On the team’s effort being better than the first two games, but “not quite enough”:
Not quite enough.
On the defensive zone turnovers, and how much they factored into the loss:
There weren’t very many. I kind of laughed to myself. Somebody was talking about it last game. I think we had six. Some of you guys don’t watch enough games. You just make it up off the sheet.
On the difference in the game:
The difference? Patrick’s goal right there at the end was the difference. I thought we played a pretty good hockey game…Burns’ goal was a little bit of a fluke, and we scored a power play goal, and then battled back again and scored the goal at the start of the third. They pushed and tied, which was really a power play goal, too. It was right at the end, I think…And the only shot they had in overtime. We played a good hockey game.
On whether he liked the performances by the team’s top players:
I think our better players were better. That was for sure. I think that was noticeable. So I think we can push that through our lineup. Those are the guys that’ve got to pull us. That’ll give us a chance next game, right?
On the “fourth line”:
Again, it gets whacked out, because if I say ‘first line’ or ‘fourth line,’ I mean, basically you just take your time sheet, and you go ‘That guy played eight minutes, he must be on the fourth line,’ Mike Richards played 18 minutes tonight on the fourth line. That’s just how you want to look at it. We were pretty good tonight. So were they.
On the credit that San Jose deserves:
They’re a good hockey club. I’m not saying it because they’re up three-nothing in the series. That’s a really good hockey club over there. I’ve been saying this. We were locked into a playoff spot. We couldn’t catch them. We knew that we were going to play Anaheim or San Jose, and we knew they’re really good opponents. That’s what we’re up against. It’s a tough hill, and we won’t go quietly away, that’s for sure.
On Joe Pavelski playing with Patrick Marleau in overtime:
But, you know what? There’s a lot of faceoffs going on out there. I mean, both teams, you see where there’s two or three guys out there that necessarily aren’t normally playing together. That’s why it goes back to that – at playoff time, it’s not necessarily first, second, third, fourth. It’s situations, usually.
On Los Angeles’ special teams:
We scored two power play goals, which were big for us, obviously, and even though it only shows up as one, they really scored two, too.
On the team’s aggressive play in overtime:
Well, we’re playing to try and win the hockey game, not sitting back. It’s not because it’s overtime. Teams that sit back, meaning defend, it’s not the way the league is now. We weren’t any different than them, I don’t think.
On whether there’s any different message now that this group is down 0-3:
Well, it’s the first time this group’s made the playoffs. [Reporter: No, since you’ve been here, this is the first time the team has been down 0-3 in the playoffs. Is the message any different down 0-3 versus down 0-2?] I don’t think so, no.
On Drew Doughty’s performance:
Oh, I thought Drew played a hell of a game. Played a lot. Played a hell of a game.
Rules for Blog Commenting
Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.
Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.