June 4 quotes: Sutter, Toffoli, Kopitar, Stoll

Darryl Sutter, on Jeff Carter’s versatility in playing center and wing:
“I just think, quite honest, when Richards and him played together, they’re pretty much interchangeable, depending on who you’re playing, who is taking faceoffs, how they come back in their own zone. Jeff has no problem with that either. We’ve done it off and on during the year. When Mike was struggling earlier in the year, we did it against Chicago. I think both games in the regular season, they both played center in there. You know, Jeff Carter is a pretty good player either position.”

Sutter, on Jeff Carter’s faceoff usage:
“If you look over the course of the season, over the course of the series, we used him a lot in special team faceoff situations, Mike, because they played together a lot. They sort of control that depending on what side of the ice it’s on. Probably when we talked to him before the game quick there, he had to take the faceoffs, we couldn’t get another centerman out there, we were limited, he probably dialed in a little bit, too.

Sutter, on Jarret Stoll’s progress from Game 1 to Game 2:
“You know, he’s disappointed in himself more than I was in him. So I think you’ll see a much better Jarrett tonight. It’s not easy. He’s coming back from a concussion, bottom line. He was pretty much knocked out on his feet. To think you’re going to automatically come back in and be 100% confident, I don’t think it’s that easy. He expects a lot of himself. I think he’ll be a lot better tonight.”

Sutter, on what has allowed Tyler Toffoli to “elevate himself” to where he is now:
“I don’t think it’s elevation. He scored 50-some goals his last year, 19 goals in the minors, Rookie of the Year in the American League. Played 60-some games. We brought him up when we had the roster spot to do it, not so much to play him, but because we thought he was close so he could watch and sort of progress is all it is. This is, too. He has the skill set to do it. The next part is the mental skills.”

Sutter, on his evaluation of Tyler Toffoli:
“Yeah, I just think he’s a good player. This is not an easy environment to put him in. You wish you could have done it differently. But this will be good in the experience development part of it, and then go into the training camp part of it, then try to make the team part of it again.”

Sutter, on home teams winning consistently, as opposed to road teams’ success last year:
“I think a lot of it, you’re going to look back at your schedule. It has not been easy to play as many games as you have in a short period of time. Again, we’ve played the most games in the league. So I think you’re going to look at it in terms of — I know I have some ideas in my mind about what’s prevalent this year, which doesn’t apply to playoffs at all. But I think it’s better that it’s talked about or is clear when we get into the summer part of it. It’s not easy playing, very simple. You look at the teams we’ve played in the playoffs, how good they are at home. You have to remember, you know what it’s like, the travel out here, the way the schedule was set up.

Sutter, on what the team has to do better against Corey Crawford:
“We did a good job last game. It’s missed nets, missing great opportunities. They had seven and scored on three. We doubled that and didn’t. You know what, they probably have a little higher end in the goal-scoring part of it in terms of individually. You have to literally limit everything. I’m not worried about Corey Crawford. If we’re just only focused on Corey Crawford, then you’re not going to get any opportunities. We had several last game that you have to finish on. The nets didn’t get smaller in Chicago.”

Tyler Toffoli, on his efforts with the Los Angeles Kings:
“I think my whole game has got to get better. I mean, starting as a 16 in juniors, I scored goals. Obviously every year you want to get better and score more goals. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

Toffoli, on whether there’s any way to work on that, or whether it’s an “instinct thing”:
“I think you can work on shooting the puck harder, get a quicker shot. Those things, I mean, obviously getting quicker skating, getting to the right spot at the right time a lot faster helps. Just working on your whole game, you have to be better all the way around.”

Toffoli, on whether his speed was effective in Game 2:
“They’re a fast team. I just try to work as hard as I can, get to the spots when I could. I thought I did a pretty good job. I had a few chances there, I could have scored early, that could have changed the game.”

Toffoli, on whether he could have done anything differently on his chance off the glass:
“I could have gotten there a little quicker. I was late. I was low on the center. Obviously, you can’t really read the play when it bounces out of the box like that.”

Toffoli, on his transition to the NHL this year:
“My first year pro here, coming in, I just try to work hard, get better. I knew it was a lockout year, a lot of younger guys were going to be called up to the NHL right after the season were there. Just working hard, trying to get my game better.”

Toffoli, on whether he needed to have a productive season in the minor leagues:
“Yeah, I don’t think points really matter for this organization. They just want you to be a real good all-around player. That’s what I went in this year to try and be, try and get myself to the right level that they want me to be competing at. Obviously they felt comfortable of the way I was playing to give me a chance.”

Anze Kopitar, on whether the momentum in the series changes with a win in Game 3:
“Yeah, for sure. It’s one at a time. We’ve done it before. Now we got to do it again.”

Kopitar, on his biggest concern heading into Game 3:
“I mean, we’re not looking for concerns or anything. It’s a game that we got to win. We’re going to make sure we have a good start and play consistent for 60 minutes.”

Kopitar, on the keys to successful individual play in the playoffs:
“You got to be physical. Got to be strong on the puck. Eliminate turnovers. That’s what’s gave us success in the past. That’s what’s going to give us success going forward.”

Kopitar, on whether there is extra pressure at center due to the team’s injuries:
“Not a whole lot more. I mean, probably got to take a few more faceoffs. But that’s about it. You know, we have a natural centerman in Jeff stepping in. It’s not that big of a deal. Do we miss Mike? Of course. But we feel like we have pretty good depth down the middle.”

Kopitar, on whether he expects a rebound performance from Jonathan Quick:
“Yeah, he’s done it before. We have all the confidence in him that he can do it again.”

Jarret Stoll, on what the team is looking to do in Game 3:
“We got to win a game. That’s what we’ve got to do. I don’t care how we win a game. Find a way to do it again. We’ve done it in the past, we know that. But you can draw on those experiences, you got to draw on them the right way to make it happen. We have to make it happen.”

Stoll, on whether he has a sense of what Mike Richards is going through:
“Yeah, it’s just one of those things. It’s tough. We definitely miss him. We got to have guys that step up and play better when guys are out. When I was out, guys had to do it. When Greene was out, a lot of guys. You’re not a good team unless you do those kinds of things. We’re still playing, so I think we’re a pretty good team. So we got to do it.”

Stoll, on whether Quick is a player that naturally rebounds well:
“Yeah, I think we’ve seen that before. He’s a pretty focused guy. Narrow mind-setted kind of guy. Not too many things bother him. We expect his best tonight. We have to be better in front of him. That’s no secret. You can’t rely on your goaltender as much as we have. Have to make their guy work a little bit harder in their net. That’s definitely one of the things we want to do. I think he’s made some good saves, played well, but we got to make him work a lot harder.”