April 19 practice quotes: Kopitar, King, Brown

Anze Kopitar, on whether he likes having two days between playoff games:
To be quite honest, I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter. This time of year, when you get a schedule, you’re trying to prepare for games obviously. I don’t think it really matters how far apart they are. It was nice to come back here and maybe get away from all the circus that’s going on. But we’re going up there again today and trying to get ready for tomorrow.

Kopitar, on being matched up against Marc-Edouard Vlasic:
I do pay attention to it, I guess, but not too much. It’s one of the matchups that obviously they want. You just have to accept the challenge and battle through it.

Kopitar, on Drew Doughty’s performance in Game 1:
I thought he was solid back there. He was making plays. He wasn’t afraid to join the rush. We had a good chance actually when he skated right around everybody in the third. Too bad he couldn’t connect on it. I saw a normal Drew out there.

Kopitar, on what Mike Richards can do to have an impact on Game 2:
I think just be himself. He’s proven to win at every level he’s played in. That certainly does not go away in half a year, a year, or whatever. This time of year, he always excels and we have all the confidence in him to do it again this year.

Dwight King, on the physicality of Game 1:
That’s what you expect obviously. Just built off the last time we played them in the regular season. Two big teams, puck possession is key. You try to utilize, like you said, their size and strength. Both teams are out there competing for the same ice and when that happens, there is obviously a lot of hits that happen. I think most of it is fighting for puck battles and stuff like that. So, it’s expected.

King, on how the physicality of Game 1 compares other playoff games:
It’s tough to compare. Obviously, it felt like playoff hockey. That is a pretty high number [of hits], but at the end of the day it’s a competition out there to contain pucks and get body position. That’s what leads to hits.

Dustin Brown, on surrendering two goals late in the first period of Game 1:
We gave up two in the last minute and regardless of the atmosphere, if you give up goals in the last minute it’s very hard to get back into it with the momentum.

Brown, on limiting San Jose’s momentum surges:
Obviously if we clean up our play getting out of our zone, that limits a lot of what they want to do. They’re good on the forecheck and they turn pucks over. We can beat the forecheck and possess the puck, that’s what we’re good at. If we can do that, then it goes a long way towards breaking up their surges, so to say.

Brown, on Drew Doughty’s performance in Game 1:
It’s kind of hard to comment on one guy. It’s hard to say because of how the game went.