On the team playing well during a home matinee:
“I said that yesterday.”
On whether it was good to see Keaton Ellerby in an “enforcer” role at the end of the game:
“You know what, he was still trying to really find his way with our team. He’s the only guy that’s really different for the organization from last year. Everybody tries to forge their own identity. It wasn’t an ‘enforcer’ or anything like that. In fact, it was one of the things I said to Hexy after the game – they called the one Fraser-McGinn a fight, and then they called that one a roughing…so I really don’t know.”
On how impressive Jeff Carter has been:
“He’s been the best player since the first day of training camp.”
On whether Trevor Lewis’ goal caused a momentum swing:
“Well, we were playing well, so I don’t think there was really any momentum during the game. A shorthanded goal always gets guys excited, so that was good to see.”
On Stoll and Carter referencing the Detroit game as when things turned around:
“We played really well in Detroit. People sounded and looked at me kind of funny, but I thought we played really well there. It’s not always whether you win or lose. It’s whether you’re winning or losing.”
On Jonathan Quick’s improvement:
“I think the competition between our goaltenders the last seven games has been significant to our team’s success. I think both guys are playing really well, and we want them both to play really well to give us a chance to be a playoff team.”
On the performance of the top two lines:
“Well, the last time we played Colorado, we lost 3-1 and our first two lines, as you call them, were significantly outplayed by the Stastny line and the number nine line. Tonight we were able to counter that with those performances by those top two lines.”
On whether he has been surprised with Lewis’ recent production:
“He had a good playoffs for us last year, and he gives that line some more speed. Jeff likes speed with him, and we’ve had a hard time finding that, so I just said ‘the hell with it’, quite honest, in Edmonton, and put ‘em [together]. He was just playing right wing. I said ‘the hell with it’, you can play left wing. It works for now.”
On the heritage jerseys:
“Oh, I love ‘em. I think that’s fun…the best part, hey, it was fun walking into the locker room before the game, seeing ‘em hanging there. Even practicing with ‘em the last week. They’re cool. I love those jerseys.”
On whether the pageantry before the game was a distraction:
“Well…for [Dr]. Buss, we didn’t know that. But obviously with Lappy…I told our players ‘let’s go play like Ian Laperriere today.’ You know what? It’s nice to see the role guy get recognized instead of the star guy. It’s pretty cool. That’s what I told his boys. It’s nice to see your dad get recognized instead of him always talking probably about the star players on the team. It’s nice to see Ian get recognized.”
On what he remembered about Ian Laperriere:
“I remember him good. I coached against him once. Those guys always stand out. It wasn’t an enforcer role. It was a hard-working, come-to-play-every-night role. And the best part about Ian was he played a long time. He started out, worked his way up. Everybody questioned whether he was going to be able to skate well enough to play in the NHL, and he found a way to do it for how many years? 15? 16? Whatever it was, it was a long time.”
On whether he’ll reference Laperriere to motivate his team in the future:
“No. I did today. Who’s the next Legend? [LAKings Insider: Kelly Hrudey]. Oh, I’ll have to get Jonathan…[to] be as good as Kelly Hrudey that night. I coached Kelly too in San Jose. My brothers played with him in New York, and he’s from Edmonton…I coached Kelly Hrudey in San Jose, and if you look, we had probably a really good goals against. It’s why we made the playoffs as a really average team my first year in San Jose. It was Mike Vernon and Kelly Hrudey.”
On Hrudey previously saying that Sutter was tough on him in San Jose:
“Kelly? Good.”
On whether he’s a different coach than earlier in his career:
“Yeah, I’m quite a bit older…It’s just everybody’s different then. Kelly was battling to stay in the league. I had lots of fun with those guys, too. If you look, there was a big transition there. I think that was Kelly‘s last year, quite honest. He moved on to bigger and better things. He lives in Calgary…it’s not like they go away, right? The best part about coaching guys as you go forward – you see lots of those boys and it’s pretty neat.”
Coach, I love those retro-uniforms too! I saved my Butch Goring #19 jersey for 35 years in the closet to wear when the Kings finally won the cup and I was able to do that. Well, at least I brought it with me. heh I want to see the Kings wear their Gold with Forum Blue trim uni’s at a home game this year.
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Pesus Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at 7:52 pm
@Goring 19,
I’m glad you got a chance to wear that jersey.
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I liked that DS put the 4th line out there for the power play near the end of the game. That said something.
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MM Reply:
February 24th, 2013 at 8:37 am
@Mikey J., I agree. I like the “work hard, get rewarded” message that was sent. I also like the fact that DS was able to reward his grinders because of the 4-1 lead.
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you think sutty has a chip on his shoulder…?!
talk about yr casually, intense peeps…but he’s got such a high hockey IQ, it takes time for most fans to navigate through his simplistically complex coaching demeanor and style…
i really thought we were gonna get a carbon copy of what calgary got when he was GM…gladly, he made history with us…and now can officially replace barry melrose as the teams’ most memorable/successful coach ever…he won it all…and did so by coaching only about 40 games, (including playoffs)…so he joins jacques lemaire and a select few others…(i think)…to take over a team during the last quarter of a season and take home the cup…
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linny Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at 6:35 pm
@variable, considering where we r in the standings n that he’s only got half of the d-men he expected to start with I think he’s done an incredible job this year…not to mention ( as u did) how he got us the cup. There r many analysts that have talked about his genius level hockey IQ. Starting to look like they might be right. He’s got me close to convinced…very close
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variable Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at 6:41 pm
@linny,
yep…he’s been tremendous this season…
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vindogla Reply:
February 24th, 2013 at 12:23 am
@variable, Sutter was hired in Dec of 2011, so more like before mid-season. But I agree with your point that this guy pulled off a rare.
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Sutter’s comments are always priceless. I like that he was able to keep his team from getting distracted with the ceremony by telling them to play like Lappy.
Sutter is awesome. WTG, Coach. Motivate your boys to play like that every night (and when they do), they’ll be unstoppable, just like last year.
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DS for president!!! could you imagine that? Would be awesomely funny hehe
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YoBro Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at 6:52 pm
@Gmo, Or Premier?
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iansez Reply:
February 25th, 2013 at 12:05 am
@Gmo, he’s way too honest.
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“It’s not always whether you win or lose. It’s whether you’re winning or losing.”
There’s a little bit of Yogi in there.
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variable Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at 6:47 pm
@BluLiner,
+1…
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at 6:50 pm
@BluLiner, OMG, that’s _exactly_ what I was going to post, then I looked up, and…you beat me to it!
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IceGuy Reply:
February 24th, 2013 at 10:19 am
@BluLiner,
Simpler … “the hell with it”
You just to love this guy.
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“Well, the last time we played Colorado, we lost 3-1 and our first two lines, as you call them, were significantly outplayed by the Stastny line and the number nine line.”
Classic!
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phil sykes Reply:
February 23rd, 2013 at 8:58 pm
@What’s the frequency, Kenneth?, hes talking about the duchesne line …. pretty straight forward …. number 9 duchesne
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What's the frequency, Kenneth? Reply:
February 24th, 2013 at 1:03 pm
@phil sykes, Gotcha!
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Why is it lately that Sutter has no problem patting Bernier on the back when he has a good game but when Quick does it is “both guys are playing well”? We all know Quick is his #1 guy but for some reason he isn’t giving as much of the individual props to Quick as he has been Bernier lately. Just something I have noticed. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe it is all just to motivate Quick even more. Who knows…
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Stuck Working... Reply:
February 24th, 2013 at 5:12 am
@LT21, JQ is so competitive that DS wants him to stay hungry. Pump his ego and he may get complacent… IMHO.
Little bit of the zen master of hockey
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LT21 Reply:
February 24th, 2013 at 11:25 am
@Stuck Working…, I appreciate the feedback. I thought that may be the case.
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Don’t know yet, just don’t know if Sutter is the guy all season……..
I know everyone is crazy about him, but just don’t know……..
At times his moves don’t make any sense and he appears to be guessing at times.
Don’t go crazy fellow bloggers I just have an opinion on the Coach………….
More time maybe with him will ease my thoughts……
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Merit Reply:
February 24th, 2013 at 10:00 pm
@harty, Wouldn’t be a harty blog post unless it was depressing and negative.
……….
………..
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iansez Reply:
February 25th, 2013 at 12:09 am
@harty, come on man.
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letswinthecup2012 Reply:
February 25th, 2013 at 10:22 am
@harty, haha hmm
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Darryl Sutter is the right guy for this team – and going straight thru the playoffs like we did – how can you question his moves along the way?…Los angeles is an easy place to play and live – too easy – so having a lunch box carrying coach fits perfectly – I love when us fans question the coaching after winning the cup and having no training camp with cup hangover he now has them playing top form with like 15 home games coming up – relax – look for other things to be negative about – we just won the cup with a great coach – the season is a third old – relax…
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harty Reply:
February 24th, 2013 at 9:11 am
@Jps, time will tell….just an observation.
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“Jeff likes speed with him, and we’ve had a hard time finding that”.
That’s very true. Maybe you should have a chat with your GM and tell him that the forwards don’t have loads of speed In Spite of Winning the Cup last year. Maybe Deano not that he has Clifford, Nolan, King, Fraser, and at least for the time being Penner, he could actually draft a forward how might be a tiny bit less mean, a tiny bit less strong in the corners, but could more than make up for that by bringing speed into a forward core that needs it.
You want to continue to evolve as a franchise? That’s maybe my No. 1 suggestion. Will DL do it? Hmmmm. I wish I could say that I’m convinced. I’m not at the moment. We’ll see.
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Maybe Deano not
Sorry….. Maybe Deano NOW that he has ……
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I truly think we hit the coaching lottery.. this guy is as beauty as they get… Nobody more honest and truthful in all of sports.
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