Regehr: Game 4 hostilities “more of a reaction-type deal”

The back-and-forth jawing and post-whistle scrums will inevitably occur in a playoff series contested by in-state divisional rivals who are meeting for the third time over four postseasons.

“It’s a lot of games against teams and you want to make sure that you’re into it emotionally and physically,” Robyn Regehr said.

The veteran Los Angeles defender was a principal actor in a late-game convergence of bodies and found himself engaging burly San Jose forward Brent Burns at the game’s final horn. 11 seconds earlier, Justin Williams tangled with Justin Braun. Shortly before that, roughing penalties were assessed to Willie Mitchell, Kyle Clifford, Andrew Desjardins, Mike Brown and Raffi Torres.

34 of Game 4’s 74 penalty minutes were assessed in the final five minutes. Was there any reason, other than it being playoff hockey, that led to a deterioration of the on-ice conduct between the two heated rivals?

“I don’t know,” Regehr said. “There are just different situations that happen out there. You could tell that it was kind of getting to that point and it was just more of a reaction-type deal at that point.”

Robyn Regehr, on Darryl Sutter changing his attitude as a playoff series progresses:
No, he doesn’t really change. We make little adjustments as a team that he sees fit on the fly and as the games go and even as the series goes along. But that’s really the only thing that changes. All the other stuff stays the same. [Reporter: Does he change from a tactical approach to an emotional approach to the way that he addresses the team?] Well the amount of preparation that we do doesn’t change. It’s still a lot of, not only video, but a lot of mental prep too. Depending on the players, they’re all different as individuals, but preparation is a big part of Darryl and his coaching philosophy. So that never changes.