Postgame quotes (March 6)

Here are some quotes from postgame, as provided by the Kings. I haven’t had time to “copy edit” the quotes, so please forgive any errors, but I wanted to post these ASAP…

KINGS HEAD COACH TERRY MURRAY:
(Re game recap): “This was a pretty good effort, we just unfortunately gave the puck away at the wrong time.  The first goal, third goal, the second goal; it’s just some management of the puck, making plays, holding onto it, we don’t score at critical times on our power play.  We have four power play opportunities through the end of the second period which is critical, you take advantage of it and we don’t.”

(Re playoffs): “We need to start pushing out playoff mode attitude the right way here.  As I said to the players, the playoffs just don’t start now in the middle of April, they start in March in this league now and the Montreal Canadiens are a very desperate hockey club, they’re on the bubble, they’re tied with three other teams for the final playoff spot in the East so you got to recognize that and know that the intensity is going to be high.  They showed it in the first shift and we weren’t ready to match it.  We played fine but we were just playing the game, and you can’t just play the game right now you got to play with an attitude.”

KINGS FORWARD ANZE KOPITAR:
(Re game recap): “The start clearly wasn’t good. Montreal scored on the first shift. By the end of the first period we started to dictate play a bit more but in the second period we had some power play opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on. They also came back and scored a short-handed goal, which was frustrating.  I don’t know what it is.  We’re not going to try to find excuses for this, but we need to get better. That’s the bottom line. Everyone’s desperate to get into the playoffs and have the best seed possible. There are going to be hard games. No matter who we play, its going to be hard. We just need to get ready for it.”

KINGS FORWARD RYAN SMYTH:
(Re game recap): “In today’s game you need to capitalize on special teams, and we didn’t do that. We gave up on it, and it’s unacceptable. We need to get back to the basics, pressing and getting the puck to the net. We just needed to simplify the game a bit. That was very critical and we just didn’t execute. We need to play more desperate. We had to play catch-up. We didn’t give a good enough push throughout the game. Give them credit; they played well. Just because we’re in the playoffs right now doesn’t mean we’ll stay in them. We have to play to catch the teams in front of us instead of just trying to stay in front of the ones behind us.”

MONTREAL HEAD COACH JACQUES MARTIN:
(Re game recap): “I thought that we played a strong game defensively tonight.  It was one of our better games away from the puck as far as getting good protection for our goalie.  We did a good job in penalty killing situations and got a great performance out of our first line tonight.  A couple of goals and a big goal short-handed.  I think (the Kings) only had three chances in the third period so it wasn’t like they were great scoring chances.  I think (the Gionta line) started the game strong; strong first shift gave us a goal and the same thing early in the (third period) that was a really big goal for our team.  All through the game I thought they played strong at both ends of the ice.”

MONTREAL GOALTENDER JAROSLAV HALAK:
(Re game recap): “We knew the team we were facing tonight.  They have some pretty skilled players and we did a pretty good job tonight.  Even in the second period, we gave up some power plays, but we killed them all and I think that made the difference at the end of the game.  It’s only one game.  We need to keep bringing our best and try to win these games.  I thought tonight we did a great job.”

MONTREAL FORWARD BRIAN GIONTA:
(Re game recap): “Anytime you can jump on a team like that, early on, those things kind of set the tone for the game. We were able to do it again in the third.  I think we were much more confident today.  I think we just need to be a little more aggressive, stick with our game plan and not sit back.”