March 10 morning skate quotes: Darryl Sutter

On Los Angeles’ strong play:
The schedule, quite honest, has backed off a little bit. We had a really tough schedule from Christmas going into the Olympic break, and it caught up with us a little. I think the break refreshed [us] and guys went overseas and came back playing really well.

On Martin Jones’ transition to the National Hockey League:
We had him for seven playoff rounds, so nobody else’s at that time third goalie in the NHL could say that. So he had a lot of experience. Really, when you look at it, he had six months experience [and was] with the team every day. The biggest part of experience is seeing those situations. He’s been a really good American League goalie, he was a really good junior goalie, he was a World Junior goalie, so he’s just taking small steps as he goes.

On Alec Martinez:
He’s hitting the net and the puck’s going in. He made a good play a play a couple nights ago, and last night it goes through three or four guys. Our defense shoots the puck a lot, and we get to the net a lot. Eventually the percentages play out. [Reporter: Hitting the net, too – Jake Muzzin had seven shots on goal yesterday.] You can’t hit the net, or it can’t go in unless they move the net around.

On why Los Angeles’ scoring has increased recently:
Well, we were a high scoring team last year, but you have to break it down into personnel. We have two or three guys that haven’t had the offensive goal scoring type of year that they had last year. So you expect them to do that, and they do do that. Jeff led the conference in scoring last year. You know, Mike and Brownie are looked on as guys that can give you goals. We didn’t lose anybody that was an offensive guy, so you’re still counting on your guys that are used to scoring. Quite honest, it’s not that big a deal. If you make the playoffs, playoffs are low scoring. Just watch the tournament in Sochi – it’s low scoring. It’s not about stars. That’s what it’s about. It’s about teams that check well and if you score big goals. Different guys get hot at different times. It’s not necessary that high scoring teams are the best teams. It’s the differential.

On Marian Gaborik’s play through his first two games:
I think the first game he was tired, obviously, flying from Chicago the night before, and then there’s obviously the adjustment coming to a team. But he’s been fine. It’s going to take time. It’s not going to be an overnight-type-of-thing for him. He’s a smart guy, and you can tell he understands what it takes.

On Gaborik’s usage:
On the road, you’re trying to use four lines. You’re trying to balance it out other than special teams. So he’s going to get some power play time, and obviously we have guys that are set for penalty killers, and try and keep lines together as much as you can other than penalties. Time outs give you different looks, if you want.

On potential changes to overtime being discussed at the general managers’ meetings:
Personally, and you guys know from before, I don’t want it decided in shootouts. If it’s so important, then why don’t we use them in playoffs, and if it’s so important, why don’t they do it before the start of the game so you don’t have to worry about it. Why are so many games decided in shootouts? It’s ridiculous, quite honest. I would prefer you just added like two or three minutes more onto four-on-four, and then you could wrinkle that, too, meaning switch ends, things like that. There’s a little advantage in that, too…You should try and decide it in a team format, not in an individual format.

On a “coach’s challenge” used as part of video replay:
Aw, throw shoes, throw sticks. Throw water bottles. They don’t friggin’ listen to us anyways, so what difference does it make?…Whatever, right? Just say that somebody from behind threw it. We had some interesting scenarios already this season. [Reporter: Are you a proponent of coaches being able to do those things, though? Would you like to be able to do that?] You’d have to tighten that up, right? There are coaches or coaching staffs that would use it every game. [Reporter: Do you feel like it would slow down the pace of the game a bit, having challenges, or do you think it wouldn’t be too bad?] We have the commercial time outs now. You know what? The best way is to have a monitor in the box. There will be advancements in technology, for sure. That’s clear. I’m not so sure it’s got to be a ‘challenge.’ We have a war room in Toronto, and we put a lot on the officials, but at the same time there’s a lot of instruction from Toronto, so I’m sure that they can get thumbs up – thumbs down. We can do that in a second with Facetime. You’re not slowing the game down. You’re not watching the game enough if you think it’s slowing down. The game’s still played in less time than it was 10 years ago. You’ve got to watch the game.

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