February 8 postgame quotes: Mark Morris

On whether it felt good to “break through on the power play”:
No, I’m really upset with the way that the game unfolded. I thought that we played well enough to win. We had some things go against us, and you hate to come out on the short end when you feel you’ve battled hard enough to come out with a win. And I just think that the way things unfolded, and some of the things that sent us to the box, it’s just very irritating.

On the explanation given on Nic Deslauriers’ high sticking double minor:
There wasn’t really an explanation. The way I saw it was that after he poked it in the net, he was shoved, and his stick whipped off the post and came back, and the guy that shoved him is the guy that got the stick in the mouth. But he had poked it in the net, got pushed, and the stick whiplashed off the post and caught the guy, and we took a four-minute penalty on that. That’s hard to swallow. Obviously, when they kicked the net off its moorings, that’s a game-changer right there. That’s two points. Am I happy about it? No. But I thought our guys played hard enough and well enough to win that game. We didn’t catch a break all game long. We really didn’t. Our guys competed their tails off.

On Nic Deslauriers’ performance:
I thought Nic played hard. He played physical. He was good on the backcheck. He was good on the boards. He doesn’t need many opportunities to score, and I think that’s the beauty of Nic’s game as a forward. He competes, and he’s got a real good set of hands, and you saw how quick he reacted. And there was that rebound – he followed his own shot and was able to poke it home.

On using players assigned to the Monarchs by the Kings:
Yeah. Still, that’s the first time those guys have played together in how many months. There’s not going to be instant chemistry right away. They’ve got to have a little bit of time together. We had a practice, and they jumped right into a game, and I thought they played pretty hard, but they weren’t as crisp as I was hoping. They played well, but there wasn’t that synergy that we’ve seen in the past. Credit Providence with a good defensive scheme and how hard they played. They’re not going to let those guys waltz around the ice. They competed hard aginst them, and they battled.

On Steve Quailer not playing:
I hadn’t seen enough of him, and his equipment just got here in the morning. [Reporter: Will he play tomorrow?] I don’t know. I’m not sure yet.

On whether Andrew Bodnarchuk is a player that can control the pace of the game:
I think we’ve got a couple guys – Vinny LoVerde’s done a nice job with Bodnarchuk, and you just look at their plus-minus, and it tells you how solid they’ve been throughout the year. Consistency matters, and Bods and Vinny do a nice job for us. They have been very reliable, and Schultzy’s one of those guys that settles things down, and he’s playing with a first-year guy. I think those three guys really stood out in the game tonight, and Andrew Campbell is a steadying influence for another young guy in Forbort.

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