Kings weigh in on Coyotes

Darryl Sutter, on keys towards working against a mobile defense like Phoenix’s:
They’re just like every other defense we play. I think 3 and 23 are standout players for them, like 8 and Slava would be. We talk about them just the way we talk about our guys.

Sutter, on what he sees from Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the power play:
Yandle is probably the key on their power play.

Sutter, on what he has seen from Mike Ribeiro:
Scored four goals his last two games.

Sutter, on a hard skate Wednesday, followed by today’s morning skate:
Yeah, we had a good practice yesterday because we had a day off the ice the day before. Now today’s a gameday, so it’s pretty much…the same as every other game day.

Colin Fraser, on the heightened Los Angeles-Phoenix rivalry:
It seems like that, maybe going back to the conference finals there a couple of years back. I think both teams play hard. They’re a hard team to play against, and I don’t mean that necessarily you’re getting put into the third row all the time, but they’re hard on puck battles, and they don’t give up any easy chances. They kind of play similar to us, a defense-first style. I don’t know I guess “why” there’s a rivalry, but it seems to be a little bit heated every time we play these guys.

Fraser, on whether there’s more “jawing” and “post-whistle scrums” against Phoenix:
Yeah, and more physical, too. A divisional rivalry, you play them five times now. It used to be six times a year. With the same core players over a number of years, it kind of adds to the tension a little bit.

Anze Kopitar, on keys towards facing opposing teams that are strong at the faceoff dot:
Just try and win as much as you can. If you’re not doing great, try to tie up and tell your wingers to get in and help you out. I don’t think there’s any other recipe, really. Obviously you want to win as much as you can, but if it’s not going your way, you’ve got to hack it and whack it at some point.

Kopitar, on Antoine Vermette’s faceoff success:
Yeah, he’s always been good. I’ve taken a few draws against him, so I have to bear down.

Kopitar, on Mike Smith’s tendencies, and ways to find success against him:
We’ve seen him enough now over the course of three, four years now, since he’s been in Phoenix. You know the tendencies. You know pretty much everything. He’s a really good puck handler. You want to keep it away from them so there’s no easy breakouts for them, because he does play the puck like a defenseman back there. So you want to keep it away from that, and then try to get bodies in front and shoot the puck.

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