February 3 postgame quotes: Dustin Brown

On trying to slow Chicago down:
They’re a fast team and one way to slow them down is to try and punish them when you can and it’s being smart about it. They’re not the most physical team. Again, when we’re on our game – we’re a more grinding, physical team and we just have to eliminate the mistakes.

On playing physical while eliminating penalties:
It’s just playing, finding that fine line. I mean that’s been a problem of ours all year – is how many penalties we take. We have a good penalty kill, but over the course of the year when you’re killing that many penalties it wears on those guys that have to kill. In most cases, those guys that kill also play big minutes for us elsewhere. So if we can try to eliminate those penalties or limit those penalties, it goes a long way in keeping guys fresh.

On their concern over losing ground in the standings:
I think it’s just important for us to stick together in this room. We think we’re aware of the standings and where we’re at and we understand what’s happening the last few weeks. Again, it’s not about anybody but these 20 guys in the room and figuring it out together. I’m not so much concerned about the standings – it’s more about finding our game. I mean we know once we find our game we’re going to be there and that has to be the focus. We can’t dwell on games lost because that does us no good. It’s about finding a way to do it together. Again, it’s one of those things that we have to work through.

On the positives he can take away from the loss:
I think if you look at our chances, we had some really, really good chances to score goals. Again, that’s been the theme. We found a way to score a few tonight. Unfortunately we’re playing a team that is the tops in the league at that and we made a couple mistakes and they made us pay. But I think Corey Crawford kept them in the game, especially the first 10 minutes of the second period.

On what he saw from the Kings:
I think it’s a lot of things. I think it’s always exciting. I think part of it is playing the Blackhawks coming into our building and they’ve been one of the best teams in the league for the last few years. For us, I think tonight, energy wise, was our best night in a while and we just have to keep plugging along. I know it’s a broken record, but we’re not going to get out of it by doing anything different. We know what type of team we are. We know what we have to do as a team. It’s just a matter of doing that.

On the attitude in the dressing room:
There is no finger pointing. There is definitely frustration. I think if you’re not frustrated and you’re in this room – then there is something wrong with you. It’s one of those things, it’s a double-edged sword I think. At the end of the day, you take 20 guys that are going through what we’re going through – you would rather have them be pissed off and frustrated rather than not. We are all on that one side of the line and at the end of the day we have to pull through together.

On if they are playing better offensively:
I think we’re making steps in the right direction. Again, there is a lot of pucks laying around the net and we have to find a way to get those. We got to a few tonight and Toff’s goal was all a result of getting to the net. Carts made a good play wide and those are the types of goals that are going to help us get out of this.

On how much they notice opposing fans in STAPLES Center:
It’s always the same with those Detroit, New York, Chicago, Toronto, all the Canadian teams really. That’s what happens when some of the bigger cities come in. [Reporter: It was extra loud tonight. Did you notice it?] Towards the end you notice it. They get a three goal lead there late and they get a little louder, but it’s not overwhelming by any means.

On if the team needs the upcoming Olympic break:
It’s such a double-edged sword. We don’t practice. We just play games every other day and the way it’s a grind, we don’t have time to practice but you have to be ready to go every other day or back-to-backs. I think it’s important for guys to kind of get that rest. For most guys, it’s probably more of a mental thing to get away, get refreshed and be ready to come back because we know what’s ahead of us the last 20 games.

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