March 27 practice quotes: Keaton Ellerby

On whether there was a transitional period with L.A., and whether that period is in the past:
“Yeah, for sure. I think when I felt the worst of the transition period was…that Chicago-Calgary-Edmonton trip. I think that was a bit of a tough trip for me. I mean, those three teams are hard-working teams and playing our system, which is an aggressive style, it was quite a bit different from what I was used to in Florida. I think that took a little bit of a toll on me for a couple games, but I think that’s in the past now, and I think I’ve gotten used to the style that we want to play, which is aggressive D standing, D playing hard, physical, and joining the rush. I think I’ve fit into a groove here. I never want to say I’m comfortable, but I’m definitely feeling a lot more confident now in my style of play that’s fitting into the way that we want to play here. I definitely feel a lot more confident, and definitely better out there.”

On whether the difference between the Eastern and Western conferences is overstated:
“No, it’s definitely a different style of play. I think the east is a little bit more wide open, kind of more of a track meet. [There are] a lot of high scoring games and a lot of offense. Here, you’ll see a couple of high scoring games, but I think it’s more of a two-one, three-two, one-nothing style of hard-working western style of play…It took a little bit of getting used to, but I think now I’ve adjusted to it, and I actually like it more that way. I like the physical style. I just think it’s fitting well into my style of play, I think now.”

On what he’s picked up on the St. Louis Blues after facing them twice this year:
“They’ve got a great team over there. They’ve got a lot of skill, a lot of grit, and [are] a hard-working team. So we’ve just got to match that. I think we’ve done well the last two times we’ve played them, so we’ve just got to bring our same intensity that I think we had in Chicago. Just play the same style. Get pucks in deep, get on their D. They’ve got a good D-corps back there that move pucks and like to join the rush. So I think we’ve got to eliminate that from their game and just stick to what we do best, which is working hard, getting pucks on net and banging and crashing and just grinding games out.”