October 3 postgame quotes: Kopitar, Lewis

Anze Kopitar, on whether the Kings have “room for improvement”:
Yeah, for sure. I mean, there’s always room for improvement, and always areas to improve. I felt like it wasn’t the strongest game that we can play, but it is game one of the season, so there’s still going to be plenty of games left. Quick turnaround for tomorrow, going into a pretty tough building, and we’re going to have to be sharper.

Kopitar, on how important Quick was, “especially in the second period”:
He was huge. I mean, over the course of the last three, four years now we’ve gotten pretty familiar with his play, and he’s always been back there holding strong for us. Tonight was really no different. He held us in there, and we found a way to score a goal I guess getting close to the end of the game, and finished it off in a shootout.

Kopitar, on Trevor Lewis’ “goaltending”:
Yeah, that was huge. Just before that we had a pretty strong penalty kill, too, and that just carried over. Lewie was in the crease with no stick, and I don’t know if he two-pad stacked it, but he kept it out of the net, and that’s all that counts.

Trevor Lewis, on whether he’s now the team’s third string goalie:
I don’t think Quickie knew where the puck kind of was. I mean, I tried to make myself kind of big, and it hit me. [Reporter: Did it get you in the chest?] I think it was a pretty good butterfly there. [Reporter: The guys teasing you and thanking you at the same time?] Yeah. I mean, everyone kind of gave me a high five, but I was kind of saying I looked like a roller hockey goalie out there, so it was good.

Lewis, on whether blocking a shot in front of the net is one of the tougher plays in hockey:
I mean, I’m kind of used to it by now. I mean, it’s kind of instincts, almost. You’ve got a lot of adrenaline going, so if it hits you, it doesn’t hurt too bad right away.

Lewis, on the team’s late penalty kill:
It was better. I think we were a little more aggressive, and we weren’t letting them have so much time.

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.