March 29 postgame quotes: Iginla, Gaborik

Jarome Iginla, on the game (recording started with interview in progress):
…right from the drop of the puck and it was a fun. For us, that’s a playoff-style game. We’re do or die at this point and it was one that we all played hard and it went the right way and it feels good.

Iginla, on whether he was satisfied with the Kings response to Tkachuk:
Yeah I think so. We were trying to play hard and send a message. We obviously [inaudible] with that stuff but hopefully most of that stuff is done and I’m sure there’ll be battles for years but hopefully it’ll just be out on the ice.

Iginla, on whether he’s surprised that Tkachuk is making an impact as an agitator:
Well, I don’t know if I agree with all of it. So we’ll just leave it at that. He’s had a good rookie season. Playing well on the team, an important part, and he looks like he’s going to be a really good player but it’d be nice just to see the battles on the ice as opposed to the other stuff and it’ll be fun to watch. Obviously our fans are not going to like him for a long time or ever and vice versa but that’s part of the fun part of sports.

Iginla, on an “emotional game” and how they can build off of it:
Yeah nobody’s giving up and from our point of view we just have to win one at a time and get some good feelings going again and getting guys in a groove and it can go quick. [inaudible] …some teams do that but we’ve got to take care of ourselves so this is a start and now it’ll be just about getting ready for Vancouver. We have to watch other things but we also have to make sure we’re focusing on ourselves and that was a good team game for us and hopefully something to run with.

Iginla, on whether he could sense during warmups that the game would be “like 80s hockey”:
Yeah a little bit. If you see our warmup then you could tell there was some intensity there and some animosity and it’s fun. It’s battling, it’s competing and I thought both sides, that was part of it and you can feel it right from the drop of the puck. There was some big hits, obviously some fights, and it was, for me I thought it was closer to a playoff game. Those are fun to be a part of and that intensity. The building was going tonight and it feels good because obviously from our point of view it went well.

Iginla, on whether he’ll play another game in Calgary:
I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. I still have fun. It’s still great. I don’t know how many more games I’ll play here but this’ll be one that I will remember and it’s special. Yeah, it’s honestly, I really just don’t know. Go back and forth, see how the year finishes, and talk to my family and go from there.

Marian Gaborik, on what he liked about his line with Kopitar and Iginla:
Well the lines were kind of changing because of all the penalties at the start but then it kind of quieted down a little bit, especially for the third period. But still, with Andy missing, we were rotating a bunch of guys. And a huge win for us. We were struggling against these guys in the past so we were glad we got these two points and just overall a good game by everyone. Bish was strong and just yeah, a good game for us.

Gaborik, on the emotion on the ice at the start of the game:
Yeah guys stepped up and everyone obviously had a big impact on the game and then it just kind of squared off and we started to play hockey. But yeah it was good from those guys to get that job done and just move on after that and play good the rest.

Gaborik, on making an impact after being a healthy scratch the previous game:
I don’t know. I don’t really want to get in to it so I’m glad I played tonight and then get two points so happy about that.