make the right decisions. We’ve used a lot of defensemen already in the playoffs. It had nothing to do with Robyn or anybody else. Just felt, after going through, it was better not to make the change tonight.

Q. I noticed Martinez is in it a lot of crucial, important moments. Talk about him and your confidence in him.

SUTTER: We played three overtime games in a row, and everybody has to play. There’s not guys that are resting. You need everybody to contribute in some way.

On the flip side…

Q. Second straight game you’ve given up a two-goal lead. You seemed to be better in the third period. How do you get past that?

VIGNEAULT: We played a good game tonight. We had a good third period also. I mean, if you look at the scoring chances in the third, they were 3-2 because their third goal I guess was a chance because it ended up in the back of our net. But we played well. We gave ourselves a chance to play. They’re a good team. We had some looks in overtime. Just couldn’t score.

Q. How frustrating is it to have two really good starts and come out of this barn with no wins?

VIGNEAULT: Well, I mean, I think we’ve played close to nine periods now. For the most part I’ve liked a lot of things about our game. Our guys are trying real hard. We’re going to continue to try. I mean, both games we had opportunities. We didn’t get it done. We’re going home in front of our great fans. We’re going to be ready for the next game.

Q. The Dwight King goal that you referenced, is that interference in your mind?

VIGNEAULT: Ask the NHL.

Q. You forced a ton of turnovers tonight. What is it going to take to keep that rolling as the series goes on?

VIGNEAULT: Well, they’re a real good team. You got to try and take away their space and time. We’ve done I think a fairly decent job against that high skill level. You know, we’re going to get ready for the next game and try and win.

Q. What did you think of Zuccarello? He was all over the ice tonight.

VIGNEAULT: His line played well. They had some good looks. Trying real hard. They’re going to continue to try.

Q. Why do you think you lost tonight?

VIGNEAULT: They scored one more goal than we did.

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