On any significance towards approaching 500 NHL wins:
I think in today’s game the most important part is percentages. You get extra points now. You get one point, so it’s way more important. It’s like when you get the thousand game thing, you’re able to do it over a long period of time, so that means you can do that. But the winning, the percentages are what’s important because at the end of the day, that allows you to be a playoff team, and I’m more into how many playoff games you’re in as a coach than anything else. I’d rather have a whole lot of playoff games than anything else. It’s the only reason you do it.
On “thoughts” towards Martin Gaborik’s adjustment with the team?
How’s my thought? I thought he’s adjusted well. [Reporter: Even if he’s not scoring, does he force other teams to account for him and free up space for other guys?] Certainly.
On Anze Kopitar claiming to have received an “emotional boost” from the Olympics:
I think all our guys came back…really sharp. I think the only time I noticed it, quite honest, was with Jeff and Drew probably, about the third game in. Like, Kopi for sure. He was really proud of going and really proud of how he played and proud of his country. It’s what I said – it doesn’t matter with those kids that went. It doesn’t matter if they all medaled or not. If you get to do that is what’s most important. As much as they represented their country, they represented us. And that’s what I said before. Those guys all went over that were way more winning-experienced than most of the players that went because of what they did the last two years. They always take that with them. It’s always good to see that.
On the winning streak:
You’ve got to get points. We’re trying to secure a spot, and you do it a point at a time. We’ve gone through two tough trips already, and we’ve got a couple more, and now we can just take it one at a time. It’s interesting how it all sets up, the teams that we do have left, just how it works. I’ve enjoyed that part of it, quite honest, the way it sets up, because you’re getting to play teams twice. You have to play Toronto again, and we’ve still got Washington, and we’ve still got Pittsburgh and Philly. For me, it’s refreshing still to see those teams instead of seeing teams over and over and over. It’s funny – I was just telling the guys in Calgary and Edmonton, and they’re in our division, and we didn’t play Edmonton up there until last Sunday, and we hadn’t been to Calgary until 10 days ago, and then we play them twice, and we’ve still got them again, and we’ve still got Edmonton. It’s interesting how it all shakes out. It’s good for our team to see other teams, too, I think.
Rules for Blog Commenting
Repeated violations of the blog rules will result in site bans, commensurate with the nature and number of offenses.
Please flag any comments that violate the site rules for moderation. For immediate problems regarding problematic posts, please email zdooley@lakings.com.