Kings on improvement; Doughty, Kopitar quotes

Drew Doughty, on where the team has improved since the beginning of the season:
We’re starting to finally click together. It felt like the first few games we weren’t clicking, like guys weren’t in the right position, so guys weren’t passing the puck on the tape and stuff like that, and now we’re working as five-man units. In the D-zone we have five guys surrounding the puck, and we make those little two-foot plays to get the puck in the other zone, and then offensively we’re trying to get the D a lot more involved, and I think we’re doing a good job of that.

Darryl Sutter, on where the team has improved:
I think we’ve been pretty consistent, haven’t changed much. That’s what I keep telling you – if you take fewer penalties, five-on-five I’d put us against anybody any time. Get goaltending.

Anze Kopitar, on where the team has improved:
I don’t think there’s a ‘big thing’ that we have to improve on, but we just want to be better and better every day. There’s always room for improvements in some details, some little plays. Just sharped up in most cases. But I think – and I think everybody’s on the same page – we’re getting better, getting sharper, and we feel confident about it.

Kopitar, on setting up Justin Williams’ goal against Florida:
Willie knocked the puck down. The puck was going out of the zone, and he knocked it down. So I was right there, and we’ve done that play a couple of times before; we just couldn’t connect on it. Last night we did, so it was a good goal for us.

Kopitar, on drawing the defense towards him before issuing a backhand pass:
I didn’t really have the best angle to shoot or to go to the net because the defenders were right there. I knew when Willie gave me that puck, he’s going to end up being right in the high slot somewhere. I just wanted to make sure he was there before I made that play. I think nine out of 10 times I try to make that play anyways, because again, I didn’t have a good angle to shoot the puck, and fortunately enough we connected on it.

Kopitar, on skating with Jeff Carter:
Well, it’s not going to change too much. He’s a fast guy, a world class player that likes to score, obviously. You try and give the puck to him around the net, and I guess not overpass, for sure. If he’s open, I definitely want to make sure to give him the puck.

Kopitar, on registering a 17-minute night one game after playing over 24 minutes:
It’s different. Sometimes you’re sitting on the bench, itching to get out there again. That’s the way the game goes sometimes. There are nights you’re going to play a lot, and there are nights that you’re not going to play a whole lot. Especially last night, we didn’t have a whole lot of power play. That usually racks up the minutes. I mean, I had the one PK shift that was almost two minutes, but that’s just the way sometimes the game goes.