December 2 postgame quotes: Mike Stothers

On the Reign’s effort after losing back-to-back games last weekend:
I thought it was a great game. I thought it was probably one the best we’ve played from start to finish. Although the goal we gave up was a missed assignment, but, hey, can’t play perfect hockey.

On Jack Campbell’s performance after dealing with groin injury during the week:
He looked good. He looked real good. The lower-body injury is behind us I hope, for good, for the whole organization. But yeah, he looked good.

On the penalty kills at the end of the second period:
It was huge. There was a lot of factors that went into it. First and foremost your best penalty killer is your goalie, and he made some saves for us. We had some faceoffs, we had some blocked shots. We were working. You’ve got to try to outwork that power play and that’s the best power play in the league. They’re so, so dangerous. I guess we had more practice at it tonight than they did, killing penalties I mean. So, got to try to stay on the ice against those guys.

On what the strongest part of the Reign’s game is right now:
I thought we showed a lot of grit to stay with it and battle through. There’s a lot of moments in the game where you could say maybe it was a turning point, maybe those penalty kills in the second were. We didn’t get frustrated by the ridiculousness of the way the game was called and we just persevered.

On a brewing rivalry and the fights and confrontations at the end:
That’s the referee. Take control of the game. Understand the game. Have a feel for the game. There’s four of you out there. That’s just a travesty. You get these teams now, this game they’re trying to change and make it better. You see all these guys, these little guys, these little pukes that dive and roll around on the ice every time they get hit. And you get penalized instead of enforcing the rule that’s in there about diving, embellishing. It’s embarrassing. Stay on your feet. Have some pride. We’re hockey players. We’re not soccer players that roll around every time they get hit. I could never coach that sport. Have a feel for the game. There’s no instigation on Latta [for his late fight with Fournier], there’s an instigation with Sharpy [fighting Selleck]. You see who they put on the ice. Know the game. Know the players. Have a feel for it. So you give Sharpy an instigation in the waning minutes, so now he’s going to be suspended for tomorrow’s game. Does that make any sense to anybody? No. So, that’s why you guys don’t where stripes. That’s why you don’t blow a whistle. Because you’ve got a brain in your head.

On whether he’s happy to see the way the players stuck up for one another:
Absolutely. We’ll deal with whatever they want to dish out. We’ll stay on our feet, we’ll battle hard. We’ll take care of each other, that’s what we do. We’re warriors.

On Michael Latta’s goal and the fourth line’s production:
Well, your fourth line is typically grinders and Latts has been waiting a long time for that first goal. I know he’s been getting a little frustrated with it so it’s nice to see it go in for him. It’s a great play. Come up the ice, you kick it out to the wide ice, take the shot, got guys driving the net. They were really good for us. They were heavy. They were hard to play against. Maybe that’s why they wanted to avoid that line and came after a guy like Sharpy.

On Damir Sharipzianov’s fight being a former enforcer himself:
You know what? There was a lot more to my game than that. [Reporters laugh]. Let’s make that clear. I had the ability to get people right out of their seats when I was going end to end because they knew it was going to be a turnover and a goal against. Stothers with another minus. I’m not a neanderthal. I’m not here to promote the fisticuffs part of it but when a guy runs a teammate, it’s a good thing to see guys stick up for each other. That means we’re a close team. That’s not his nature, so he had to step out of his comfort zone in order to step up and send a message, say ‘hey, we’re all tough, we’re all together.’ That’s most important. You want to be team tough. When we take a shot on goal in the offensive zone all three of our forwards go and stop in front of the goalie. When they take a shot on our net and we make a save, all five guys stop in front of our goalie. National anthem, all five guys stand shoulder to shoulder. We’re united, we’re team tough, that’s what we are. [Reporter: Will that be the message going into tomorrow night’s game?] That’s the message every day. OK, so I am a little bit of a neanderthal but it’s team tough, that’s what we do.

On if the end set a tone going into upcoming games vs. Tucson:
But you’ve also got to realize that you’ve got to be careful. We talked about their power play, how good it is. There’s good penalties and there’s bad penalties. Sharpy going in after Dermy got hit from behind? That’s a good penalty. And regardless, usually you kill those off. The ones that are 200-feet away and hooking, slashing, and the retaliation ones, I’ve got no time for that. Then you’re in my doghouse. Those ones? Those are selfish. There’s selfish ones and there’s team ones. Team ones we’ll take, we’ll deal with that any time. Selfish ones? Usually just makes me kind of explode.

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