Murray postgame quotes

Terry Murray’s postgame thoughts…

(on the late bench-minor penalty and ensuing discussion…)
MURRAY: “I just wanted to talk to him. Nothing more than that. There’s a line change that happened, where the referee is waiting for them to put their player on the ice, and I get the last change. I’m the home team and I wanted to get a different line out there. He said no. He sent them back. I’m not sure what happened there, but that’s what I was wanting to talk about, as to what his view of the play was.”

(on the game in general…)
MURRAY: “Didn’t start very well. I haven’t seen the replay on it, but it looked like it must have changed direction on (Quick) though. That looked like a pretty innocent play going to the net. It must have hit something. But we bounced back. We got the two goals quickly and got a nice lead. Not a comfortable lead, mind you. They called a timeout and they seemed to get reenergized. We took too many penalties tonight. Two 5-on-3s, and then the 5-on-4s. Just too much of giving them opportunities to get back in the game.”

(on `falling asleep’ on the shorthanded goal…)
MURRAY: “Very casual. Maybe it’s more `casual’ than falling asleep. We had the puck at the offensive blue line. It just pops out. Now we have it at the red line, and next thing you know, it’s behind our net. Just too casual in the corner. That player makes the play, we swing by the player that has the puck and he finds the guy back door. That’s a play that just can’t happen.”

(on whether the energy level was there…)
MURRAY: “Only at times. We got the two goals and there was good energy, jump. We had the right attitude of getting pucks in deep and getting on the forecheck. We were coming up with them. But as we started the game, not quite good enough, and then after that shorthanded goal, the energy seemed to dissipate pretty quickly there. Overall, we need to be better. There needs to be more of the type of game that we were showing in the first part of the year, lots of team energy, jump, good plays, top guys were doing the right stuff out there. We’re getting away from making right decisions with pucks right now. That’s a concern for me.”

(on the Kings’ possible fatigue level…)
MURRAY: “Sure. We talked about that. That’s not something I haven’t talked about before, with all the games we have played. Up until last night, we were tied with San Jose with most games played in the league and one fewer game than them on the road. We’ve played a lot, traveled a lot, been to the East Coast a couple times, so it’s going to take a toll. I say that, but that’s the way it is. That’s the way it is. You’ve got to deal with that part of the game, play intelligently and manage the puck properly. The travel, and the number of games you play, really has nothing to do with turning the puck over in the middle of the ice. That’s where you’ve got to make hard and strong plays.”