May 22 media availability: Darryl Sutter

On the Game 2 win:
I think we avoided a lot of damage early in the game. I don’t think it was momentum. It was more once we were down two, I think our ability – and we’re good at that – our ability to just stay with it and stick with the game, and then obviously Justin’s goal at the end of the second. If you score a goal at the end of the second, you’re going in 2-1 into the third, and then you score on the power play early, and then again. So your momentum shift is there.

On whether the loss could be discouraging to Chicago:
I don’t think so. If it was a first round or not a playoff game, it might be different. But it’s Chicago and Los Angeles. I don’t think you’re going to get discouraged one way or the other. You don’t win easy. You go through a lot of adversity and a lot of different situations during games and during series and during the season, so you’re used to being always pushed under. So you just kind of stay with it.

On how the 2012 team built the resiliency in the 2014 team:
Well that team wasn’t in the playoffs – they were in and out of a playoff spot until right ‘til the last day of the year. I’m not sure what it was, but there were several times when that team was not in a playoff spot. So that’s adversity. The toughest part of the league now, and the league has changed in the lockout to now, it’s changed how you make the playoffs. I mean, there’s six teams, there’s the division winner and there’s two wildcards. It’s changed a lot, so the adversity is your schedule and the way it’s changed. The number of games you play against certain teams. I really don’t look at ’12 has anything to do with ’14. There’s nothing relative at all, other than you win series. You have to win four games to win a series. That’s the only thing that’s common.

On what has evolved in Jake Muzzin’s game:
Not much difference. I mean, we use him lots. Probably the only difference we see in the playoffs is we’re using him to penalty kill. On offense, Muzz and Drew have to play against everybody. It’s not easy. Offense is just something that gets talked about the day after the game. If you win the game, then you’ve made a great contribution. [How big was his goal?] It was right after Drew’s goal. I mean, it was when they talk about the momentum part of it, there was some momentum there. Drew’s goal – I think it ended up being Jeff’s goal.

On how Jeff Carter has helped the Kings:
Well, I think what gets overlooked with Jeff Carter was the leading goal scorer in our conference last year. I know lots of the talk in this series has been about a player on their team and a player on our team, but Jeff Carter is just as important to our team as both those players that everybody’s talking about. Those kids are getting the opportunity to play with a top player in the Western Conference. That pretty much speaks for it. Jeff’s a guy – you saw it last night. His minutes aren’t specifically with those boys, He played the power play with Kopi and Gabby, he did all his penalty killing with Mike, he played regular strength with Gabby and Kopi, he was out there with Stolly and Lewie a lot.

On whether the comeback gives the Kings confidence:
Well, we don’t fight with confidence. I’ve never seen it once. I mean, you were probably questioning how they played in Game 1. We played a better game in Game 1 than we did in Game 2, and we didn’t leave the game not being confident. If every game you lost, you lost your confidence, then you guys don’t have to cover hockey in April, May and June.

On whether he has been surprised by the Kings’ postseason run:
No. Our goal doesn’t change. Obviously everybody’s goal is to win the Stanley Cup. But our goals are short term, and our immediate goals do not change. You’re trying to be a playoff team, you’re trying to be a hundred point team, you’re trying to put pressure on teams ahead of you, you’re trying to be ready for playoffs. Lots go into playoffs, winning and losing. Mostly, quite honest, is injury schedule-related. When your season’s over, you always go back and say, ‘OK, were we happy with that or were we not happy with that?’ Well, are we happy that we’re still playing? We’re happy we’re still playing. I mean, we believed when we didn’t have much support in the San Jose series. It was kind of just waiting to see when we were going to get beat out. We don’t play by that rule. And if we lose, we got beat. It’s not like we beat ourselves. And that’s a good way to do it.

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