February 21 postgame quotes: Kopitar, Doughty

Anze Kopitar, on what the difference was between the second and third periods:
I thought we made strong plays in our zone and coming out and didn’t do too many mistakes. We didn’t give the puck away too many times, that always helps that you don’t have to defend.

Kopitar, on how this game compared to last year’s Dodger Stadium game:
It was good. I mean, it’s nice to come out on top this time around. I know last year we didn’t even score a goal. Obviously it was a good event, it was a fun event. These types of games, sometimes you get caught up in all the stuff that’s going on and it’s pretty obvious it’s special in front of 70-thousand people. So sometimes, that might be a little bit of a distraction. I thought we came out tonight and played pretty well.

Kopitar, on the condition of the ice:
The ice was good the first 10 minutes, and then it got chippy and bouncy. You’re expecting that going in, anyways.

Kopitar, on Marian Gaborik’s ability to score big goals:
It’s obviously good. We got him last year and he proved it last year. He’s proving it again. For us to be a good team, we’re going to need him to do it all the time. We’ve got to look ahead now and hopefully he can do that for us most of the time.

Drew Doughty, on what it was like to play in front of 70-thousand people:
It was pretty cool. It was a lot of fun. It’s a different kind of game obviously with the fans being so far away from you, but at the same time it was loud. We’ve never played in front of that many [people] before, so it was cool to see.

Doughty, on whether the Clifford-Shore-Nolan line helped spark the team:
Yeah, they’ve been great for us. They’ve been good for a while now, not just tonight. Like I said, Nolly has been playing great, putting some big pucks in the net for us. Cliffy has been doing his normal thing, got a huge goal tonight and fighting and hitting. Shoresie is great defensively. His play is so responsible and it’s huge for us.

Doughty, on adapting to the ice conditions:
It’s hard to play the normal game you’d play on regular ice just because of a lot of different bounces happen and it’s just not safe. Usually, if you’re trying to make a tough play you have a good chance of still being able to make it. If you’re trying to make a tough play on this ice and make it smooth, it’s just not going to happen. You just have to keep it simple, get pucks in, pucks out. You saw the goals, they weren’t nice goals. They’re just shots to the net that went in. That’s how you have to win these kind of games.

Doughty, on what makes Marian Gaborik a dangerous offensive player:
I think I’ve only played against Gabby one time in my whole career somehow, with injuries and stuff like that. But playing with him, he comes up with those big goals when we need him to. He’s obviously one of the best goal scorers on our team, right up there with Toff, guys like Carts. It was a great goal for him today. It was huge for us.