The Kings didn’t hold a morning skate in advance of their game tonight against the San Jose Sharks (7:00 p.m. PT / FOX Sports West / KABC 790 / I Heart Radio). Following a workout and meetings at the team hotel, Darryl Sutter met with reporters and broadcasters to preview tonight’s game.
On whether he has been impressed with Milan Lucic’s ability to channel his emotions positively for the team, despite Saturday’s incident:
I’ve been very impressed. I think last night he got axed, x-rayed and had a hearing all in 24 hours. So, what do you want me to say? At the end of the day, I’ve been through not 50, but I’ll bet 30 or 40 phone or in-person [hearings] or not or taken away. That’s it.
On Lucic’s perception:
He’s a good, power player. It’s not anything [other than] that. I think he has a lot of respect in his peer group with the players, and it’s why he’s a really good player. It’s why he’s one of our best players. He walks in the room and commands attention because he cares about the game and he cares about his team. That’s all that matters. You want players like that.
On the importance of special teams in the series with San Jose:
They’ve always, always, San Jose, probably since Joe started there and Pavelski coming along and sort of becoming a really good player, I think their power play’s always been a huge part of their game. You go through playoff series, when they go on streaks of wins and losses, if you’d look at how much their power play over the years has really set that, is really important. And they’re not a team, for the most part, they don’t take a lot of penalties. So special teams are really important, always.
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