October 30 postgame quotes: John Stevens

On what he saw from the narrow loss:
Kind of as expected. Their team game is very strong, their defense is big and they play fast. They do a really good job on the boards at getting plays stopped and getting pucks moving. You could lose the first game, win the rest or have a really good trip and lose the last game. Kind of a sour note to go home on, but to be honest with you I thought the guys played hard tonight. I think our execution could get better, especially in the neutral zone, but I really felt the guys dug in and played hard tonight. We’ll learn from this game and continue to get better.

On whether he saw continuity in performance and execution on the road trip:
Probably the thing that I’d take away from this game that you’re happy with and excited about is that on the road you get down at the end of a trip and guys keep digging in and getting back. We got within a goal and got down two, got within a goal and then had great chances to tie the hockey game. I think there’s a lot of resilience in this group and they don’t get discouraged easily, and again, I think the guys played hard tonight. If we continue to show up and play like that as a group, then we’ll get back in the winning track.

On whether he felt Jonathan Quick was interfered with on St. Louis’ third goal:
Obviously we challenged it. From our view, it looked like Johnny had position established, and when he came through, his leg hooked his stick and kind of turned him a little bit. That’s why we challenged it. That’s the discretion of the officials, and they’re on the phone with the National Hockey League, so we’ve got to respect their decision on that, but clearly we thought there was – that’s why we challenged it.

On the game’s playoff-like feel:
To be honest with you, a lot of the games on this road trip have felt like playoff games. It started in Columbus. Certainly the Boston game the other night, and this one here. There’s a lot at stake. I think teams realize that points this time of year are as important as points any time of the year. You don’t want to fall behind, and you don’t want to lose points when there’s an opportunity to get points. But again, we looked at this trip, we wanted to try and get a good trip. To go 4-2 on the road trip, we’re happy with that. We did some good things, but we’ve got areas that we’ve got to get a lot better at.

On whether St. Louis did to Los Angeles what Los Angeles does to a lot of teams:
I don’t think there are any surprises from us to them or them to us. I think we’re all pretty versed in what to expect. They’re a team that plays hard, plays fast and really responsible 200 feet there, and I think we are as well. Special teams had some good opportunities at both ends of the rink. The PK, usually you kill a five-on-three, I think it was a big momentum swing there. It’s a good hockey game. They’re a good team. It’s not surprising they’re having the success they’ve had.

-Lead photo: Dilip Vishwanat/NHLI

Rules for Blog Commenting

  • No profanity, slurs or other offensive language. Replacing letters with symbols does not turn expletives into non-expletives.
  • Personal attacks against other blog commenters, and/or blatant attempts to antagonize other comments, are not tolerated. Respectful disagreement is encouraged. Posts that continually express the same singular opinion will be deleted.
  • Comments that incite political, religious or similar debates will be deleted.
  • Please do not discuss, or post links to websites that illegally stream NHL games.
  • Posting under multiple user names is not allowed. Do not type in all caps. All violations are subject to comment deletion and/or banning of commenters, per the discretion of the blog administrator.

Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.

Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.