March 12 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On whether the game against St. Louis stands out among the remaining games:
All the teams that are close to you stand out. I don’t think we can get too far ahead or too far back or any of that stuff. We usually have good games with them. We’ve played ‘em lots over the years.

On “things starting to click,” based on back-to-back wins and gaining points:
We’ve got points for quite a while now. Other than one game – the Vancouver game – we’ve got points. We’re trying to be a good middle-of-the-pack team, which is what our realistic expectations were coming into the year instead of saying ‘this is what we are, this is what we [aren’t],’ and it’s a real fair evaluation of our group.

On any element of Saturday’s game that he’d like to apply to the remaining games:
Yeah, not folding our tents, not listening to outside criticism. Don’t let anybody or anything get away from what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to be honest with each other and our assessment of how we play and try and play that way. We’ve done it a lot lately, when you look at it. It ties into so much of the game in terms of momentum during games, because you never always have it, but you never really lose it. You’re not always going to score the first goal and you’re not always going to have the lead, and you’re not always going to get the right call and all those things. It’d be easy to fall out or slide off because of that, but we won’t. We’ll be honest. We’ll be true to what we believe.

On whether he remembers his first goal:
Yeah, somebody asked me that last night and I couldn’t remember it because it was right after the game, but I’m pretty sure it was in Chicago Stadium. Actually, I know it was in Chicago Stadium, and it was against Rogie. He was a Red Wing. [Reporter: Was it a game-winner?] I couldn’t tell you. I was 21. I was the same age as Kempe, so I could not tell you. [Reporter: When you think about his goal – it’s a game-winner in an important game – I guess for him it makes it a little bit more special.] It’s his 10th game. I was hoping he’d have a couple by now. We might have two more wins. [Reporter: Do you remember any of the goals that you scored in Japan?] No, I can’t even remember most of the nights. Hey, I was 20.

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