On Brett Sutter’s hard shift that resulted in the penalty that led to the power play game-winner:
Suttsy’s been really good. That’s just things he does. He plays hard. He gets out of his comfort zone, he drags his teammates with him. We were a little bit sluggish to start. We needed a guy to lead the charge. Tonight he did so. He did a lot of good things for us. He was a beast.
On Kurtis MacDermid’s hit on Beck, fights with Rechlicz and how it changed the pace of the game:
Sometimes a hit, a goal, a great backcheck, even a great penalty kill gives you some life or changes the complexity of the game or just spurs both teams on. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t know why we were a little bit sluggish to start. Maybe we had a day and a half off I guess and then getting back into it. But, Bakersfield’s a fast team. So, they kind of made us look a little bit slow to start and then once we got going we were OK but you don’t want to have those kinds of starts against Bakersfield.
On last year having the luxury of Peter Budaj and now having Jack Campbell:
Well, it’s been terrific and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. The story line is eerily similar with Budes and Soupy and the year before or the trials and tribulations that they went through. He’s certainly gotten an opportunity here to play. He’s a terrific teammate. The guys love playing in front of him, much the same as they did for Budes. Works hard and the schedule’s been such that he’s been able to carry a pretty heavy workload. Doesn’t seem to be slowing him down any. Now, the All-Star weekend might be a little more taxing on him. There’s a guy that could probably use the four-day break over the All-Star events. His play and the way the season’s gone for him, he merits and warrants being there. We’re thrilled for him. It’s awesome.
On why Rechlicz was screaming at the Reign bench after his second fight with MacDermid:
I don’t know. Everybody has a role on a team and I think if you look back at it both guys are very good at their role that they have but the first one probably should have been called differently. Should have been an instigator and five and truly Dermy was not fighting. He was just protecting himself because there was a little bit of a, it wasn’t the greatest of squaring off type of situations that I’ve seen in fisticuffs. So, if it was called correctly we wouldn’t have even had the second one. And now Derm has two fights. And if they did call him for a fight and they called Rechlicz for an instigator then Dermy’s fight wouldn’t even count towards the 10 fight rule, or whatever the hell it is. It’s a tough thing because Rechlicz has a role on that team and Dermy is certainly a tough customer but Dermy plays regularly. I mean, regularly. The other guy doesn’t so recognize that and make the proper calls and then you don’t have to deal with it. That’s just my thought on it. I’d be interested to hear your guys’ thoughts on it if you had any input on that. [Reporter: I’ve never seen him not being able to fight back, ever, or at least get one punch in.] Right. So, there is a rule in the book. Instigation. One guy started it and the other guy wasn’t even prepared for it. Anyway, just makes for another good rivalry. I don’t think anybody likes us. I don’t care. I don’t like anybody.
On having so many power plays and if that chopped up the momentum of the game:
Part of our slower start was the fact that we took three penalties. Again, we take a penalty and then we kill it off and we take one immediately thereafter. So that was Vinny’s and then Cres takes a slashing with 2.9 seconds left in the period in the neutral zone. So now you’ve got guys like Kempe and Amadio and so on that are sitting on the bench because they don’t kill penalties. Those are some pretty creative guys you’d like to see on the ice a little bit more. So, that makes a difference as well. We got through it. Again, it’s not the ideal situation, but we got through it. Man, it’s tough to get that lesson into their heads but we’ll keep playing.
On how nice it was to see Teddy Purcell producing again:
That’s what we need out of Teddy. When you think about the results when we first got him, I think we were 9-1-1 and he was getting a couple points a game. Nobody expected him to stay at that pace, OK, everybody but me, I did. He’s that good. He should. He’s too good to be playing in this league so if he’s not producing [trails off]. It’s not like Teddy’s a checker. It’s not like he’s going to be on a fourth line shutdown mode. He has to produce. That’s what he does. And if he wants to get out of here and get back in the NHL, he’s got to do what he did tonight. Score a goal, set up a goal, be a factor at the end of the night for your team winning and having success, and he was. I admire him because he wants to help. He wants to be here. And that’s a big thing for all of us. Now, he wants to be here yet he wants to get out of here and we want him to get out of here. We want him to get back in the NHL. That’s where he deserves to be. So, maybe we can help each other. We can get him out of here if he keeps playing well and we keep winning. [Reporter: Teamwork.] Yeah. Team. We all stick together. That’s what we do.
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