Carter postgame quotes (May 15)

Jeff Carter’s postgame thoughts…

(on whether he’s no longer snake-bit in scoring…)
CARTER: “I hope so. Yeah, I mean, obviously I’d love to be scoring every game. They haven’t come that easily for me the last little while here. It’s something that I’ve been working on in practice, trying to get to the net during the game, get a couple greasy ones. I was lucky enough tonight.”

(on whether he sensed frustration from the Coyotes…)
CARTER: “Yeah, I think we did a good job on the right guys tonight. We made it hard on their key guys. Yeah, might have taken them off their game a little bit. I actually didn’t see the two hits that happened, so I can’t say much about that. I think we’re doing a good job.”

(on the Kings’ power play…)
CARTER: “Definitely nice to get two tonight, obviously, like you said, it’s 5-on-3, something we’ve been working on. We have to get a lot better if we want to keep going here. We have to keep working on it, keep getting shots in net traffic. We have guys in the two units that can put the pucks in the net, so it’s got to come.”

(on the Kings’ playoff success…)
CARTER: “Well, I mean, obviously that’s what we came here to do, was to win two games. I thought we did a fairly good job both games. Still think we have some room for improvement, which is obviously a good thing being up 2-0. We were a confident group coming in. We had to battle hard the last month of the season just to get in. Pretty much playing playoff hockey all the way through there. I think that’s helped us carry over playing into the playoffs. We just kept rolling.”

(on whether his confidence ever sagged…)
CARTER: “You’re obviously thinking about it. It’s always in the back of your mind. I tried to keep patient and keep working in practice, like I said, during the games trying to get to the net, trying to get a couple good bounces there. Lucky enough to get a couple today. It’s a good start.”

(on how this run compares to his experiences in Philadelphia…)
CARTER: “Oh, it’s real similar. Same thing when we were in Philly there. Basically had to battle right down to the last game. Shootout there to make it. I think, like I said, when you’re in that kind of position, just kind of rolls over into the playoffs. Whereas, if we were locked in there a little while in the season, you might sit back a bit, get a little complacent. I think it’s definitely helped us out.”

(on his neutral-zone and defensive-zone play…)
CARTER: “I was happy with my game tonight. We played all situations. I thought we did a fairly good job of limiting their chances. They had a few at the end there. You know, I thought our line and our penalty kill units did a good job.”

(on the Kings’ road success…)
CARTER: “I think it’s just a mindset. We get away, there’s no distractions. The guys are together. The coaches have us well-prepared. For some reason this team all year likes to play on the road. We’ve had a lot of success since I got here. They had a lot of success before I got here. Hopefully we can just keep it rolling.”

(on Dustin Penner’s play on Carter’s first goal…)
CARTER: “It was a great play by him. Him and Richy down low working hard to get pucks back. Penns is such a big guy, when he gets planted in front of the net, has position, you’re not moving him. He laid it up for me there. He has a lot of skill.”

(on the Kings maintaining composure…)
CARTER: “It’s one of the things in the room we talked about, is just keeping calm. We knew they were going to come and try and maybe suck us into a few penalties. Obviously you never like to see anybody on your team get hit like that. Browny is a huge part of our team. They know that. He’s probably been our best player all playoffs. He’s a guy they’re keying on. He’s a tough guy, he can take it.”