February 16 postgame quotes: Nolan, Kopitar

Jordan Nolan, on the set-up of his goal:
I know Kinger’s a big body, and he drove the net and opened up a lane for me, and I just threw it on net and it went in.

Nolan, on the importance of ending the home stand with a win:
Definitely every win’s going to be big from here on. We’re definitely scoreboard watching, but we’re also worrying about our own game and taking care of our own.

Nolan, on limiting offensively gifted Tampa Bay to four goals in two games:
I thought we did well against their top guys. Stamkos is one of the best players in the league, and we held him – I don’t know how many points he got in those two games, but it seemed like he was having a tough time finding the net.

Nolan, on his goal:
I noticed a line change happening. Kinger had a lot of speed, and so I thought I’d join it. Even though he dropped it, he took a few bodies to the net with him and opened up the lane for me, so I put it on my backhand, and it was fortunate enough to go in. [Reporter: You looked pretty surprised on the play.] Yeah, you know, I lifted up my head and kind of just threw it on (net) hoping it would sneak through. It went in.

Nolan, on the winning streak:
We don’t really talk about our win streak or anything like that. We talk about having a full 60, and we’re trying to make the playoffs right now, so if we win 10 in a row and we’re still not in, it doesn’t make a huge difference.

Nolan, on whether Anze Kopitar’s goal was a pivotal moment:
Yeah, any time Kopi scores it lifts our team up. He’s one of our best players, and we just kind of followed his lead, and they started to go in in the third.

Anze Kopitar, on his goal:
I knew I had a lot of speed in the middle of the ice, so as soon as that pass went to Lewie, I kind of figured that there might be a little bit of room in the middle, and I just wanted to take off, and obviously he hit me with a really nice pass and I was able to beat him. [Reporter: Over the leg? Is that how it went in?] Over the pad, yeah.

Kopitar, on whether Trevor Lewis is “underrated”:
I think so. I think his skill is underrated, for sure. He’s got a very good shot. He hasn’t used it yet a whole lot, but we’ll get him the puck in scoring areas and that’s going to his play, too.

Kopitar on the difference between the last five games, and the previous seven:
I just think that things are coming together for us. Obviously we’re playing with more desperation as we should’ve before, but it seems like now it’s clicking for us. We’re getting some breaks too, a(and) that certainly doesn’t hurt. We’ve just got to keep on going. We’re still in a hole, we know that. We’ve got to keep on playing and keep getting the two points.

Kopitar, on whether the team has gained “confidence” and “momentum”:
Every time when you win or you put a streak together like this, the confidence is higher. So, yes. But again, at the same time, we know where we stand, so we’ve got to keep on going.

Kopitar, on whether Tampa Bay appeared fatigued after the first period:
To be quite honest, we don’t look at that. We look at our game and what we have to do to get the success and the two points that we need.