November 20 morning skate quotes: Darryl Sutter

On what has been missing from Tanner Pearson’s game:
Probably five or six years of experience. It’s not that big a deal. Maybe he’s successful now, too. It was a hot topic because he was Player of the Month and had a good start. We’ll manage his minutes a little bit better, and hopefully he plays better. He’s 22 years old. He’s actually been a better player than some of our 32-year-olds.

On whether Trevor Lewis’ high shot rate influenced his placement on Anze Kopitar’s line:
No, I don’t think so. If you look at his highest shots games, he’s played 12 minutes with Gaborik and Kopitar in his season. I don’t think the shots on goal would reflect playing with close guys. [Reporter: So it’s just the traditional package that you get from him – the hustle, the work, the skating?] He’s just coming back from injuries…so if you look at the game he got hurt in, he had six shots on goal and we lost, so I don’t know what bearing it has on anything. I’d like him to get one and score.

On whether he’s “still concerned” about Drew Doughty’s heavy usage:
What am I going to do about it? Say ‘yes’ and not play him that much and lose? Not much you can do about it. Is it a good number? No, it’s not. It doesn’t help Drew, and it doesn’t help us. [Reporter: He loves it.] Well, how old’s Drew? 24? I was working on his whole game than trying to play the whole game…When you play that much, you’re not as effective.

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