Morning Skate Quotes, January 31

DARRYL SUTTER

On the importance on keeping momentum going in the last home game before the road trip:

“You break our schedule down, our first 15 games are on the road, so it’s not momentum from any game, other than tonight’s game. We just want to continue to play well and hopefully get points out of it.”

On power play struggles:

“We’ll continue to work at it and finish our opportunities.”

On why that has been a challenge:

“Finish our opportunities. Continue to get ‘em, and then finish ‘em.”

On who will start in goal for Los Angeles:

“If you get here for warm-ups, he’s the first guy out and he doesn’t get hurt in warm-ups, then that’s generally the guy that starts for every team…Remember, it’s not baseball.”

On the “fourth line”:

“If you look at the production from whatever you class as the fourth line – if you base it just on production, I’m not sure which one it is. There hasn’t been a consistent fourth line, really. Jordy and Fras have been on it, and we’ve been trying to get those guys going in terms of their ice time.”

On whether Penner will be in the lineup:

“You’ll see after they sing the song.”

On what Penner has to do to get back into the lineup:

“You know, we’re trying to get his conditioning to the point where he’s game ready.”

On whether “getting back into game shape” has been what has held Penner back:

“Correct.”

JAKE MUZZIN

On how he would grade himself thus far:

“I’m feeling pretty good out there. A lot more confident than I was last time coming into the NHL. I have a lot more experience underneath my belt, and I did come in right out of junior. I’ve been two years in the minors, so, you know, I feel good out there. As far as grading yourself, you can always be better. Just working on stuff every day, and learning from the older guys, and taking in the stuff that Johnny and Coach are telling me through video and certain stuff like that.”

On what encouragement he has received from his teammates:

“Just ‘good job’ here, ‘good job’ there. Greener sent me a text after my first NHL goal, which was really nice. I felt it means a lot when an older guy goes out of his way to congratulate you. All the guys congratulated me and stuff like that. Little stuff like that makes you feel good about yourself and feel a part of things a little bit more.”

On defensemen he respected growing up:

“Growing up, it was like Chris Pronger was pretty successful, and Nick Lidstrom and guys like that. Through junior, watching a guy we’re going to play…tonight, Weber. You know, big, strong, physical defenseman and stuff like that.”

KYLE CLIFFORD

On whether playing in the ECHL prepared him for this season:

“Yeah, but I mean, I didn’t want to get into bad habits and things like that. I just wanted to try and stick to my game. Obviously it’s a different game down there. But I wanted to work onto my game. I didn’t want to become an offensive player down there. [I didn’t want to] just be a dangler at the blue line. Some of those things you try down there wouldn’t necessarily work up here. I just tried to keep my focus and focus on the NHL style of game instead of being a Sidney Crosby in the East Coast.”

ANZE KOPITAR

On whether confidence from Monday’s win can carry into tonight’s game:

“We’ve done it a bunch of times before, really. Again, you’re just trying to have a good start for tonight, and worry about your game and what we do on the ice. I’m pretty sure if we do that, we’ve proved it to ourselves already that it’s working for us, so no it’s just a matter of going out and really doing it.”