November 14 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On whether moving the lines around was to spur top players and the offense:
No, we just did some different stuff today, not really line stuff. ‘Spur the offense?’ We scored 10 goals in the last three games.

On Alec Martinez:
He went to the doctor this morning. That’s all I can tell you…He was in here, and then his appointment was at 10 o’clock, I believe.

On tomorrow’s afternoon game:
A Saturday too, for us. We talked about this earlier. Is this our last Saturday [afternoon] game at home, maybe? [Reporter: I know there’s a day game against Phoenix next month.] Nashville one, too. Why is it Saturdays and Sundays? We talked about that before. Can’t remember. There’s a whole month of Sundays in November without a game.

On Jamie McBain:
We didn’t use him much last night. Basically we got into a four-defensemen thing. Once Marty went down, we sort of just evaluate it as you go along. You know, I think we see his skill set, and we need to see a little bit more in the corners and in the zone, down low, those things.

On what he’d “hope” to see against Anaheim, “adjustment-wise”:
We’ll be better. It’s not ‘hope.’ You don’t ‘hope’ for anything. [Reporter: What do you need to see from them?] We’ll have a little better from everybody. And you’re playing a top team, and I’m not saying it because it’s Anaheim. Anaheim won the division last year, and we were able to beat them in a seven-game series in the seventh game. So what’s the difference between the two teams from last year and this year? Well, obviously personnel is different. So right now they’re a much better club. So right now, I’d say that we from a personnel standpoint would have to get a little bit more out of our top players in order to beat Anaheim, and we were one shootout goal away from beating ‘em. I wouldn’t put too much on the last time we played ‘em, and I wouldn’t put too much on tomorrow, either. It’s one game of the season.

On two players on Anaheim being diagnosed with mumps:
I remember when I was a boy and we had nine of us living in one house, and all seven of us boys had mumps. So what’s the big deal? Because athletes got it? We were athletes. We were just seven-and-under. [Reporter: How old were you?] I don’t know. But I can remember. [Reporter: It kind of knocks you out. You have no energy, if I remember right. It just lays you down.] From a medical standpoint – you’d have to get somebody to explain it to you – but it’s not good for a man as you get older…I think there’s something about having it when you’re younger in terms of [recovering].