Kopitar, Williams, Muzzin describe team’s focus

Anze Kopitar, on the importance of Thursday’s game:
It’s no secret, it’s a four-point game for both of us. I don’t’ know exactly what the points situation is right now, but either they’re going to pull away further or we’re going to close the gap. So, we all know what’s at stake.

Kopitar, on whether past experience eases their current playoff push:
The mood is good. Just like you said, we’ve done it in the past and we certainly have all the confidence that we can do it again. But looking back on the past too much is not going to help us. It’s the same old story, we’ve got to prepare and look ahead and just play better hockey.

Kopitar, on whether the team has to put the road trip behind them:
Yeah, the trip was not good but we finished up with two huge wins. Now we have to continue building on that and make sure that – I think it’s a three game home stand now – that we make sure we’re playing our game and our style of hockey and make it tough for the other teams to come and play in our building.

Kopitar, on the importance of keeping penalties down:
The less you’re going to take, the better chance you’re going to have to kill. It’s play hard and not take penalties. It’s what we’ve been talking about and lately we’ve been doing that and we’ve got to keep doing that.

Justin Williams, on the team’s familiarity with late-season playoff pushes:
It’s nothing consciously that we do that puts us in these situations that we’ve been put in. It’s time to answer the bell, and we’ve put ourselves in quite the predicament with where we are in the standings. But resilience and being through it before and being in tough situations all help too at this time of year. It’s a grind to the playoffs and there is always someone gearing for your spot. The hardest part is getting in, and we’re going to do that.

Williams, on whether he feels a sense of calm about the team’s history:
I don’t know if ‘calm’ is the right word, but confident in our abilities and confident when you look around the room at the different guys that you have. Knowing that he’s going to be able to do the job come crunch time and he’s going to give everything he’s got. When it’s go-time, you know he’s going to be there for you. As I said, we put ourselves in a tough spot and when I look around the room, I see confident guys that are able to get the job done. ‘Calm’ I’m not sure is the right word, but ‘confident in our abilities.’

Jake Muzzin, on whether the last two games are examples of the Kings’ ability:
Exactly, when we play our way, those two games we previously played are good examples of what we can do and how we have to do it to win. So we look to continue doing the things and getting better at some stuff as well.

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