Quotes: Bartosak, Shore, Morris

Los Angeles 3 (Roach, Weal, Shore), Anaheim 2 (Wagner, Whitney)
W: Bartosak (25/26)
L: Gibson (9/12)

Patrik Bartosak, on how he’d grade his performance:
I don’t know. I think the team played well in front of me, so that helped me a lot. I had lots of saves in the first period, I think, but like I said, they helped me a lot. They didn’t have any really hard shots, so I felt great. I feel great right now because we won. We won both games, and I think we played really well, so I feel really good.

Bartosak, on his first time wearing a Kings jersey:
It was a great feeling, for sure. It’s been my dream since I started playing hockey to wear an NHL jersey and get a chance to play for an NHL organization, and now playing for the Kings is an honor for me. It was a great feeling, for sure.

Bartosak, on facing a higher level of competition:
You know, I didn’t really think about the level that the game was on. I was just trying to focus on playing my game and playing as good as I can, and I made a couple of saves, and I felt really good there.

Bartosak, on whether he was nervous throughout the day:
Not really. You know, like I said, I didn’t really think about it. I didn’t really think about the game, and I was just telling myself it was a regular season game. If I had thought about it too much, I would probably get nervous, but like I said, I didn’t. So I went to the game with a clear head.

Bartosak, on how rookie camp has been:
It’s been great. It’s been a great experience. First rookie camp for me, and I have enjoyed it a lot.

Bartosak, on each goaltender contributing in the rookie game wins:
Yeah, I think it’s a healthy competition between us three guys. But that’s what they expect from us. That’s what we’re here for.

Nick Shore, on whether he feels “ahead of the curve” since leaving college:
I’m not sure. I knew that coming after my junior season at DU there was going to be an opportunity for me to come out of school early. Obviously I was talking to the Kings a lot, and I’m just realy happy to be here at this point.

Shore on whether joining the team as a black ace last spring gave him an advantage:
I don’t know if it’s an advantage, but certainly it helps to get that experience. You get a little bit of a feel for the pro lifestyle. Just being a part of that black ace program was really good for me, and it definitely gave me a little jump start to the summer.

Shore, on the raised chippiness in Monday’s game:
I think it’s just a common theme between the two teams. [Saturday’s game] was the first game that people had played since their season ended last year. So there’s bound to be a little bit of that stuff, but we’re just glad that we got out of here with two wins.

Shore, on any importance over coming away with two wins:
Well, for sure. I don’t think we went out there with any intention not to win the game. I think obviously that was our main focus heading in. But at the same point, obviously there was a development part of it. But we’re really happy to get the two wins.

Shore, on what he looks to do at main camp:
You know, I’m not sure. This has definitely been a great opportunity for me so far. I’m relatively new to this. This is going to be my first time experiencing camp right now. I’m just sort of going in with a positive attitude and hoping for the best.

Mark Morris, on whether it’s good to get two wins:
It is. Dean reminded us we haven’t been able to do that in the past, to get the sweep. It was kind of nice to get that opportunity to get that under our belt or get that behind us.

Morris, on what he took from Monday’s win:
Again, we started slow. But I thought that we got better as the game went along. The goaltending was excellent. I thought that they saved our bacon more than once, and then it seemed like we got our bearings a little bit and we got…the power play goal. We executed very well on that again. So it’s nice to see we’ve got that element under control…We’ve still got a lot of work to do with these guys to get them acclimated to the defensive systems and the nuances of the game. But we’re making progress, and we’re still only a handful of days into this whole process. We’re getting better.

Morris, on Nick Shore:
Nick’s game’s really grown on me. I’ve come to appreciate how intelligent he is. He’s very reliable. I think that I first realized it when I saw him killing the five-on-three when we were in Anaheim, and I think what sometimes when you’re able to give that type of ice time to those guys, their confidence really starts to blossom, and I think that was exactly the case with him because the more ice I gave him, the better he got. To even get in the shootout and go out and bury it and put the shootout away reassured me that he’s going to be a great player.

Morris, on Zach Leslie:
He’s a beautiful skater. He moves the puck well. He was very mobile. I think that as he learns about defensive line and controls his skating so the D’s not out of position, he’s got a huge upside. He’s a good passer. He sees the ice. He can skate. All that other stuff is correctable.

Morris, on any disappointment in Andy Andreoff’s trips to the penalty box:
No. He plays that role for us right now. He’s got that element in his game where other than Sabourin, there’s not a whole lot of those personalities that are going to do that type of work. That puts him in a spot where he has to step up for his teammates, and he did that.

Morris, on Jordan Weal in the two rookie games:
He’s very steady. He’s progressively gotten more and more reliable defensively. He’s very confident with the puck on his stick, and defensively now, his positioning is good, and he’s learning how to distribute the puck now. I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen from him. He’s kind of had to play second fiddle to Vey in Manchester, and there’s a guy that wants to be on the ice and you can just tell that he’s waiting his turn to be the man, and I think that with his work habits and his commitments to getting better every day, he’s going to be a great player in his own right.

Morris, on key saves by Patrik Bartosak early:
We had some breakdowns. There’s no question about it. Our positioning was poor, and we got trapped giving up some odd-man rushes, and he was dynamic for us. I really thought both the goalies competed, but him in particular.

Morris, on how “coachable” Derek Forbort is:
I found him to be very coachable last year when we had him in the playoffs. I think as he gains quickness and adjusts to the speed of the game here, he’ll be fine. I don’t worry about him. He’s a big body and a long stick. He’s just got to ramp up the pace of his game. [Reporter: At the college level some people thought he didn’t have enough of a mean streak. Any thoughts about that at the AHL level for the type of player he is at this point right now?] Well, when you’re thrust into that atmosphere, you sink or swim. He seemed to be able to hold his own when he played with us last year. I never saw him shy away from anything. He was hard to play against and he had a long stick, and I thought he did really well for us, and I think that’s continued. I’d like to see him pick up his foot speed a little bit and continue to play more with an edge, and I think that’ll happen.

Morris, on Robbie Czarnik:
He had a pretty strong game, too. Robbie had a disappointing year last year. He’ll admit it. It wasn’t his greatest year, but he’s worked hard this summer, and I know he wants to rebound and be able to provide the type of play that everybody thought he would be. He’s got great speed. He likes to lug the puck. I think that his defensive game showed tonight, and when we put him out there on the penalty kill, he hounded it and really put a lot of pride in that part of his game. [Reporter: Do you see any similarities between him and maybe Trevor Lewis?] You know, we did make that analogy. I told him, I said, ‘Try and compare yourself with somebody.’ Trevor Lewis was not a pronounced goal scorer, so to speak, when he played for us in Manchester. But he became a very reliable player. He won faceoffs. His positioning was excellent and he was very coachable, and he was kind of the glue. A lot of nights Trevor came up big for us, and I’m sure that if Robbie continues on the path he’s on he’ll get more and more successful, and I think his confidence will start to take hold.


-courtesy KingsVision

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