In the Room: Kings and Islanders talk NY’s 2-1 win

Following the Islanders 2-1 shootout victory over the host LA Kings on Thursday night, here is a quick sample of what was being said in both locker rooms:

Kings coach Darryl Sutter on the overall game:

“We held a top team to one goal and we would have liked to score one more… I think we had a really good first period and the last seven or eight minutes we weren’t as sharp as we had to be. We regrouped going into the third [period] and we had a good one. We had good looks, but we missed the net two or three times.”

Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin on the overall game:

“I thought we were good in spurts tonight. We had some penalties and stuff we have to clean up but I thought we did a pretty good job. We just have to put that effort in for a full 60 [minutes]. We were off and on a little bit and we had some chances, Quickie [Jonathan Quick] made some big saves, and we went to a shootout.”

Muzzin on team discipline:

“You want to stay out of the box as much as you can. You’re giving their top players a chance to score so you want to stay out as much as you can and we have to do a better job at that.”

Kings forward Dwight King on having a first period lead:

“That’s helpful for our group. They’re a really good first period team. I think they have fourteen or fifteen goals in the first period this year so, like you said, that’s something that we wanted to improve on. Just getting pucks and bodies to the net is a way to produce offense and we were fortunate enough to get the first one.”

King on his goal:

“It was more right place, right time. I didn’t know if it hit me at first. I kind of thought Rick [Mike Richards] scored it to be honest. But that’s a place I got to go to score goals and I was lucky today.”

Islanders coach Jack Capuano on the overall game:

“I think it’s one of the best games we’ve played all year. We managed the puck, we executed on every aspect of the game. I thought our penalty kill was really good tonight. Your goaltender has got to be your best penalty killer and I thought Chad made some big saves… They’re the type of team that it’s a fluky goal, but it’s a great goal for me because they get bodies and they just throw pucks to the net. You have to learn from that, and we responded. We knew it would be a battle in here tonight. It’s a big physical team and I thought we responded. One thing I really liked about our team tonight is that we used our speed, and that’s what we talked about. I thought we transitioned the puck really well.”

Capuano on Chad Johnson:

“When you watch the game and your goalie is quiet, he’s not busy in there, he’s quiet. He’s just square to the puck all the time, pucks were hitting him and I thought he played the puck well tonight because obviously they’re a big heavy team. They chipped some pucks in and he helped us alleviate some of the pressure on the break outs.”

Islanders goalie Chad Johnson on the response after LA scored:

“I think we are mature enough now as a group to get some goals and be right back in the game, it was definitely good to see us rebound after the lucky goal.”

Johnson on playing back-to-back games:

“Yeah, it’s tough back-to-back, so I think it’s awesome for us as a group to be able to come in here after playing two really good teams and get 4 points. It’s a good confidence booster for us and I think we should take positives from this game and use it for games coming up.”

Islanders forward Kyle Okposo on the identity of the team:

“I’ve said it all year we’re not the same team. We went on a three game skid and everyone wanted to hit the panic button but in here we didn’t because we know what kind of team we have and we’re a good hockey club.”

Okposo on the penalty kill:

“Well we didn’t allow them time, we jumped all over them and didn’t allow them to set up. I think our down ice pressure was good and our guys did a great job.”

Things You May Not Know: Islanders-Kings Edition

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