March 12 postgame quotes: Kopitar, Doughty

Anze Kopitar, on the importance of the win given the remaining games against Vancouver:
Well you know what, every game right now is big. Where we are in the standings, it’s not where we want to be but that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is now. We’ve got to win games, bottom line. It doesn’t matter who it’s against. Obviously it’s a team that we’re chasing and it definitely helps.

Kopitar, on whether the Kings wanted to make a statement:
I think for us right now, we’ve got to get points and we’re going after it. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing against. But it’s certainly going to help that we’ve got two games against them, so those are going to be four-point games. We’ve got… just one against the Sharks and one against Calgary. So those are obviously huge games and it’s nice tonight that we got the two points.

Kopitar, on the forecheck:
We scored a couple goals and then we were just talking on the bench and making sure that we kept going because I think it’s pretty easy, and sometimes even natural, to just sit back and wait for them. So I don’t think we gave them too much of an opportunity of getting some momentum. I thought obviously the special teams were good and that’s how we need and want to play.

Kopitar, on whether his goal at the beginning of the third period was the “dagger”:
That’s what we talked about. We kind of went out with the mentality that we’ve got to win the period and obviously we did. I think it was just a good 60 minute effort by everybody.

Kopitar, on whether the team is most comfortable with a 1-0 lead:
Well, it’s definitely better because you don’t have to chase the game too much and the guys’ confidence with the puck is a little bit higher. Making plays makes it easier.

Drew Doughty, on whether it was a complete team effort:
Yeah, it was a really good game. I thought the boys played well. There were times where we maybe gave them a little bit too much, but it wasn’t too often. So this is a good win, very important win and really happy with the way the boys stepped up.

Doughty, on the defensive effort:
I thought we did a good job on our breakouts. Early on, they had a lot of pressure. They have a lot of juice coming out in the first period with their home fans and all that kind of stuff. So it’s a little bit tougher to break their forecheck. But after that, we knew exactly what to expect and we did a better job at it.

Doughty, on whether the team has the ability to “turn it on” when needed:
Yeah, well, the closer you get to the playoffs, the more you want to be in it. We’re not going to accept anything but to be in it. Right now, Vancouver is one of those teams in our way. They’re, I think, second in the division and we still have a really good shot at being in that spot. So we’re working hard to get there and I guess if we can turn on a switch, it’s nice to have but we’ve got to be playing well no matter what.

Doughty, on whether this was a statement game:
Yeah, it’s a big win. We’ve had a couple of them lately. We had a big win against San Jose in the outdoor game, which kind of got the boys rolling, kind of got the boys in track and then beating a team that we’re battling within our division is also a huge win. Hopefully this gives us some momentum, gets our confidence rolling and we keep playing better.

Doughty, on what has contributed to their recent success on the road:
I think the games just got more important and I think the guys were sick of having to talk about why we’re doing so bad on the road, too. So we decided to kind of turn it around and start winning some.

–stick tap to Lisa Dillman for the Doughty audio