On what he saw in the 5-2 loss:
I think we were expecting a little bit of perhaps rust at the start. I don’t think our goaltending was very good tonight. Big saves and bad goals are the difference in most hockey games now. It was certainly evident tonight. We took the two stick penalties early in the first period and they scored on one of ‘em. When we play Phoenix, I’ve said it about the special teams a lot when we play Phoenix. Tonight they had a power play goal early that got ‘em the lead. When you get two, it’s tough.
On whether the third period shorthanded goal against was the “dagger”:
Not really. The third one – you know what? Every time we lose that question always gets asked how Peter played. Well, I’m sure he would like to have three of the four goals back.
On Adrian Kempe:
We all knew he could skate, so he showed that. I think there’s going to have to be a little bit more – what would you call it – purpose or dig in his game in order to succeed at this level.
On what he saw or heard from the officials on the disallowed goal:
He said he lost sight of the puck, blew the whistle. So any time you blow the whistle and you lose sight of the puck, that’s their call. I don’t know really if it changes if, I guess, if it was in the net prior to that.
On whether Kempe will continue to play with Anze Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli:
That’s not a question to be answered tonight.
On whether he saw the team’s third period comeback push as a positive:
We were coming back all the way through there. The third goal was a bad goal against, the fourth goal was just a long shot, shorthanded goal. We were coming back all the way through there. When it was 2-0 going into the third, we still believed we were going to win. Something’s got to hit you there.
On whether he’ll be OK without a bye week next season:
I don’t know what the record coming in, what it actually was – what did it end up being? [Reporter: 3-8-1, now 3-9-1]. So I would’ve rather made the three a four, and then the nine a 10, whatever it is.
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