January 15 Rapid Reaction (feat. Jim Fox): Wild 3, Kings 2

Rapid Reaction, feat. Jim Fox

Post-game Quotes

Willie Desjardins, on what Minnesota did well to challenge Los Angeles:
Well, I think they’re a good forechecking team. They have lots of speed on their transition. They were moving it up quick and then landing behind our D and getting on us. I thought all night though, I thought we battled. There were parts we weren’t great, but we worked hard and defended. We were able to capitalize late and at least get a point out of it.

Desjardins, on Jonathan Quick being “on his game,” and what he meant to getting a point:
He’s been on his game lots this year. He’s a good goaltender. We rely on him a little bit too much, but he made some big saves, for sure. The game could’ve gotten away on us a little bit. We do depend on him that way.

Desjardins, on trying to generate energy and momentum on the road against Minnesota:
Well, I don’t think it was a matter of us – they came out and played hard. They’re a good team, they’re a big, heavy team, and when they have transition going, they’re hard to stop, and I thought our guys did a good job just staying in there. We stayed close enough until we had a chance, and then, who knows in overtime. That’s a tough one when you have to kill a penalty, a nd the guys battled on the kill.

Desjardins, on Drew Doughty’s penalty in overtime:
I honestly didn’t get a look at it. I was watching Kopitar with the puck. I didn’t see what happened at the net.

Jeff Carter, on whether he views tonight’s game as a point gained or a point lost:
I thought we were probably lucky to get a point. We had a slow start. They played last night, travelled last night. We had a slow start. You know, we got it to overtime, which was good. We showed some battle and got back, but probably not our best game.

Carter, on whether tonight’s point is a credit to Jonathan Quick:
Yeah we got a point and that’s because of him. I mean, that first period they had probably the first two periods, they had some big chances. Quickie was quickie tonight and that’s probably the reason we got a point.

Carter, on Ilya Kovalchuk’s performance recently:
I mean, yeah, he’s a skilled guy. He makes plays. You know, his goal — there wasn’t a lot involved. He drove the net and when you go to the net, even on my goal, you go to the net and pucks bounce around and we were able to whack a couple in. But he’s a high-skill guy and he’s obviously playing with Kopi and Brownie, which is a real good line and hopefully he can keep it going for us.

Carter, the takeaway from tonight’s game:
I mean, it was obviously the way I think we battled to get a point. We take that, but not our best, for sure.

Carter, on whether they need to crash the net more:
Probably, yeah.

Carter, on whether the ice was bad or not:
No, it’s always good here. It’s cold here.

Alec Martinez, on getting a point:
Quickie got us a point, simple as that. Without him in the net, it could’ve been 8-1, I don’t know. He stood on his head and he was the reason why we got the point. I mean, yeah, sometimes that happens in OT, you’ve got to dig deep and get a kill. Obviously we were successful in that, but back to what I said before, Quickie stood on his head and he’s the reason why we got a point today.

Martinez, on the challenge in trying to establish the game early on:
Playing in this building is difficult, so you always know that they’re going to be coming out hard and they’ve been struggling as of late and lost last night in Philly so you knew that they were going to bring it. I don’t think that we did a good enough job. Our second period I thought was terrible. We did things, we just weren’t playing the right way. We did things the right way one time and we scored, so for whatever reason we’re getting away from playing the game the right way and making plays, making passes, supporting each other. It was just too much sloppy play.

Martinez, on a lack of consistency in the team’s performances:
I think bottom line is you’ve got to be consistent in this league if you want to be successful. You’ve got to bring it night in and night out and, yeah, you’re going to have off nights. Everyone knows that. You don’t expect to play your A-game 82 games a year. There’s not a single team out there or team that’s ever played a game that’s done that. But I mean we sure as hell have got to be more consistent than we’ve been and we’ve got to figure that out.

Post-game Notes

–With the shootout loss, Los Angeles fell to 29-21-15 all-time against Minnesota, a record that includes a road mark of 13-11-9. 12 of the last 28 games between the teams have been decided in overtime or a shootout. The Wild have points in 21 of the last 25 games between the teams at Xcel Energy Center (16-4-5). By winning all three meetings this season, Minnesota swept the season series for the first time since 2006-07 and only the second time in the teams’ history.

–With the shootout loss, the Kings fell to 12-14-2 against the Western Conference, 4-6-1 against the Central Division, 7-4-4 in one-goal games, 5-21-3 when the opponent scores first, 10-10-2 when tied after one period, 5-4-2 when tied after two periods, 5-4 in games that extend past 60 minutes, 1-1 in games decided in a shootout and 11-16-3 when outshot by their opponent.

–Jonathan Quick improved to 0-1 in shootouts this season and 42-33 in his career. By stopping two of three shooters, he is now 182/262 (.695) in his career against individual shooters. Ilya Kovalchuk fell to 1/2 this season and 25/64 in his career, Anze Kopitar fell to 1/2 this season and 38/100 in his career and Dustin Brown fell to 0/1 this season and 19/64 in his career

–Los Angeles attempted 58 shots (33 on goal, 14 blocked, 11 missed). Minnesota attempted 62 shots (42 on goal, 10 blocked, 10 missed). Zach Parise led all skaters with six shots on goal, while Drew Doughty, Alex Iafallo, Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter tied with a team-high four shots on goal. All L.A. defensemen finished with at least one shot on goal.

–The Kings won 30-of-63 faceoffs (48%). Adrian Kempe won 7-of-8, Anze Kopitar won 8-of-20, Kyle Clifford won 0-of-1, Ilya Kovalchuk won 0-of-1, Alex Iafallo won 0-of-1, Nate Thompson won 6-of-9, Carl Hagelin won 0-of-2, Tyler Toffoli won 0-of-2 and Jeff Carter won 9-of-19.

Post-game Highlights

–Lead photo via David Berding/Icon Sportswire