March 29 postgame quotes: Anze Kopitar

On whether he was upset that he didn’t get a hat trick:
No. I had a good chance in the second period, but he made a nice save…I thought I’d have enough time in the end, and Carts was looking for me, but he made a good play. What can you do? [Reporter: Nice, to get two, though.] Yeah, it was nice. Nice to get ‘em out of the way quick, too. I thought as a team, the first period was pretty good. It turned out to be…the key to the game, a good start, and we had that. We popped three fairly quick and we took it in pretty nicely the rest of the way.

On whether it’s natural to ease up after building up a 3-0 first period lead:
I think it’s pretty easy to ease up, yeah, but at this time of the year you want to sharpen up as much as you can before the playoffs. Everybody’s stressing that. Everybody’s talking about it, and in this room, we all know that’s what’s going to happen, and it should happen. We kept on pressing, and we gave up a couple, but sometimes that’s the way it goes.

On whether first periods coming off road trips are more challenging than others:
No, not really. You’ve got to prepare for the game regardless, whether you come back, or you’re home for a while. I just thought we did that pretty good tonight.

On whether he saw Jonathan Quick’s save:
I did not, no. I don’t know if I was on the ice or not…It’s really nothing new. He’s been doing that ever since he’s been here.

On the team’s campaign on his behalf for the Selke Trophy:
Right now that’s not the time to talk about that. We’re all focused on making the playoffs right now. There’s a bigger reward that we’re going to play for. When it’s all said and done, maybe I’ll think about that. I’ve said it before. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, I’m not here to play for the Selke. I’m playing for something else, so obviously that’s my main goal.

On the what the team is looking to build up heading into the playoffs:
I’ve said it before, this time of the year, you want to work on your game. You want to sharpen the game up as much as you can and get ready for the playoffs. Historically, the games leading up to the playoffs have been important to all the teams. Somebody’s trying to get ready. Somebody’s trying to just fight for the playoff position, so it’s good intensity out there. It’s a pretty good indication of what the playoff hockey’s going to be all about, and we certainly have to get ready ourselves.

On whether there’s a tendency for the team to hit a lull in games 40-60 and pull out of it:
It sure looked like it. We were on a skid for a little bit there, right at that time before the Olympics, and then after the Olympics, it seems like we turned it on pretty well, and we’ve been going pretty well right now. [Reporter: Anze, why do you think that is? A lot of teams suffered letdowns after the Olympics, whether they were tired or whatever. You guys really turned up your game.] Well, we knew we’d do it all the time. We didn’t have any letdowns. Honestly, I don’t know. What is it? Why is it? It is what it is, I guess.

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