Will it stay between the whistles?

With the extra day between Games 2 and 3, will things cool down between the Kings and the St. Louis Blues. There was a ton of emotion in Game 2. The Blues, under any circumstance, play an aggressive, hard-hitting game, but they seemed extra-motivated to take the body against the Kings, probably because Alex Pietrangelo was out of the lineup for Game 2 after a hit from Dwight King in Game 1. There was a total of 100 penalty minutes in the game. For parts of the game, the Kings did a good job with composure, but it got away from them in the third period when they took too many penalties. What will Game 3 look like? Jeff Carter, Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Darryl Sutter talked about the Game 2 penalties and the Kings’ need for improved discipline.

CARTER: “It’s a heated game, and especially in the playoffs sometimes you kind of boil over, but we have some veteran guys and a lot of experience on this team. We talk to each other and tell each other to relax and stay composed and just keep playing our game. It definitely helps.’’

KOPITAR: “They were (trailing), and the frustration probably kicks in a little bit. That’s just how it is. You’ve got to play whistle-to-whistle, and then what happens after, you want to stay away from it as much as you can. That’s part of the game, and we’re going to be ready for it.’’

DOUGHTY: “They’re trying to do some things after the whistle, whether it’s chirping or throwing a few shots at us. But we want to play in between the whistles. We want to show our character and how tough, mentally and physically, we are between the whistles. We’re not going to do that kind of stuff after, to take penalties and give them power-play opportunities, because their power play is pretty good.’’

SUTTER: “Well, certainly I don’t think either team would want to be in that position again, in terms of after the whistle and extra-curricular. Both teams had been, at least until (Game 2), the two least-penalized teams. That’s usually not something that carries over. … I didn’t really think it was that physical. It reminded me almost of some of that Philly-Pittsburgh stuff, where it really wasn’t physical. It was just kind of stuff after the whistle, that looks like a lack of discipline.’’