Kings vs Kings Postgame Quotes: Stevens, Amadio, Etem, Anderson-Dolan

John Stevens, on having a weapon like Ilya Kovalchuk in the shootout:
It’s nice to see him score in those situations. I know he was really good the last time he was over here. I talked to Pete DeBoer, he said that was a situation that he really thrived in, so we’re anxious to see him. I think anytime you have success in that situation, it’s probably good for his confidence, too. I think he’s always been good in that situation, so it’s good to see.

Stevens, on any message to the players, given that there have been intra-squad injuries:
We covered more systems stuff today that we wanted to see worked on in practice today. We came out of our neutral zone and o-zone in terms of the forecheck, so it’s a great opportunity to work on it. To me, it’s an important step in the process. Injuries are going to happen. If you go into practices and games worried about injuries, I don’t think you’re going to prepare your team the way you need to. The injuries are going to happen. It’s just part of the game. When you play the game at a high level and the speed that’s involved and the fitness level of the players, it’s going to happen. You just deal with it, right? We actually thought this was really positioned well. We got in here, guys got in a scrimmage situation, we’ve got games coming this week where most of the guys will get a chance to play. This isn’t the level that you’ll see in a preseason game, but it’s a step up from what we’re doing in practice. Time and space, five-on-five, faceoff situations, all that stuff. We got some really quality three-on-three stuff in there, so you get a chance to see that. I really thought it was positioned well for us and we’re really happy with the time spent here in terms of getting our team ready for the next step, which is playing games. We didn’t want to put special teams in today because we really haven’t had a chance to work on it. We’ll work on it tomorrow and game day, and I’m sure with the preseason games coming, we’ll get an opportunity to work on it. So, we figured we’d just stick to the five-on-five today and the three-on-three and we were happy with it.

Stevens, on Emerson Etem’s performance:
Well, I was coaching the other team, so I didn’t like him very much. We had great representation of a guy trying to make your team. He’s got great speed, he scored three goals and looked good doing it. I just think that’s what you want. You want guys coming in and making an impression, and he made a very good impression today. [Reporter: Do you think his speed’s back to where it was before he had some of the knee situations?] Well, we noticed that all along. Our coaches are familiar with them. He torched the Western Hockey League he was there. I think he scored 61 goals the one year. Obviously, he’s got a knack for scoring goals. He’s never quite been able to produce at the pro level, but who knows? We’ve seen other guys who’ve bounced around and then caught on somewhere and then were able to make a difference. We’re anxious to get him into some games this week and see how he does, but I thought the line with Thompson, Etem and Mitchell was very effective today. They could’ve made a difference here with the way they played today.

Stevens, on Michael Amadio:
We’re going to have to get Amadio some skating lessons there. He almost fell down in the shootout. But Michael’s had a great summer. I think he’s really committed himself. He spent a lot of time in L.A. to get stronger. He knows he’s playing against men now and we love everything about Michael. He’s really a smart player, I think he’s really defensively responsible. We think he can really create offensively, so there’s a lot to like in his game, and he’s another guy we’re looking forward to seeing in the preseason.

Stevens, on Alec Martinez’s “rub-out” on Drew Doughty in overtime:
It’s good, though. There’s contact coming. Guys need to get bounced around a little bit. We introduced it in practice, obviously, with a little more battle drills, but that’s why these situations are good for everyone. Summer hockey and you get into practice situations and there is contact. Scrimmage situations, I think the compete level goes up a little bit, and I think it’s good to get the players ready for preseason and start to get them ready for the start of the regular season.

Michael Amadio, on how he felt overall:
Yeah, we felt really good out there. Right from the drop of the puck I think the game had a really good pace to it which going through the first few days of camp I think the guys had a really good pace, so I thought it was really good out there.

Amadio, on whether there is an unwritten rule in these types of games to keep it tied late:
I don’t think so. I mean we were battling out there trying to put everything to the net and it just happened to be tied going into the overtime there.

Amadio, on spending time in Southern California over the offseason:
I stayed out here all summer and I think it was a big improvement for me. I had access to all the development guys, (Matt) Pricer and (Trent) Frey, so it was a really big summer for me so I’m excited for this year.

Amadio, on his reaction when they called him up for the shootout:
I was ready for it. I had my move ready to go and then I don’t know what happened there. I think I just toe-picked and it was a blur from there.

Amadio, on being back in Ontario:
Yeah, it was nice to see a good turnout here in Ontario. There was a lot of fans out there and it was great to see.

Amadio, on atmosphere of the afternoon:
It was a great turnout. We had a lot of fun out there and there was good pace like I said, so it was an all-around good day.

Emerson Etem, on scoring three goals in the game:
My goal coming into this game was just to make something happen every shift and whether that be drawing a penalty or just making a positive play each and every shift—if that results in a goal that’s great—but just make sure that our line was making something happen out there and I thought we did a good job. Still things to work on, but like I said before, nothing changes with me. This is one day. I’m on a PTO and I’ve just got to build off that.

Etem, on whether he feels like he has a better sense of the nuance of the game at this level:
Yeah that’s just how it’s got to be for me. Each day take away a positive from it and keep rolling, but today was a good day. Just need to make sure to worry about tomorrow, get my body prepared. Each day is a new day and just’ve got to keep bringing it.

Etem, on whether he feels like his speed is back to where it was before his knee troubles:
I think so. I mentioned that at the start of camp–this is the best I’ve felt in a long time. I think that in itself has helped me have a real good mindset. It’s been a frustrating couple of years and just to get that feeling of being healthy again is just a plus in what I need to do to succeed out here.

Etem, on if he had ever played with Nate Thompson:
Yeah, we did. I mean we came up big in playoffs. We had some big moments when we were paired together with Anaheim and it’s a nice feeling when you play with a guy and you don’t have to introduce yourself and get to know him. You know, me and Tommer go back a few years and that instant chemistry was there so I’m glad we were able to make some positive plays out there.

Jaret Anderson-Dolan, on how much his five-game stint in Ontario helped him prepare for playing at this level:
It helped a lot. I learned how fast it is and how strong guys are. It’s a completely different game from junior obviously. I kind of just took everything I could from that experience and tried to get stronger over the summer so that I could keep up with that.

Anderson-Dolan, on his expectations for training camp:
I’m just trying to take it a day at a time. My goal is to make this team and that is something I’ve said before, so that hasn’t changed. I’m not really looking too far into anything, just taking it day by day and control what I can control.

Anderson-Dolan, on skating with Kovalchuck in the three-on-three:
It was a lot of fun. He’s someone I remember watching when I was young on TV so being out there with him was pretty special.

Anderson-Dolan, on Kovalchuck’s moves:
Yeah, I’ve seen that a couple of times on YouTube watching his highlights. [Reporter: Watching it in person had to be…] Exactly, that was pretty cool.

Anderson-Dolan, on if he ever feels like he has to pinch himself in these types of moments:
It’s obviously super cool. It’s something you kind of imagine when you’re a kid is being out with guys like that, so today was a lot of fun. Once you’re out there you kind of realize they’re just players. Obviously they’re really, very good players, but they’re just players. So you just do what you can to make plays for them and obviously they’re going to get you the puck so just try to get open and do what you can.

Anderson-Dolan, on whether there was anything on the line for the losing team:
No. [Reporter: Just bragging rights?] Exactly.