October 7 postgame quotes: San Jose

Martin Jones, on returning to Los Angeles for the season opener:
Yeah, I mean, I was just trying to approach it like it was another game, obviously it was exciting, and I waited a long time for that game, and it was good that we got the result.

Jones, on how he calmed down and reset after letting in the first shot:
I’ve been scored on before, obviously it’s not the way you want to start a game, but we showed a lot of character as a group, not letting that spiral, we could’ve easily done that, but I thought we did a great job coming back from that.

Jones, on whether it was good to get the first game out of the way:
Yeah, I mean, every win is important in this league, it’s tough to win every night, so it was big for sure.

Jones, on if his new teammates said anything after the early goal:
Um, nothing. Like I said, I’ve been scored on before, I thought we did a good job bouncing back, we could have let it spiral a little bit but we didn’t, we did a great job bouncing back and scoring a couple of goals right away.

Jones, on whether it felt good denying Tyler Toffoli’s close range chance:
Felt great.

Jones, on whether he saw Toffoli’s chance the entire way:
Well, I knew – I think it was Carts coming down, I didn’t think he’d get a shot off so I was kind of reading the pass there, but yeah, I was just lucky to kind of get a glove on it.

Jones, on his team’s penalty killing:
Yeah, the penalty kill was good all preseason and nothing changed tonight, we had guys blocking shots, getting sticks in lanes, doing all of the little things right, especially at the very end on that 5-on-3.

Jones, on his team’s performance to start the season:
Yeah, I thought it was, it was really, really solid from start to finish, especially after an early goal against, we did a great job bouncing back.

Logan Couture, on Dustin Brown’s neutral zone hit:
Ah, I’m not going to comment on it, that’s up to the league.

Couture, on what made contact with his head on Brown’s hit:
His helmet. He launched his head into my face.

Couture, on his skirmish with Milan Lucic:
I just finished my check, that’s hockey, right? You’re supposed to finish your checks. I didn’t think there were players that you’re not allowed to hit in the league, but obviously he took exception to that, to the hit, whatever that word is, and didn’t like it, and he came after me, we’ll see what happens.

Couture, on the game and the start to the season:
We played well, I could kind of feel it from the first shift. We’re keeping it simple from lines one to four, you see Jumbo chipping pucks in, chasing them, and to see Tierney’s line doing it, it’s throughout the lineup, and it’s really dangerous, it’s a great start, it’s one game.

Couture, on his impression of Jones’ first game with the team:
He’s awesome, he’s calm, he made a massive save there in the second, that could have definitely changed the game in their favor, and it was on his buddy too, so I’m sure that feels pretty good for him.

Couture, on no penalty being called on Brown’s hit:
I just asked [the refs] if they saw it, and they said they couldn’t from their angle, and I’ve seen the replay already, so I’ll hold what I think of it to myself, see what happens.

Couture, on San Jose scoring five goals:
I believe so, we’ve got enough talent to score a lot of goals, but we’ve also got a team that can win 1-0 or 2-1, so hopefully it’s a sign of good things to come for us. Like I said, it’s one game, but it’s a good start.

Couture, on Lucic chasing him to the bench:
I honestly didn’t think he was going to come all of the way. I looked back, I was changing, I was told when I was in the penalty box to change right away, and it just so happened that the puck came and I laid a hip-check. I looked back, I saw he was angry, I didn’t think he was going to come all the way across the ice, I went to change, I got to the bench and the guys were yelling ‘heads up heads up’, and I turned and I wasn’t able to get my hands up in time, and I got his elbow right to the side of my head.

Peter DeBoer, on his introduction to the rivalry:
Yeah, it was an intense game. Obviously we came out on the right end, I thought we played a real solid road game, not much went wrong tonight so it was good.

DeBoer, on what stood out as positive:
You know what, like I told the team, that game tonight was a culmination of a month of hard work, we showed up at camp, really worked, paid attention to detail, the guys had a real captive audience, and tonight we played like we’re going to have to play – with four lines, six defensemen, great goaltending, great special teams, so it’s nice, we just have to keep replicating that game.

DeBoer, on shutting down the Kings’ puck-possession game:
Yeah, that’s something we’ve been talking about since day one of training camp, we want to be a tougher team to play against five-on-five, hold on to the puck more, put more pressure on the other team. Tonight we did a good job, we’ve got a long road ahead of us obviously, but it’s nice to get a win, it’s nice to see the rewards of a month of work out on the ice tonight.

DeBoer, on Jones letting in the first shot before stopping the rest:
He’s a pretty composed guy, he’s got ice in his veins, and on the bench there really was no worry at all, we knew it was a tough tip, it was one of those fluky things. I loved our composure as a team and I think we feed off of him, he wasn’t rattled, we weren’t rattled, we kept sticking to our plan.

DeBoer, on the team’s composure:
That was probably one of the most impressive parts of the game tonight, was our composure, and like I said, it starts with our goalie, and I though our group really had a good ‘stick with it’ tonight and we got rewarded for that.

DeBoer, on Lucic charging at Couture:
There were a couple of plays out there that were questionable, you know, so we’ll see. The league takes care of stuff that I think they need to take care of, you know, and if not, it’s a heated rivalry and we knew that going in.

DeBoer, on whether Mike Brown’s fight ramped up the team’s energy:
Sure, it’s a big play by him for us, a big turning point, and not an easy thing to do, and I think the guys respect what he went out and did there at a key point in the game.