March 23 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On what he remembers about playing at The Spectrum:
Afternoon games, afternoon games, loud, tough crowd, tough team. The Flyers were in a different conference with the Blackhawks. It was always a good rivalry because they were a similar type of teams.

On whether Alec Martinez has put more emphasis on shooting the puck:
We put him in those situations trying to get him to hit the net more. Really, I think he’s the lowest shooting defenseman on our team. You want some more out of him. It’s about percentages. Low shots is better. If you look at the teams, especially on our side, that take away so much. There’s an emphasis on defensemen having to get shots through, not get shots blocked or shot wide.

On Trevor Lewis’ production:
Good production from everybody. If you want to play, you can’t be an o-fer, 0-for-30, those types of situation games if you’re on a good hockey club. When we talk about individuals getting going, it’s not just getting going in terms of the whole game, and if you’re just giving guys minutes to rest somebody else, you’re usually defeating yourself. You’re coaching close games then. [Reporter: The minutes spread around yesterday, was that one of the better representations of the ability spread minutes around and guys playing?] No. When you have a three-goal lead, you can spread minutes around.

On Mike Richards:
We’re trying to get some energy in his game, so if that means fewer minutes and a higher pace to his game, then so be it. You know what? In that age group of our guys, they just want to win. It’s not about the individual stuff at all. It’s like talking to Jeff about his moving around. You know, those guys just want to win. That’s sort of what we do. It doesn’t always work, but all that rockstar stuff, I’ve said it. It doesn’t work here. They tried it. Didn’t work.

On whether Dustin Brown will skate tomorrow:
Yeah, I would say that we expect him to practice today.

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