March 23 Rapid Reaction (feat. Dave Joseph): Kings 4, Ducks 3 (SO)

Rapid Reaction, feat. Dave Joseph of the LA Kings

Post-game Quotes

Willie Desjardins, on beating the Ducks:
It’s a good rivalry. Both teams have got a lot of history, a lot of pride, and I think whenever they play, as the game goes along for sure it gets more heated.

Desjardins, on the overall effort:
I thought it was good. I thought we had a great start to the game. The first part of that game, we played well. Even the second period we played well. We gave up that one late, which hurt us, and then we gave up the one on the power play, which really hurt us. But guys were resilient. After we gave up that third one, then we started to come and play hard again. We got one back. It was great to see Grundstrom score. Toffoli made a good play on it. Overall it was a hard-fought game.

Desjardins, on Jonny Brodzinski:
He was pretty good early. Before, I think he was more just a scorer. Today he played a better all-around game. I thought he played more physical, I thought he tried to do more things to keep himself in the lineup.

Anze Kopitar, on Sean Walker’s defensive game tonight:
He’s such a good skater that maybe even sometimes if he’s out of position even just a little bit, he gains ground with his stride, so, very nice to see him playing well. Him and Roysie for that matter. Logging some minutes, that’s what we’re talking about these games. They’re almost like an audition for some of the guys to show what they’re made of and what they’ve got and I think we’re all liking what we’re seeing right now.

Kopitar, on the Kings-Ducks rivalry:
I think there’s always a little extra buzz in the building when we play them, so to get out on top feels good.

Kopitar, on whether he thought they played well defensively:
At the end of the day, you want to win the game, doesn’t matter really how you do it. I think tonight, there’s still stuff that we can do better, but all in all I thought it was a pretty solid game for us.

Kyle Clifford, on what he saw on his power play goal:
I think Marty just made a good play, got the puck to the net, and it went off me and went in. [Reporter: That’s it, that’s all we got there.] Simple as that.

Clifford, on rebounding in the third after Rakell’s tying goal to end the second period:
I think the last games we’ve been playing with more mental toughness and we’re staying within ourselves and not letting the things that happen in the game affect the way we’re going to play. So, we’re just keeping it simple and when things go wrong we push back.

Clifford, on Grundstrom’s tying goal in the third period:
I think he’s done a really good job of adapting to the NHL level. He’s coming in, he’s bringing a lot of energy to the room, he’s playing with a lot of energy on the ice. He finished checks, he works hard, he’s got a great attitude, so it’s going to be exciting to see what he keeps doing moving forward and and watching his game grow over time is going to be fun for us as his teammates and for the fans as well.

Clifford, on tonight’s win being a confidence boost:
We’re going on the road, we’ve got a tough one in the first game against Calgary and we know that’s going to be a hard-fought game, so we’re going to go one game at a time.

Clifford, on his reaction to finding out he was going to be out on the power play:
Kind of goes with the same as being five on five. Just being ready and know what you’re going to do out there and that’s about it.

Clifford, on getting his first power play goal at this stage in his career:
Yeah, nine years later.

Clifford, on being on the power play unit tonight:
I don’t really put much thought into that. Everybody’s got their role on the team and I know what mine is and whether it’s playing net-front on the power play or playing hard forechecking or just being a good team guy. I don’t really put a lot of thought into personal statistics.

Post-game Notes

–With the win, Los Angeles improved to 63-51-26 all-time against Anaheim, a record that includes a home mark of 38-21-11. With a record of 3-0-0 in the four-game season series, the Kings won the season series for the first time since the 2012-13 season. Los Angeles has never swept a season series with Anaheim, though in 2001-02 they won four games and tied one. These teams have one game remaining, April 5 at Honda Center.

–With the win, the Kings improved to 18-20-4 against the Western Conference, 10-10-2 against the Pacific Division, 13-8-8 in one-goal games, 8-35-6 when their opponent scores first, 13-15-4 when tied after one period, 7-5-3 when tied after two periods, 8-8 in games that extend past regulation, 3-3 in games decided in a shootout and 11-15-2 when outshooting their opponent.

–Jonathan Quick improved to 2-2 in shootouts this season and 44-34 in his career. By stopping all three shooters, he is now 190/274 (.693) in his career against individual shooters. Adrian Kempe fell to 1/4 this season and 3/7 in his career. Anze Kopitar improved to 3/6 this season and 40/104 in his career. Alex Iafallo fell to 0/2 this season and 0/2 in his career.

–Los Angeles won the 1,700th game in franchise history.

–The Kings allowed at least three goals for the 17th time in the last 20 games.

–Against teams they’ve faced in the playoffs this decade (New York, New Jersey, Arizona, San Jose, St. Louis, Chicago, Anaheim, Vancouver, Vegas), Los Angeles is 16-8-2. Against all other teams, they’re 11-31-6.

— Dustin Brown (1,109 GP), who moved within two games of Dave Taylor’s franchise record for games played (1,111 GP), registered his 332nd career assist on Jeff Carter’s goal, moving him within one assist from Rob Blake (333 assists) for ninth place on the franchise’s all-time assist list. He extended his point streak to four games (3-3=6).

–Kyle Clifford’s first period power play goal was the first special teams point of his career. He played his 599th career game on Saturday.

–With two assists, Alec Martinez (129 career assists) moved within one assist of Bob Murdoch (130 assists) for 10th place among defensemen on the franchise’s all-time assist list.

–By appearing in his 995th career game, Anze Kopitar moved within five games of 1,000 career games played.

–The Kings attempted 55 shots (30 on goal, 10 blocked, 15 missed). The Ducks attempted 48 shots (20 on goal, 13 blocked, 15 missed). Jakob Silfverberg led all skaters with five shots on goal, while Anze Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli finished with a team-high four.

–Los Angeles won 31-of-61 faceoffs (51%). Adrian Kempe won 4-of-10, Anze Kopitar won 14-of-27, Trevor Lewis won 2-of-4 and Jeff Carter won 11-of-20.

The Kings are scheduled to practice at Toyota Sports Center at 10:00 a.m. Sunday before departing for Calgary. This may be an optional practice.

Post-game Highlights

–Lead photo via Adam Pantozzi/NHLI