Morning Skate Report: Ducks talk first look at Kings this season

In advance of tonight’s matchup with the visiting Kings, in what will be their first face to face contest since LA defeated Anaheim in the playoffs last season, here is what several of the Ducks players and coach Bruce Boudreau were saying at the morning skate…

Coach Bruce Boudreau on updates re: the condition of Perry and Beauchemin:

We are anxiously awaiting like you are. We are still waiting on the blood test results.

Boudreau on his decision to move Emerson Etem up to the top line with Getzlaf and Smith-Pelly:

Offensively some of the combinations have not been working. We haven’t been scoring. Sometimes you shuffle the deck and Emerson has been an offensive guy in the past. Let’s see if he can do it with arguably the best passer in the league (Getzlaf).

Boudreau on if there is more of an emphasis in matching lines when playing the Kings:

You have what you have and you try to take advantage of being at home and creating the favorable matchups. We set our lines not based on who we are playing. During the course of a game things can change if one of our lines gets dominated by the opposition, you either switch that matchup or switch up the line combination.

Boudreau on if the Game 7 playoff loss is still top of mind:

I haven’t forgotten about it. It wasn’t really a good game for us. I think everybody is aware of it but it is something in the past. I think we make way too much of what happened in the past. This is a divisional game that we just want to beat because we want the two points.

Boudreau on if the success or failure in this week’s two games against LA will say a lot about the Ducks, considering all the injuries:

If you succeed you know what kind of character you have. We are missing some pretty big components from our team. So if you succeed it tells you there is depth to deal with the injuries and if you fail then you say well when we get a full line up we’ll be a lot better because we were better when we had a full lineup.

Ryan Kesler on what time of game he expects against the LA Kings:

It’s going to be a fun an intense game.

Kesler on what it will take to get back in the win column:

Just score more goals than the other team. It’s as easy as that. We need to make this building hard to play in. If we compete and make it hard to play in we will win most of our games. We want to win tonight. We’ve only come away with a point in each of our last two games. We are not a desperate team but in saying that we want to come out with a victory tonight.

Cam Fowler on if he has put the Game 7 loss in last season’s playoffs out of his mind:

Obviously none of us forgot about what happened but this is a new season. It’s a good test for us and everybody should be ready.

Fowler on the Kings injuries:

Regardless of who they have in the lineup we know it is going to be a battle. As a group we are ready and we need to try and turn things around and get some wins at home is all we are focusing on right now.

Fowler on the Ducks dealing with all of their injuries:

All teams throughout the year are going to deal with some type of adversity and ours has hit us pretty early in the season. As a team it is something that we have to rally around each other and battle through it and we are pretty happy with our compete level. As long as we stay positive and do things that we are capable of the wins will come.

Fowler on whether the results of this week’s games vs. LA will be viewed as success or failure based upon the results:

It’s something that you think about. It’s on your mind. What you can accomplish when you are missing your core players. You look around the league at the success of teams that win when key guys are out of the lineup. It’s not like they are better without them. It’s that backs against the wall mentality and they respond and there is no better time to get things going than tonight.

Andrew Cogliano on if last season’s playoff series truly established this matchup as a rivalry as opposed to one that was “media manufactured” over the years:1

I guess so. I think you have two good teams that respect each other. The memories of us losing in game 7 doesn’t sit well. Tonight is still a regular season game but in saying that this is the type of opponent that you want to beat a few times to gain confidence. They (LA) are a pretty confident group, they know they are a good team having won 2 Stanley Cups over the past few seasons so for us it is a matter of chipping away at them. Last year’s playoff series we had some good moments and showed that we could compete with them and almost beat them, but at the end of the day, we didn’t. The only thing that matters is that they beat us and went on to win the Cup. It is always going to be a rivalry because we so close (45 miles), but the success of both teams the last few years adds to the rivalry.

Cogliano on the Ducks just needing a win:

We need a win. We’ve lost some games in shootouts and overtime. You could look at it that this is the perfect time to play a rival like Los Angeles. You win and you gain some confidence and maybe confidence than a win over other teams. It’s going to be a good game for us and for the fans and we get them Saturday in Los Angeles.

Cogliano on the Ducks being able to come away with points in their last three games despite missing key players:

I think it means a lot more when you can win when missing key guys from the lineup. It tells you a lot about your system play and how you play as a team. We’ve won division titles, had guys score a lot of points, but in the end LA has proven that a good team and a strong team wins championships. It’s never good to have key players missing but it’s an opportunity for us to show that we are a stronger team and play as a unit.

Follow @westcoasthky