Following the Kings 5-1 victory over the visiting Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night, here is a quick sample of what was being said in both locker rooms:
Kings coach Darryl Sutter on the 60 minute effort:
“I think the penalty kill in the first period was the difference in the game. There was a 5-on-4 and 5-on-3 kill, then Gaborik scores, and then we score again.”
Sutter on Vancouver having trouble in their own zone:
“I think our 5-man-unit did a good job. When you only have five defensemen in the lineup for us, it’s more about us trying to break out of our zone, so you don’t use up too much energy in your own zone.”
Sutter on Doughty and the Kings defensemen:
“Those are normal minutes for Drew, based off of what we’ve done this year. I think that for all four of them, once you go from a twenty minute game to a twenty-five minute game, that’s a big difference. You need the lead to be able to do that, otherwise you probably aren’t seeing it look so good.”
Kings defenseman Alec Martinez on playing his most minutes of the year:
“It wasn’t just me; it was all five of us. Obviously when you’re down a d-man the whole game everyone is going to get more minutes.”
Martinez on a good defensive game overall:
“Coaches always talk about the five-man connection and that’s one thing we talked about before the game, we wanted to sharpen up our neutral zone forecheck. It was a focus going into the game and I think we did a good job.”
Kings forward Tyler Toffoli on playing an effective game:
“I think we came out really strong and we just kept our feet moving and kept getting pucks to the net putting a lot of pressure on their defensemen.”
Toffoli on his goal
“Marty walked the line and I was in front alone. I got a piece of the shot and the rebound just came right to me and I had an open net.”
Canucks coach Willie Desjardins on the overall game:
“I thought our goaltending was fine. We didn’t play very good. We had problems in San Jose. We talked about how this trip would show us where we are at, and it should. We are not good enough right now, we have to get better… They are a good hockey team. They are a Stanley Cup team. Teams are playing us like we are 10-4 team. There is a difference when teams are really ready for you, and when they are not. We are getting teams that are really ready for us. LA has a good team, and they were hard to play against tonight.”
Desjardins on shaking up the roster:
“Lots of times you need different bodies to be able to do that. We are getting banged up a little bit, so it eliminates some of that. You can change your lines a little bit, and ice time. We changed them quite a bit in this game, and I don’t know how much it shook us up or what it did for us. I thought Horvat and Matthias were really good, and the other guys have to be better.”
Canucks forward Henrik Sedin on the overall game:
“We played well for a while but we made too many mistakes tonight. This is a team where you have to keep it simple. If you make mistakes they’re going to hurt you and that’s what happened.”
Sedin on losing Derek Dorsett and Radim Vrbata:
“I think the game was out of hand in the third but those are things that you can’t really control. It’s just a matter of playing through it. Again, I think we made way too many mistakes early on to be in this game. We are a team that, when we play these kinds of teams, we have to keep it simple. We can’t turn the puck over on the blueline leading to two and one’s and breakaways. That can’t happen.”
Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller on Anze Kopitar’s goal:
“I don’t think it was a great night but I thought on his shot he made a good decision. I cheated over to that side. Felt it get me right in the ear and then the cross bar. He made a good decision but I guess I could’ve held some more ice on that side but it’s the only place he had to go.”
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