May 16 quotes: Drew Doughty, Alec Martinez

Drew Doughty, on the team’s depth being tested:
“We have guys that are stepping in in spots they’ve never stepped into before. I know all those guys are excited for the opportunity, and they’re going to relish at it. We need our top guys to be our top guys. We need to start with them, and then go down the line and everyone needs to have their best games in order to win.”

Doughty, on his awareness when Raffi Torres is on the ice:
“I think there’s always a level of awareness when he’s on the ice. Even though people kind of give him the rep for giving the dirty hits all the time, it’s not even that. He hits hard and clean, too. Whenever he’s on the ice with me, I’m always aware where he is on the ice when I’ve got the puck and I try to get out of his way. I try to dodge every hit I can if I see the guy coming, especially when he’s on the ice.

Doughty, on some people in the arena missing the Torres hit on Jarret Stoll because they were preoccupied with Patrick Marleau hitting him behind the Los Angeles net:
“That’s what everyone said. They thought I was the one that got hit. But, no, it was just a minor thing behind the net. I didn’t even see the Stoll hit. I still have to watch it. It sucks.”

Doughty, on the team’s play when protecting a two-goal lead in Game 1:
“We’d come back in our own zone and we’d play that tight little box protecting our home plate, what we call it. We can’t be doing that. We still need to make plays. We still need to be going forward. We still need to get that one more goal to give us a little extra breathing room. We weren’t happy with that, but I think it’s something that we’re definitely going to learn from, because they were kind of all over us in the third, I thought.”

Alec Martinez, on skating with Jake Muzzin:
“It was good. I thought last game we moved the puck pretty well. We used each other a lot. We’re similar players. We can both skate, move the puck and make plays. I think we did a good job of getting out of the zone and getting out clean. We had some offensive zone time, too. Obviously he’s a really good player and I think we did well.’

Martinez, on the team being tested with injuries:
“I mean, obviously last year we were pretty fortunate where we didn’t really have any injuries – really, any – on the back end, and I think very rarely does it ever happen that you keep the same six D throughout the entire playoffs. I mean, I don’t know – we’ve kind of done it all year. We’ve had guys get hurt and guys go in and out of the lineup and playing with different pairs.”

Martinez, on how close he is with fellow Miami RedHawk hockey alum Tommy Wingels:
“Right now, not at all. But in the offseason we’re good buddies. I mean, we played together in college. We see each other in the summertime. But obviously, playoffs is a different beast, so I clearly haven’t talked to him.”

Martinez, on Wingels’ skill set:
“He’s a good player for them. He plays physical. He’s got skill, too. He can shoot the puck. He gets in on the forecheck. He’s got big hits for them, too. So he’s a good player.”