Murray postgame quotes

Terry Murray’s postgame thoughts…

(on why he told the players they could be in first place with two points…)

MURRAY: “To really put some great meaning on the game. As a group, we’ve been playing very well lately. Actually, some tremendous wins through some very tough stretches of games. Then, to have that right on your plate, to be able to reach out and grab it, is pretty exciting. I’m not trying to motivate the players by saying that, but certainly I want them to be aware that there’s a good thing, right there, if you just go out and play hard and get a win here tonight.”

(on his game thoughts…)

MURRAY: “They [the Stars] played well. They had some real good opportunities in the early part of the game, maybe the first two periods. Quick was very good, and gave us an opportunity to come back. The goal at the end of the second period, by Kopitar, was obviously a huge goal for us. Seven seconds left, and it energized our guys. I thought we came out and played much better in the third period.”

(on the Kings’ slow start…)

MURRAY: “I was surprised. The day off yesterday, I thought, would be good for us. Maybe we’re a team that needs to get on the ice every day. We’ve got a young group of guys, and sometimes days off are hard to figure out what to do with. But anyway, the bottom line is, we got two points, and that’s good.”

(on winning without playing their best…)

MURRAY: “Good goaltending, tonight. That’s usually what it says. Whenever you’re not playing well as a team, you don’t have good cohesion in moving the puck and attacking. I thought part of the problem was just getting going on our breakouts. We were too high in our zone. We were trying to force plays to our wingers. Our wingers were covered over the top. They were turning it back over, and right back at us again. I think, as we got going at the end of the second and the early part of the third, we started to get five guys lower and got more of an organized attack going.”