April 16 practice quotes: Brown, Clifford

Kyle Clifford, on his game improving in the second half of the regular season:
That was the regular season. It’s a whole different animal here. I expect a team like us to elevate our game even more.

Clifford, on being matched up against San Jose’s hustle players:
They play hard. They’ve got a little bit of grit in their game. They keep it simple and I think it’s very similar to our bottom six as well.

Clifford, on the environment of playing in San Jose:
Yeah, there is a lot of energy in the building especially when you first get out there. It’s like that year round. You get in playoff mode and it’s even more, so you kind of feed off it a little bit.

Clifford, on what the team will look to execute in a Game 1:
I think we want to be assertive and show them early what we’re all about and be physical and have a big push back. We know they’re going to come out hard and it’s going to be a fun series right from the start.

Clifford, on whether he liked the Kings’ forecheck late in the regular season:
Yeah, absolutely. Our game is to build towards the playoffs and be ready for playoffs and we’re going to be ready for Game 1. From the top down, we’re going to be ready to go.

Dustin Brown, on what the team will look to execute in a Game 1:
Really sticking with what we’re trying to do regardless of how it’s going. Because there are some times they’re going to have us hemmed in our zone or if they’re dominating play and it’s a matter of sticking with what we need to do in our game plan. We can’t diverge from that. Just more or less stick with the program and kind of weather the storm.

Brown, on the team’s success in sticking to its game plan:
I think it’s part of what comes with experience. It’s trusting, not only your system, but each other. There are a lot of guys in here who have been through it all together. So we understand and are able to rely on each other and trust each other, which goes a long way this time of year.

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