Sutter postgame quotes (May 20)

Darryl Sutter’s postgame thoughts…

(on any concerns about the Kings’ compete level or game…)
SUTTER: “I’m not too worried about our compete level. I don’t think they are, either. … You’ve got to win four games. They are a home-ice team. They finished ahead of us for a good reason. So there’s not much difference in the teams. I’ve said to you guys who aren’t used to covering hockey, and watching playoffs a lot, that the most important parts of playoffs are goaltending, special teams and how your top players play.’’

(on why the Kings have had road success…)
SUTTER: “Why, is because we’re not a home-ice team. We’ve had to start every series on the road, and it’s a tough league to get down in a series. It’s like a lead in a game. You want a 1-0 game lead or a 1-0 series lead. That’s the truth.’’

(on the Kings’ lack of power-play success and whether it was a “sleepy’’ start for the Kings…)
SUTTER: “First off, the power play, if you just look at zone time, we probably had it in there most of the time. You start each series on its own. We scored the two 5-on-3 goals, which made a difference, which won us a game there. Tonight, the power play, we had looks up top and we took too much time. I haven’t really looked at it, but I’m going to bet that Gordon and Vermette and probably Pyatt blocked more shots, and pucks just hitting them in the pads. Quite honestly, that’s just poor shooting on our part, from up top, from guys that are supposed to take that shot. The start, you know, they scored — I don’t even know how many chances they had in the first period, but we had some great chances that, if you look at the series, most goals are screens, tips, rebounds in the last game. I’m not sure, tonight, that we enough actual screen on them.’’

(on the Kings’ lack of forecheck success…)
SUTTER: “They had a really strong forecheck. It had nothing to do with ours. It was theirs. I think we had some guys who had some trouble adjusting to the pace of how they played. All of a sudden, you’re not going to stop forechecking because you won a game or you lost a game. It really has no bearing on anything. Both teams have an identity, and if they play to their identity then it’s a close game, and that’s what it was tonight. They scored a goal on a goalie rim and a soft play out of the corner on Doan, and they score off a faceoff. Their captain took charge of the game. Say what you want.’’