November 8 Rapid Reaction (feat. Gann Matsuda): Wild 3, Kings 1

Rapid Reaction, feat. Gann Matsuda:

Post-game Quotes

Willie Desjardins, on the offensive challenges over the final 55 minutes:
I think they are a pretty good team. I know the last time we played ‘em, we didn’t get much at their net again. Their D are good. They really have a stingy D that move the puck. But saying that, we passed up some chances to shoot. There were some shots there that if we put it to the net, maybe we could’ve gotten some traffic and some rebounds. We had our chances. A 2-1 game late, we got a power play and we didn’t capitalize on it.

Desjardins, on any turning point after Los Angeles’ first period push:
No, the difference if you looked at the game, they scored a power play goal and we didn’t. Their other goal, we had total control of the puck, we just got a bad bounce off the boards and they scored. Those weren’t major breakdowns. It was just we didn’t execute the one on the pass, and the power play – they have a good power play. We needed to find a way. If you only get one, it’s tough to win, so we had to find away to get a little bit more tonight.

Alec Martinez, on tonight’s loss:
I thought we played a pretty good team game. I thought our first period was really good. It just comes down to capitalizing on chances and we didn’t do that tonight. I’m proud of the way we battled, but at this point in the year we’ve got to get points to start climbing back into this thing. So go back to the drawing board and take what we did well and move forward.

Martinez, on activating the defense:
Just being active in the O-zone. I think getting up in the rush, making plays with your feet, thinking the game fast, getting it into the forward’s hands quickly, I think for the most part we did a pretty good job of that tonight, but I think that’s something that we’re trying to do a lot more of because I think if you look around the league the teams that have success they’re style of play is trending that way so we’re trying to do it too.

Jake Muzzin, on the shooting in Thousand Oaks:
… It seems like it’s happening too often. Like they said this was the last shooting in 12 days. Like, are you kidding? I mean it’s just, I don’t know. It just makes you appreciate every day and how lucky we are to play this sport as a job and so if we can use our platform to maybe make a change then I think we’re trying to do our part.

Jake Muzzin, on if he felt like they would get a few goals after scoring early in the first:
You always have that feeling that we’re going to score a lot. I thought we played a game. I thought we played well and they won the special teams battle, they got a power play goal and we didn’t, it’s a 2-1 hockey game. Yeah, I thought more goals were to come, but sometimes that doesn’t happen.

Muzzin, on what Minnesota does well to shut down offensive opportunities:
They’re a good checking team, you know, and so are we and I thought we had some chances to score and we didn’t and they scored on a couple so I think that’s just the way the game went tonight. I thought it was two good teams going at it.

Tyler Toffoli, on how concerned he is with where the team is at in the standings:
I mean, obviously we’re concerned with where we’re at, but I think if you look at the standings we’re not that far off and you know, every game matters for us right now so we’ve got to find a way to win games here and get a little streak going.

Toffoli, on whether it was the little things that made the difference in tonight’s game:
Yeah, I think we had some really good opportunities to score throughout the entire game, not just early and not just late. We definitely did some really good things and obviously we just came up a little short.

Toffoli, on if playing Minnesota almost feels like playing a version of themselves:
Definitely. They play really well as a team and that’s what makes them really successful. They did a really good job tonight and obviously a couple bounces and they capitalized on their chances and we’ve got to find a way to score another goal or lock it down a little bit.

Toffoli, on not being able to capitalize on chances:
We had our chances the whole night it was just a matter of they capitalized I feel like they had a pretty good game. It created a lot of opportunities obviously they’re a good team and they had their chances too and that’s a hockey game, but I think we wish we had a little better of an outcome tonight.

Toffoli, on whether Minnesota makes getting the puck down the center of the ice difficult:
Yeah, they just play as a team. They play a good system there and the thing that they’re doing is working for them and they executed tonight.

Toffoli, on what he liked and disliked from tonight’s power play:
Same thing– we had good opportunities,we had some good shots, we’ve just got to hit the net and find a way to capitalize late in the game and score a big goal.

Post-game Notes

–With the loss, Los Angeles fell to 29-21-14 all-time against Minnesota, a record that includes a home mark of 16-10-6. The Wild have points in seven of their last nine games at Staples Center, going 4-2-3 and have points in 11 of the last 12 games in the series overall (7-1-4).

–With the loss, the Kings fell to 1-4-1 against the Western Conference, 0-4-0 against the Central Division, 1-2 in two-goal games, 4-2-0 when scoring first, 1-3-0 when tied after the first period, 0-9-0 when trailing after the second period and 2-5-0 when outshooting their opponent.

–With an attendance of 17,621, tonight’s game ended a franchise-record 297 consecutive Staples Center sellouts. The last game that failed to sell out was a 2-1 win over Florida on December 1, 2011, Terry Murray’s final win as Los Angeles’ coach.

–Nino Niederreiter’s first period power play goal ended a string of 17 consecutive penalty kills by the Kings.

–Los Angeles’ four-game power play goal streak came to an end, as did Ilya Kovalchuk’s four-game assist streak and Jeff Carter’s three-game assist streak.

–With a goal and an assist, Zach Parise recorded the 699th and 700th points of his NHL career. He is the 32nd United States-born player to reach 700 points.

–The Kings attempted 65 shots (28 on goal, 18 blocked, 19 missed). The Wild attempted 52 shots (24 on goal, 14 blocked, 14 missed). Jeff Carter led all skaters with five shots on goal and 10 shot attempts.

–Los Angeles won 32-of-60 faceoffs (53%). Adrian Kempe won 2-of-5, Anze Kopitar won 14-of-24, Trevor Lewis won 1-of-1, Nate Thompson won 6-of-10 and Jeff Carter won 9-of-20.

Post-game Highlights

The Kings are scheduled to practice at 11:00 a.m. at Toyota Sports Center on Friday, November 9.

–Lead photo via Adam Pantozzi/NHLI