Darryl Sutter, on Slava Voynov’s name alongside Wayne Gretzky’s and under Luc Robitaille’s for the most game-winning goals in team postseason history:
“I wish there were some other guys on our team that had more game-winning goals. I wouldn’t say it’s goofy, but we put him in position to succeed a lot. Quite honestly, he’s had more opportunities to shoot the puck than most guys on the team the way it’s set up for him. We expect him to take full advantage of it.”
Sutter, on any “style of play” similarities between Los Angeles and Boston:
“I think the last two teams that won the Stanley Cups play great team games. They get a contribution from everybody in the lineup. It’s not about one player. You have to be able to play a 200-foot game. You have to be disciplined in all three zones. Stay out of the penalty box. You can play a physical game without taking penalties. In fact, I haven’t looked the last few days, but I know we’re one of the lowest penalized teams in the league. It has a big impact on other teams’ top players, your ability to defend.”
Sutter’ on the team’s power play against Chicago:
“Lots of opportunities and not finishing.”
Sutter, on how Los Angeles can take advantage of Duncan Keith being out of the lineup:
“Chicago’s the best team in the league this year, not based on one player. In fact, Duncan Keith’s minutes were cut back substantially this year to allow them to be a fresh team every night. Probably one of the reasons they were the best team in the league by a longshot was the fact that their defense was healthy. I think if you look at it, Duncan and Seabrook and Hjalmarsson and Oduya either played 46, 47, 48 games, and probably one of those was resting for the playoffs. Don’t put a whole lot of stock in that. We’ve done that already, nobody’s talked about it. When you do the minute comparables in terms of guys that are valuable to our team, we played a whole year without a third of our defense and won the Stanley Cup last year, the whole year. I don’t think we’re too concerned with one player for them. We’re more concerned about our own players, if they’re healthy.”
Sutter, on Jarret Stoll playing with Dustin Brown and Justin Williams:
“I think the centermen knew the day before. It’s not that big a deal. Quite honestly, we played our same lines every shift, every game last year in the playoffs, just about all year this year, other than left wingers. We just moved Kopi more into a quieter role, that’s all. Wasn’t really Jarret.” [Reporter: A quieter role meaning going up not the top six, the lower six?] Yeah. And, quite honestly, you’re playing so many games in a short period of time, if you break the minutes down again, Kopi still played 20 minutes the other night. Everybody’s top players still play. When it’s all said and done, unless somebody has a two or more goal lead, the reason that everybody is still playing, or the teams that are still playing, is because their top players play a lot. You basically win or lose with those guys. So it’s not like we’re not going to play this guy. I mean, top players are the reason the top teams are still playing.”
On why he had previously referred to not wanting to put Tyler Toffoli in this situation:
“He’s 20 years old. That’s a lot of pressure. [Reporter: How has he handled it?] He was good last game. He was good the game before that. Struggled in the San Jose series. We’ll see how he does tonight. I don’t put any pressure on the player, that player. I just want him to be good, shift-to-shift. If he doesn’t, I’m not going to say, You’re a bad boy. I’m just not going to play him. He’s 20 years old. Maybe he’s 21 now. Not sure.”
Matt Greene, on the aspects of Game 3 that the team would like to replicate:
“Just our forecheck. Just making sure that we’re getting more pucks behind their D, just not making it easy on them. We don’t want to have any turnovers from the blue line to the top of the circles for ‘em.”
Greene, on whether Los Angeles and Boston’s styles are recipes for postseason success:
“It’s however you can get it done. That’s it. There’s no right or wrong way to win games, just as long as you win ‘em. That’s it. At this time of the year, you can take whatever you want out of ‘em, and it really doesn’t make a difference. If you’re getting the wins here, you’re moving on.”
Greene, on whether there was an added physical element to Game 3:
“I think it wasn’t the “physical”, it was just establishing our game plan, having the puck a little bit more. I think in Games 1 and 2 they were having a transition game, they were getting a lot of what they wanted off the rush, and we just tried to slow them down a little bit. That’s what we want to do. We can’t run and gun with these guys.”
Jarret Stoll, on joining Dustin Brown and Justin Williams:
You’ve just got to prepare yourself the best you can. Mentally, play situations over in your head. Be ready for anything. No surprises out there, so that when it does happen, you’re ready for anything, and that doesn’t matter who you’re playing with. Those situations happen no matter who you’re with. That’s kind of the way I’ve gone about it. Yeah, my first couple games back, I definitely wasn’t happy, like a lot of guys were in here. But for me, personally, for sure – to come back and have a decent game in Game 3 and hopefully in Game 4.
Stoll, on strong starts:
‘Yeah, we need a good start again. They’re saying the same thing, I’m sure. We’ve got to limit turnovers, get pucks in. You can’t try and do too much and turn pucks over in the neutral zone. That’s just a recipe for disaster. We know that. It starts with faceoffs, getting puck possession, moving the puck well, too. Snapping the puck around, having good passes. When we get in trouble some times, our passes are off and we’re fluttering pucks. Therefore, if we’re good in that area, we’ll be able to get pucks in deep and get our forecheck going and get a good start that way.”
Justin Williams, on the Blackhawks being without Duncan Keith:
“They do what they do. We do what we do. It is what it is. He’s out a game. It’s big part of their team. So be it.”
Williams, on how Sutter has helped the team “reset” after long series:
“He’s the coach. He watches us and watches us and watches us and not only watches us on the ice, off the ice as well. So he knows where our state of mind is at, and that’s one of his good qualities as a coach. He knows where players are at mentally. They’ve been tough series, plain and simple. Hard hitting, long, but we’ve moved on from that. We’re expecting another seven-game series here.”
Williams, on whether last year’s Stanley Cup run has helped this Kings team:
“Any experience you go through as a hockey player, whether winning or losing, is going to help you when times get tough. Winning last year certainly helps us, certainly gives us an added sense of belonging and knowing we can accomplish what we set out to do.”
Williams, on Boston’s Gregory Campbell staying on after breaking a leg while blocking a shot:
“There was a replay of it right now. That part was on. It’s playoff hockey. You’re feeling bad for him wheeling around out there. He made it to the bench, took some strides off of it. That’s digging in for your team.”
Williams, on whether it’s difficult to listen to Jeff Carter try to talk with 20 stitches:
“Jeff doesn’t say much all the time anyway, so he’s usually a pretty quiet guy.”
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