December 1 morning skate quotes: Darryl Sutter

On who will start in net tonight:
I think our schedule sets up for one goalie.

On the Arizona Coyotes:
I think they’re a typical division – you know, we have four teams in this division that play real similar games. Play a fast game, play a check game, so I think we’re pretty familiar with ‘em.

On not having enough room for Andy Andreoff on the 23-man roster:
Well you don’t decide the roster and neither do I, and there is only 23 roster spots. [Reporter: I guess it’s a fancy way of saying it’s not the injury that’s keeping him out of the lineup right now, it’s just numbers. Is that fair to say?] I’d say both. Yeah. I’d say that’s both.

On why the Kings have been able to maintain strong possession rates every year:
I think our ability to play well in our own zone and get the puck back and make good plays to go in the other zone. You know, there’s this great swing to analytics, well, we started doing that five or six years ago and figured out that it’s way better to have the puck than not have the puck, and that is always still the most important stat in it all. So if you can have it more than the other team, which is really hard to do, then the next part if it is to be able to reward yourself or take advantage of that, which means is ‘to score.’ It doesn’t sound like much, but a quarter of a goal a game, or a third of a goal a game is the difference between winning and losing, and you can have all the experts you want in that part of it, but still, that’s about an athlete being able to score. If you do it right today, the score is 2.8 to 2.2, so I have a pretty good handle on that, and we use a lot of breakdowns and analysis to trying to come up with getting another .1 or .2 out of that so you win games. [Reporter: If it is as simple as getting the puck out of your own zone quickly – obviously up to the forwards is one of the keys – I think everybody stresses that. Why have you guys been able to have success with that despite changing personnel?] Well, we have changed personnel a lot. In the last five years our defense has gone through a dramatic change unexpectedly and expectedly. You have to have certain types of players. Everyone’s says that the game is going this way or going that way, well, it’s still about the goaltender making a save and making as few as he has to, which means limiting shots. It means defensemen that have a really good hockey IQ that can skate, but at the same time they have to be able to separate in their checking to get pucks back. There’s not a one-dimensional type of defensemen. There are only so many Drew Doughtys and Ekman-Larssons in the league. There’s this flavor that says that it’s all about defensemen skating, but it’s one thing to be able to skate. You’ve got to be able to get the puck back, and to be able to make a play is another thing that’s very important. Some guys can skate and can’t make a play, some guys can make a play and can’t skate, some guys can’t check. You need that blend of that player, for sure.

On whether he liked any of Wednesday’s late-game line combinations:
You know what? As we go forward and Gabby, we see some improvement, then we’re going to give him an opportunity to play with Kopi. I think that he’s going to have to score to be able to do that, and he’s going to have to check. Gabby’s played now two games that are important in eight months. He came back in the playoffs last year and he was probably 75%, he played because he wanted to and his heart and we trusted him, but he was never up to where he wanted to be or where we expected him to be, and he had a tough regular season already as part of that. He played the other night and then he played last night, so he’s got two games under his belt. He is going to affect the changes in the lineup more than anybody else, talking about players that were injured or not injured. We’ve got lots of guys who can play on the fourth line. You know what? That depends on our opponent. We have five or six guys that are going to go in and out of the lineup and play on our fourth line. That’s something based on how much they contribute in terms of scoring and things like that. That’s like Jon talking about a player, hey, those guys who’ve played nine or 10 games and want more, if they want to contriute, they’re not a shoo-in, they’re a game-time decision. Hey, I’d rather stick with Jeff’s line. I’d rather, but at the same time, the wingers on that line have got to produce, otherwise [they won’t play together]. It’s not that hard to figure out. A lot of it’s opponent or how they’re playing. Heck, we need to get Kopi up to speed. [Reporter: Is he not yet?] I think he was better last night. He’s been really good early in games. I think his ability to sustain a high level, which we expect out of him for the course of the game is something he’s got to work on, and I think the Dowd line, quite honest, is on the ice for too many goals against. You can’t just be on the ice and be a minus-player. They’ve got to be a better line for us, or else it’s not a line.