December 10 Rapid Reaction (feat. Patrick O’Neal): Red Wings 3, Kings 1

Rapid Reaction, feat. Patrick O’Neal of FOX Sports West

Post-game Quotes

Desjardins, on what he looked for from the defensemen tonight:
I thought we were good. I thought they had some chances early in the game. I thought as the game wore on, we got better. But you know, they’re a team they stretch a lot, they have a lot of outnumbered rushes where they’re pushing the pace out of the zone. I thought our D played a good game tonight. They handled that speed well. We had a couple breakdowns and unfortunately, it ended up in the back of our net, but that happens sometimes. You play good games and you don’t get rewarded and there’s nothing you can do about that. You just have to keep going.

Desjardins, on what he liked from the Scherbak-Kempe-Toffoli line:
They’re a good young line and I like what I see. I hope I can keep building with that line. I think Toffoli’s starting to play well, Kempe’s played well too, and I think Scherbak, he’s just kind of finding his way with in league right now, but he makes some high-end plays.

Desjardins, on whether there was any particular reason for changing up the defensive pairings:
No, I think at that point in the game you’re just looking for anything that’s going to create, you’re just trying to find ways to create chances. We used a lot of different combinations, but it’s just trying to find guys that are fresh and ready to go.

Desjardins, on whether Quick is projected to start in net tomorrow:
We’ll evaluate that. We have lots of confidence in Cal, too. I think Quickie’s played great for us, but Cal has been good, so we’ll have to evaluate that tomorrow.

Anze Kopitar, on tonight’s loss not being due to a lack of effort:
Yeah. I don’t think there’s any night we question effort with this group. We obviously alway try and play as hard as you can really. Like tonight, yeah, that second period could’ve been a lot different if we did bury a couple of goals. We had a few two-on-ones that, when you get ‘em, you’ve just got to capitalize on them and we didn’t do it and they did.

Kopitar, on outshooting Detroit:
For sure. It’s a one-nothing game and we had, like I said, some two-on-ones. You tie that up, the game can turn certainly in a different direction. But we didn’t do it, so we can’t be satisfied with just having chances. You’ve got to win games.

Kopitar, on how the team will prepare for playing Buffalo in the next 24 hours:
Just do what you always do. Get prepared and make sure the effort is there.

Muzzin, on being paired with Fantenberg:
It’s a little different. Usually the big switch is usually you switch hands with your partner, righty to a lefty or what have you. But I was fortunate enough where Oscar was a lefty as well, so that’s usually the big switch, just passing habits, tendencies like that. You just sometimes you don’t look because you’re so used to throwing it to a lefty.

Muzzin, on what he thought they could improve on:
Just a little bit more talk. First game with Oscar, he plays a different style than Marty so you’ve just got to talk a little bit more. I thought we did a pretty good job tonight.

Muzzin, on generating a high number of shots on goal:
We created a lot. We also gave up a lot in the second, I thought. We gave up some chances on the rushes where they could’ve had a few more and I think we could’ve had a few more too. You know, you play with fire like that, we don’t score enough goals to play that way. It’s just the bottom line and we didn’t score. We had a lot of shots, a lot of chances, and we just didn’t capitalize on some chances. That’s what it was.

Muzzin, on whether tonight’s loss is deflating after winning 5-1 against Vegas:
Yep, very. We’ve got to work on our consistent play, you know, shift to shift, game to game. We can’t have these highs and lows. We play a good game against Vegas and I thought we didn’t play bad. It would’ve been nice to get another win on the road and kind of start this road trip off on the right foot. But you know, another game tomorrow so let’s go.

Kempe, on the emotion in the room right now:
Obviously frustrated. I think we came up from last game yesterday with five goals and we were looking to build on that. We played a good game, just didn’t capitalize enough on our chances. I think this is a game that we definitely should’ve won.

Kempe, on giving up chances on the rush:
I think we gave up a little too much on the rush and stuff like that. We know they’re a fast team and that they like to take off, but I think we responded pretty well though. We created a lot of chances and if we put a couple on the board there, I think we’d have a good chance of winning the game, so it’s just frustrating on that part.

Kempe, on generating outnumbered rushes, but not being able to capitalize:
Definitely. I think we started off well, as well. In the first period, we had a lot of chances and if you get a goal maybe the game goes the other way. It’s just frustrating game, but I think we still played pretty well and created a lot of chances, but we’re going to build on that for next game.

Post-game Notes

–With the loss, Los Angeles falls to 87-83-32 all-time against Detroit, a record that includes a road mark of 36-48-17. Prior to tonight, the Kings had won three straight games against the Red Wings but have now lost eight of their last 11 in Detroit.

–With the loss, Los Angeles fell to 5-8-0 against the Eastern Conference, 2-5-0 against the Atlantic Division, 3-5 in games decided by two goals, 0 games decided by three or more goals, 2-17-1 when their opponent scores first, 1-12-1 when trailing after the first period, 0-15-0 when trailing after two periods and 3-8-0 when outshooting their opponent.

–Tonight’s game marked game 1 of a four-game road trip, tied for the Kings’ second longest road trip of the season. In their first four-game road trip (Oct. 9 – Oct. 15), the Kings went 1-3-0.

–Anze Kopitar scored his eighth goal of the season tonight and has found the back of the net in both games against the Red Wings this season.

–Alex Iafallo collected the primary assist on Kopitar’s goal to finish with three points (2-1-3) from two games this season against Detroit.

–Los Angeles attempted 81 shots (43 on goal, 18 blocked, 20 missed). Detroit attempted 43 shots (21 on goal, 8 blocked, 14 missed). Every skater on the Kings recorded at least one shot on goal and Tyler Toffoli finished with a game-high eight shots on goal.

–The Kings won 24-of-54 faceoffs (44%). Adrian Kempe won 3-of-9, Michael Amadio won 0-of-3, Anze Kopitar won 9-of-23, Nate Thompson won 4-of-5, Jeff Carter won 6-of-12, and Branden Leipsic and Tyler Toffoli each won 1-of-1.

The Kings are traveling to Buffalo this evening after the game. No official word yet on plans for a morning skate tomorrow, should find out either later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Post-game Highlights

–Lead photo via Gregory Shamus/Getty Images