February 20 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On whether it has been difficult to keep pushing forward without recent results:
Not really. I think that’s part of the ability to stick together and sticking with the process, sticking with the output part of it, not the outcome. Obviously points are critical and we’re going to get ‘em, but stick with that and not try and change or deflect or move the attention around of how you have to go. [Reporter: No freelancing or suddenly changing.] When you try that, it doesn’t work very good. It’s like five-nothing. [Reporter: Is that one of the hardest parts to coach, where the results recently might not have been there but the process seems to be there and the performance seems to be there, but just not the results?] Well, I think that from a group, the technical part of it or the structure part has been there, other than the coming off the break game. We were obviously like that in a lot of areas, but in the last two it’s been there. But what you’re looking in is we need better performances from individuals in terms of your whole skill set, taking advantage of your whole skill set. So it’s like the last time you talked about the role players had good games, but you can’t overlook the fact that you need your top players to take full advantage of it, too, of what they have. When you get into your schedule and you’re not practicing lots, that’s when you need that player to raise his expectations, raise his game.

On the difference between the Muzzin-Martinez pairing between last season and this season:
First off, they’re not a team. They’re not hooked to the same harness, right? They’re two totally different type of players. Muzz’s game, he has to be in a physical part. First and foremost, he has to be a physical player. That doesn’t mean tramping or running over guys, but you have to be able to absorb it, to make plays, and then when it’s there, also initiate it, and that’s something that he’s really working on to try and get back in his game, and he will. I have full confidence in the last 20-something games of the year that he’ll do that. Marty, he relies on his skating and being really mentally sharp, and I think he’s made a lot of mistakes that are mental mistakes, and that’s where he has to work with himself and because he is a bright guy and he is a hockey smart guy and all those things, and he’s a caring guy and he’s a good teammate, so when you’re making mental mistakes, that means you’re not quite going through your preparation properly, and I trust that he can do that and will do that.

On Jonathan Quick getting closer, and whether there is a cut-off by when they’ll need to know if he’ll be available at a later date:
He’s on that path. Last week, when you talked about simulating games, that’s what he’s trying to do with full practices now is simulating games, because you’re not getting exhibition games, so you know what? We’re going to do it day-by-day in simulated games and see exactly where he’s at, and then I’ll say, ‘this is the game you’re playing,’ and that’s what we’ll do. In terms of deadlines or any of that other stuff, that doesn’t involve him and I at all. That’s how we deal with that.