October 31 media availability: Darryl Sutter

On whether Dad Van der Gulik is “going back”:
Yep.

On whether he knew Van der Gulik well in Calgary:
I signed him. Drafted him, signed him.

On whether he’s happy with the 6-2-2 record after 10 games despite challenges:
Well, what’s 14 times 8? [Reporter: Is it 112?] You’d take that, wouldn’t you?

On whether defensive scoring issues can be traced to wanting defensemen to shoot more:
Drew had nine attempts last night. I mean, without Voynov and then Muzzin comes for Voynov, so really our defense is much different. Hopefully it’ll come.

On whether Jake Muzzin is starting to get his game back “slowly”:
Slowly. [Reporter: Yeah, you talked about him the other day missing camp like that.] It’s enough.

On the challenges faced by missing key players:
If we play like we did last night – we played well last night. Jeez. It’s not always way up there. We played well. If we make it two one, or even the power play scored a goal there, hey, it’s a big goal, it’s 2-1. We had a really good second period and we felt that we carried the play in the third. I thought we played really well. I think Jonesy would’ve liked to have a goal back in there.

On how he would categorize Detroit’s penalty kill:
No, they kill like us. It gets hot and gets cold. We dropped three percent in a game. Hopefully we can drop theirs three percent tonight. By the end of the next week, then they’re in the middle of the pack. Stats are for you guys. [Reporter: Does it have anything to do, you think, with the veteran nature of guys like Zetterberg and Datsyuk and their understanding of the game as two-way forwards?] Well, Datsyuk just came back, so I think it kind of wore on their veteran defense. I mean, if you can pick two guys to kill penalties in the league, I’d take 55 and Ericsson.

On whether Jeff Carter’s line is still generating the same possession and chances:
Yep, for sure they’re still getting it. But it’s on the road and [the home team] will get the match they want. Last night Brandon [Sutter] played just about every shift against Jeff. Pittsburgh’s defense is a really good defense, so it’s not like a one-man match-up. They did a really good job. That’s what you talk about. You go on the road, there’s a lot of not-even matchups. Without Kopitar and guys like that in your lineup, then they’re going to load up against Jeff Carter. That’s not hard to do. That’s how we won at home. We can cover stuff up. You can’t on the road, and if Tanner and Tyler can both shoot pucks more than they did last night, they had a lot of opportunities to shoot and were looking to pass, so you know what? At least it’s on their stick.

On whether he had a special admiration for Gordie Howe:
Yeah, Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull were my heroes. [Reporter: He’s not doing very well right now. I was just wondering if-] Don’t count him out. [Reporter: I’m not counting him out. I’m not counting him out. I’m just wondering if-] [Reporter: Darryl, you see pictures of him in his prime, and it’s amazing how strong he was, I mean just looking at this guy.] Look at the pictures yesterday they were showing. Gordie Howe shot right and he was carrying his stick left. [Reporter: When was the first time you met him, Darryl?] I think he was playing for Hartford, and when Chicago played Detroit in those old days, he’d always come to the bench. We played ‘em in the playoffs a few years ago, and he sat in the press box with me. Because they didn’t have room in the suite where they were, so he just came over to where I was.