March 5 morning skate quotes: Darryl Sutter

On whether the Kings are becoming a more difficult team to play against at home:
“I don’t know. I have no idea because the team changes. With the schedule the way it is, I’ve just talked to players more about [that] it’s not that we’re at home, it’s back-to-backs, travel, coming and going. Even this month, we have crazy back-to-backs. You play after a home game, you play on the road the next night. Really, the only time it ever sets up at home, an actual ‘home game’ for me is when there are two days before, so that you manage it properly. Not the game, but leading into the game. I really haven’t put a whole lot of thought into it or used it as any sort of a strong point for us. I think that obviously I don’t like to be home too long and I don’t like to be on the road too long. I think it can get monotonous both ways.”

On whether the use of video becomes more prevalent when on-ice sessions are cut down:
“Yeah, I think you have to, especially…with the team getting so much younger again. They learn it three ways. They learn by seeing it, they learn by hearing it and they learn by doing it, and if you’re not allowed to do it enough – other than games – then they have to see it more. That’s very natural. That’s not just because they’re athletes. That’s how we learn it, too, and we’re very good at two of the three. Not very many of us are good at all three of them. I’m always better at ‘doing it’…but you may be better at ‘seeing it’. ‘OK, that’s how it’s supposed to be,’ and you may be better at just being told how to do it. The more you can give them – without overloading – then it’s better for them. That’s the best way.”

On whether “being on the same page” was illustrated by perseverance despite the lack of shots early:
“You know what, the media asked me that after the game. You know what? We were dead-on [with] what we wanted to do. We wanted to be a quicker team early. We wanted to try and play in their zone. We wanted to have some more speed at the red line. We were awesome at it. You know what? Who cares if we had any shots? Actually, we only needed two last night, right? So, who cares? It’s just a stat, right? And it’s not a real very good one, because if you actually do it, it’s usually wrong…It had no bearing on last night. I liked that. I really liked the way we were playing. That’s what I kept telling the players. It’s just composure. Balance your composure and intensity. Don’t be getting away from what we want to do. Just do that. We had a lot of good looks. We were getting shots blocked. We were missing the net by this much. So just don’t worry about it. That’s basically what I said the whole first two periods, one thousand times.”