On what this series does for hockey in Southern California:
I’m not sure yet. I’m sure we’ll see all the results, the benefits of both teams playing well and having a good series, which we highly anticipate there will be.
On Anaheim’s biggest threat to Los Angeles:
The biggest threat is possibly losing. They’re kind of similar to the last team we played in the fact that they have a very, very forward core and their forecheck, I feel, is one of the best parts of their game. Obviously limiting opportunities for them to get the puck in and bang our defensemen, which we know we’re a little bit low on right now, but we’ll be fine.
On how the Kings are preparing for Game 2:
Just because you win doesn’t mean you played great. It doesn’t mean everything went right for you and that certainly wasn’t the case for us. We felt that for a good portion of the game, they controlled it. But at the end of the day, we came out with a win but we’re going to have to be a lot sharper if we’re going to win Game 2.
On the importance of going to the front of the net:
Well you certainly want to have a net presence, but you also want to have a guy away from the net. You don’t want to have two guys standing next to each other. You want to be staggered a little bit so you get those opportunities or you get a chance to recover the puck and get other opportunities. There is a lot of big boys on both teams that want that front of the net. So it’s tough to find space, but playoff time you do it.
Anze Kopitar morning skate quotes:
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