Sutter on Richards: “still really doubtful at best”

Darryl Sutter addressed the media at the team hotel shortly after arriving from Los Angeles on Friday afternoon and provided a brief update on Mike Richards, followed by remarks on the team’s attempts to win a road game at the United Center on Saturday evening.

On Mike Richards’ status for Game 5:
“We didn’t skate today. Didn’t do much yesterday. So honestly, I couldn’t tell you. It’s still really doubtful at best.

On what the team can do to create more power play chances:
“Not much. Every series, make a big deal out of it. Every series, every year I’ve been in it, make a big deal about it. There’s no dramatic, you get a faceoff goal, broken stick goal, everyone says you scored on the power play.”

On whether his approach to elimination games:
“You know what, I don’t put a big deal on elimination games because it really doesn’t have much impact on anything or anybody. If we play like we did the last three games, we have a chance to win. Somebody will win. Somebody will lose.”

On whether Chicago went into a “shutdown mode in the third period:
“Both teams played outstanding games in the neutral zone. So when you have a lead, you can do even better because you can just basically force the other team to chip it in, and then you can chip it out. You chip it in, you chip it out. It’s pretty much got to be a broken play. It’s not based on shots. I know that’s what you base everything on, you guys…Quite honest, in this series, shots have been pretty even. I think in two of the games we actually out-shot them. But it doesn’t impact the score at all. It’s basically quality scoring chances and finishing the opportunity. No more than that. At the end of the day, all those things everybody talks about, the only thing that matters is who scores the most goals. I know if you think that you can out-score Chicago, meaning get into a high-scoring thing, you’re going to lose, so…Way better to prevent the goals against this club than to think that
you’re going to out-score them.”

On whether Chicago is a better defensive team than they are given credit for:
“They won the Jennings, right, which is very tough to do. I’ve been on teams in Chicago that have done it, in Calgary also, I believe. You do it by committee. There’s no fluke in it. It’s not just a great goalie when you win those team awards like that. That’s based on your team commitment. That’s why they’re such a good hockey club, because it’s both ways for them. It’s not based on a power play, a penalty kill, a star player. It’s based on the whole thing. That’s sort of how our team is, too. Would they be underrated? Not if you look at it stat-wise. They’re not, because they don’t allow a lot of shots, a lot of goals. Similar to us, you break it out by zone as much as you can. That’s why I said that with Duncan. When Duncan was suspended, it really doesn’t hurt their team. He’s a great player, but it doesn’t really hurt their team because the way their team is set up, they just had five minutes on four other defensemen. On most other teams, those guys would be playing those situations anyways.”

On whether there is “anything that’s different” with the way the Kings play on the road:
“Yeah. Five of them were 2-1 losses. When you lose 2-1, a lot of those games you could win. I don’t really break it into what pinpoints something at the start of the game. They’re 2-1. How many overtime games? Three. One was in the last minute of regulation. So what’s the difference? Not much. Not very much.

On his “belief” in Jonathan Quick:
“We need a great goaltending performance from our goaltender tomorrow.”