December 20 morning skate quotes: Darryl Sutter

On what he has liked or not liked about the road trip thus far:
I like everything about our trip. Other than four minutes, we’ve played really, really well.

On whether he broke the trip into two legs around yesterday’s off-day:
No, we didn’t, because they set the clock at 20 minutes, and every regulation game is 65 minutes or less now, to make sure everybody’s clear on that, and that’s how you play every game. The trip really has nothing to do with it. We flew to Columbus [Sunday], so it’s a one-game trip. Fly tomorrow to Nashville, go to Dallas, it’s a two-game trip. I know it’s hard on everybody, but I kind of enjoy it.

On the challenges presented by Columbus:
We played ‘em earlier in the year, It was a 3-2 overtime game. I think I said it earlier and it does hold water that they have a lot of offense on their team in terms of not just this year, but if you look at it, in terms of career-wise, they have a lot of offense in their lineup, and it’s spread right through their lineup, and it reflects in their record.

On what he wants to see from Marian Gaborik:
Show some leadership. He’s a veteran player on our team now. It’s not like you have a whole cast of experience in terms of scoring. Gabby is a really caring guy, and he tends to base his game on how much he scores, but as you get older, you have to have a more defined role, then. There’s not too many guys that just get away with that. So it’s easy as a coach to say, ‘you know what? You’ve scored one goal in nine games, that makes you a 10-goal scorer.’ Last year he would score one goals every four and a half games. That makes him a 15-goal scorer. The year before he scored 27. Well, he’s going to be a year older. He’s going to be 34 or 35, so I’m perfectly happy if he’s a 10-to-15 goal scorer, but he sure as hell better do everything else, and he better be a good role model for younger players. We’re not a dynamic, high-end team in any of that stuff, so he has to show good leadership or direction. That’s what his teammates expect, and that’s what coaches expect.