January 18 postgame quotes: San Jose

Peter DeBoer, on whether it was a complete effort against LA:

Yeah real proud of our effort. I mean, you got Hertl, Couture, Donskoi at home and called some guys up and a little bit of a thin lineup and I thought we completed our ass off, played hard. This isn’t an easy building to win in, they play a physical game and we stood in there and I thought played a real complete game.

DeBoer, on the PK going 4-for-4:
Yeah. I liked our defensive game 5-on-4, 5-on-5. I really thought we worked to defend and that led to offense. I mean, we had a handful of 2-on-1s, a breakaway. I thought we could’ve made it a little easier on ourselves, cashed in on a couple of them, but it was a real hard-fought win.

DeBoer, on whether the part of the game plan was to shutdown Carter:
Yeah sure. I mean, he’s a world-class player and he’s having a world-class season. He’s dangerous every time he’s on the ice so him and Kopitar up the middle our guys that we spend a lot of time talking about prior to playing them.

DeBoer, on the 4th line scoring:
Yeah big goal from those guys. You know I thought Carpy came up and gave us some real good minutes and Hales has been great all year and a big goal by Wings coming in the lineup after sitting for a while so it was a solid team effort. We needed it and like I said, the guys I think responded to the challenge of being a little short-staffed here and played hard.

DeBoer, on whether he’s “glad to be done with [LA] 45 games in to the season”:
Yeah I am glad to be done with them. If we don’t see them again I’ll be alright with that.

DeBoer, on playing with the lead and holding it:
Yeah I liked our defensive game. I liked our commitment to defending. I didn’t think we gave them much. I mean they had a couple chances at the end there but I thought our work away from the puck in order to defend tonight was excellent.

Joe Pavelski, on whether special teams were the difference:
Yeah for sure. I think, not saying that’s the difference because we played a pretty complete game. I felt pretty good. We had our breakdowns, they had their chances, but they’re a good team they’re going to get that. You know Jones, he was solid. He made some big saves at crucial moments like he always does and it was a good feeling in this room when I came in here ‘cause it just felt like you put a complete effort out there.

Pavelski, on the 4th line scoring the Sharks’ second goal of the game:
Yeah, big play. You know that line, Carpenter throws in there and they were effective for us all night and it gives us a spark when they’re going. All the lines chipped in and played in their end a little bit, defended well and the PK was big for us at times.

Pavelski, on the importance of winning the season series against LA:
Yeah you always want to win a season series. But it’s a game, it was just important because I think we all know it was pretty tight in the standings. It goes from four or eight for us and to get those two points and those head-to-head games, they’re important. It was good to see the guys really show up. It’s always fun playing in front of your dad’s and brothers and mentors and everyone that’s involved in these next few days and we had a great meal last night. A lot of fun. So to come out and get a win in front of them, play hard, it was a good feeling.

Michael Haley, on whether he felt his line was effective against LA:
Well it’s definitely nice to get a goal. I mean, that’s always a positive, but I think we’ve been saying all year our job’s to try and be in their end and get a good forecheck and luckily of late we’ve been getting some points so it’s good.

Haley, on the goal he assisted on in the 1st period:
It was a 2-on-1, just tried to make an early pass so that he had enough time to have a good look and he made a great shot.

Haley, on whether he focus was to put some distance between SJ and LA in the standings:
Yeah, this was an important two points. Especially when you plan in LA, we always try and get up for this one. It was a great game. It was a great road win I think for us. That’s what we wanted to do was come out and play a good road game and I think we did that.

Haley, on whether him and Clifford wanted to fight:
That’s hockey. It happens. I tell you everytime, sometimes it’s part of the game.

Haley, on whether he’s glad the season series vs LA is over:
I don’t know if you’re glad. It is what it is and these are exciting games to play to tell you the truth. It’s obviously a great rivalry but yeah I mean, it’s over now. But we want to make that distance farther and farther so they’re always in the back of our head.

Haley, on whether there’s more dislike or respect between the two teams:
Yeah I mean, it’s your rivalry, you know? I don’t know if it’s dislike. There’s obviously respect. They’re a good hockey team but there’s just that rivalry and I think they get excited to play us and we get excited to play them.

Brent Burns, on holding the Kings to just one shot on four power plays:
I mean, I don’t know. I think they’ve got a good power play. I don’t know what the stats are but it’s a dangerous one. I think we did a good job up the ice. Stopped a couple on the breakout but I don’t know. Just trying not to score, you know? Yeah I think I remember in the second we did a good job up the ice, good pressure. The third did they have many? [Reporter: I think they had just one shot on four power plays.] I mean, it’s a dangerous power play. The forwards did a good job, blocked a lot of shots. Tierns had a big one. That’s huge, that’s good. Huge to keep it down.

Burns, on playing with the lead for most of the game:
It’s better than the other way around, eh? Yeah I don’t know. [laughs] It’s good.

Burns, on Martin Jones’ performance:
Yeah he was great. He’s great every night for us. It’s no different than any other night. He’s a stud every night for us. Huge save I think it was in the third there — amazing leg save. Yeah, he’s a stud.

Burns, on having 19 goals this season, putting him on pace with Coffey and Housley:
I don’t look at that stuff. I don’t know why you talk about it either. [Reporter: Have you ever looked at that stuff?] Nope. Shit changes when you start looking at that. Just let her roll.

Burns, on whether the “grinding” games against LA are enjoyable:
Well I’d rather not get hit, but I mean, it is what it is. We’ve got a lot of big, strong forwards who do a great job getting in those battles, winning ‘em. That’s the kind of team we’re built for too so as long as you win it doesn’t really matter if it’s a speed game or grinding game. You’ve just got to win. It was good. It was a big game, big win.

Burns, on whether there was any focus on winning the season series against LA:
I mean I don’t really pay attention to what the previous record was but this was a big one. I mean, it’s the last one so you want to win. You want to win all these games but coming to their rink, you want to have a good game. The last one? It’s always big to have a good performance.

Burns, on whether having their dad’s watch is like “the icing on the cake”:
Yeah the old man might think it’s alright to snore now, so I don’t know. Might have to get him a new room next year. Might get the boot. [Reporter: He keep you up last night?] Yeah and he kept saying he wasn’t snoring. I was like, ‘Well I’m not up for shits and giggles here. You’re snoring. The kid can’t sleep.’ [inaudible] … He’s already had two passes, he lost passes. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I’ve got a backpack he doesn’t, that’s what happens.