Kopitar postgame quotes

Postgame quotes from Anze Kopitar who, with three assists, now leads the NHL in scoring with 19 points, two ahead of Alexander Ovechkin, who had one assist tonight…

(on his game thoughts…)

KOPITAR: “I thought the first period was kind of in between. We had some chances and they had some chances. They scored that goal, and it was a good power play. They moved it around pretty quick and we got caught running around a little bit too. They bear down, and they have some great players. In the second, I thought we beared down a little more, especially on our power play. We got two goals on the PP that were huge. On the third one, Parse made a great play and then the fourth line, Simmer made the strong move in front of the net. The fifth one was the empty-netter. I thought that after the first period, we played better than we did the first.’’

(on closing out the third period after Thursday’s letdown…)

KOPITAR: “Yeah, absolutely (it was big). That’s what you want to see, almost. We get the lead, 4-2, and then we got scored on but we were able to hold them back. We got after them and had a lot of offensive-zone time. We didn’t give up a whole lot. The last shift, of course, they’re going to throw everything at you, but Quickie stood on his head for us too, and it was good to see.’’

(on Simmonds’ play on the top line…)

KOPITAR: “In my case, when I first got here, I wanted to do the best I could every night. Simmer got the chance and so far he’s proving that he wants to play with me and Smitty. That’s what Terry, and everyone else, were looking for, for somebody to step up like that, and Simmer’s doing a fantastic job.’’