May 12 postgame quotes: Anaheim

Bruce Boudreau, on depth scoring:
We got three different lines scoring. We had to. It’s something that’s been going on all year. We need that depth to score because sometimes it’s not that difficult to check one line. But when you have four lines with the ability to score, usually you come out ahead.

Boudreau, on Anaheim’s young players “making their future now”:
Norfolk’s not happy. Those guys have come up, and all of them have played such big roles. You look at tonight, Gibson’s second star, Smith-Pelly’s first star, Vatanen’s playing 20 minutes. The youth is really carrying us right now. They’re solid, solid NHL players.

Boudreau, on an “unusual” postseason in which Los Angeles and Anaheim have erased deficits:
I don’t know. I mean, I’ve got to believe they think that they were robbed again tonight. They’ll be ready on Wednesday. That’s all I know. But as far as the strangeness going, I can’t explain it either. I can explain that to win four games against this team is going to be the toughest job that our team ever had.

Boudreau, on capitalizing on Los Angeles’ turnovers:
The first period, I thought we turned the puck over all night, and they had the opportunities, and then once we got the second goal, they came in fairly rapid succession. They might have lost their composure for a little bit, just like we lost our composure later on in the game. But they’re such emotional games when you’re playing the Kings that they get like that. It’s tough to keep everybody calm on the bench when the crowd’s going nuts and the play is pretty fast and furious, I think.

Boudreau, on how Anaheim has weathered injuries to defensemen:
You know what? I think I said the other day, Corey, we’ve had the same lineup – I think November 23 was the last time. So I think the guys are used to guys coming in and out, and I think they know that I expect that when we put guys in, it’s just not an extra guy to play three minutes. I mean, they’re going to play proper minutes that we know we expect them to be as good as the guy that was in there before him. We don’t look at it that way. We never look at ‘we’re down guys.’ We just push forward. We’ll never use an excuse. I don’t think that we have injuries.

Boudreau, on John Gibson making him look like a “hockey prophet”:
Yeah, well he’s pretty good. He made some stops tonight. I think all three goals that were scored against him were tipped in by at least one of our guys. So I hope he can do it for a couple more games, or at least one.

Boudreau, on whether the players are motivated to win for Teemu Selanne:
You know what? I don’t know. They haven’t mentioned it. But I’m sure it’s something that people think about. I mean, him and Saku – we’ve got a couple veterans on the team that this might be the last kick at the can. You never know. I’m not trying to say Saku’s retiring. He is 39 years old, so you never know when you’re going to get the opportunity to push forward like this. I’m sure it’s a little bit of motivation when they look across the room and they see those two guys sitting there.

John Gibson, on the win:
I think I got tested more. I got more shots, and the guys did a really good job in front of me again. That’s why we’re winning.

Gibson, on the final minute:
We knew they were capable of coming back. It’s happened before in this series, so we knew what to expect. We just had to get the job done and we found a way.

Devante Smith-Pelly, on Wednesday’s Game 6:
It’s huge. That’s a pretty good team over there and we don’t want to give them too many chances to get off the mat. We’re going to be ready for that game, for sure.

Smith-Pelly, on Gibson’s play:
I’ve said it earlier, it doesn’t surprise me. I’ve seen it all year. He’s doing very well so far, and I know he’s going to continue to do well.

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