April 1 practice quotes: Rob Scuderi

On the fundamentals of shot-blocking:
“I don’t think you go out and necessarily try and block shots. Every once in a while there comes a situation where you see a guy winding up and you’ll slide or you’ll go down to a knee. But that doesn’t happen a lot during a game. I think the most important thing is just being in position, and when eventually the do want to try to take a shot, if you’re in the right spot it’ll hit you. It’s not something that you’re specifically trying to do. You’re just trying to be in the right position, be in the right spot, and if you are, usually good things will happen, and blocks were certainly a good thing for us last night.”

On the improvement of getting sticks in passing lanes during the road trip:
“I think it’s really come along for us. We were a good defensive hockey team last year, and we’ve shown it at times this year. But I think recently you could really see us putting more of a focus on it, and it’s there every night, every shift, and it makes it difficult on the other team. We don’t like it when it’s done to us, and you can certainly tell that the other team doesn’t like it when you do it to them.”

On whether Anze Kopitar should draw consideration for the Selke Trophy:
“I think so. Since coming to the west, I’m not sure if I buy into the east coast bias towards awards. But I certainly don’t think he gets enough credit for the things he does. If he were to cheat a little more, he could probably be a 90, 95-point guy, even in the west, which is saying something because we don’t score a lot of goals in the conference. But he doesn’t. He always stays back. He talks a lot. He’s a real asset to have as a defensive player. You always know that when he’s on the ice, that he’s going to be in the right spot, he’s going to be doing the right thing, and he’s reliable.”

On the New York Mets’ chances of winning the World Series:
“As much as I will watch them, and I’m a fan, I don’t think it’s probably the Mets’ year.”