Quotes from Los Angeles forward Marian Gaborik following the Kings 2-1 win over the Sharks on Saturday night at Levi’s Stadium…
Q. It’s almost a year now that you got to go here and scored goals for this team. Where does this one rank in big goals you’ve scored for the team?
MARIAN GABORIK: Yeah, it’s definitely special. It was my second outdoor game. It’s been fun in terms of putting pucks into the net. But it definitely feels good to get the goal. So brought us each two points, and it was a fun game tonight.
Q. How much has your game changed since you’ve come to the Kings?
MARIAN GABORIK: Yeah, I had to adjust a little bit, to buy into the system, play on the right side of the puck, and make sure to play in the game and do my responsibilities as well. So I think we’re rolling very good as a team right now, and I just have to keep it up.
Q. Just a couple weeks ago things looked grim for this team. Now you’ve won seven in a row in this division. Does it surprise you things turned around so quickly?
MARIAN GABORIK: Well, we’ve been very inconsistent this year. The last seven games we played some good hockey. We played some Kings hockey like we know how to play, and we’ve been getting great goaltending throughout the team everybody is contributing. So we want to take it all in with this win, and have a good day off tomorrow and get ready for Detroit.
Q. Do you think there was anything with more players on your team having more experience with an outdoor game than the Sharks?
MARIAN GABORIK: Maybe a little bit, but we play on the road, so I think it was a great experience for us to play in front of 70,000 people. But it came down to our strong play, and we obviously played the whole first period. The second period was difficult, and third period we played much better. So getting two huge points and coming home.
Q. On the goal, did you think being able to get that puck in the neutral zone where there were a lot of turnovers, that that’s kind of where you pick up the puck, intercepted and were able to go in? Was that something as the game developed that you saw as an area that the game could be exploited?
MARIAN GABORIK: Yeah, we knew the ice wasn’t that great. We tried to forecheck Burns. Burnsy had the puck on the stick. Just picked it off of him and tried to go, and the shot went in.
Darryl Sutter postgame quotes here.
Kopitar Out, Can Watch His Son Against Arizona
Per recent tradition, it will be the Kings and Coyotes in a pair of split-squad games to open up preseason on Tuesday night. LA captain Anze Kopitar will not suit up, but he will get a chance to watch his son … [Read More...]