On Cloutier leaving last night's game after second period: ``He walked out to the rink through the corridor and, as he got by the trainers, he almost passed out. He has been having a touch of the flu, as many of our players have the last few days. Some guys have been able to get through it, others have had to miss some days. It’s unfortunate. You wish you had a solution for the flu symptoms. Kopitar’s got a little bit of it today and had it last night. Cammalleri obviously missed a game. Stuart missed some games. Unfortunately with the close proximity to everybody given the plane travel we had, it’s very difficult to isolate it.

``I think, through most of this process, guys usually feel a lot better the next day. We kept Anze and Dan away from the rink today completely. Kyle Calder was going to miss today but felt a lot better this morning, so he came out and practice. We tell guys to try to have as good habits as they can. Even something as simple as to wash their hands all the time is real important. I know our trainers have been harping on that. Eating the right things. A lot of guys have been taking cold-effects and airbornes. We're trying to do everything we can but, unfortunately, it's not a fool-proof plan.''

On last night's game-deciding goal: ``That’s as tough a penalty kill as we’ve had. We had four chances to clear it and couldn’t get it out. Part of it was fatigue, part of it was pain. Unfortunately, we didn’t get through it. We had a couple good blocks, kept them in the perimeter. I think if we get through it, we probably end up winning the game. But they got the fortunate goal and we couldn’t mount much of an attack after that, although we did have a couple of opportunities. I think it just shows the importance of clears. I think our penalty killers have done a terrific job this year of sacrificing their bodies and getting themselves in position. Now we have to add to those good habits they've got on the penalty kill by making an emphasis on our clears. You have to put it in the right place, put a little muster on it to get it out. We talked about it a lot today, that it was the difference in the game yesterday. They scored both their goals off the fact they got extra chances on it. You never want give anybody extra chances, and we we're definitely guilty of that last night. I couldnt fault the effort of guys or commitment. Our commitment to sacrifice the body and do the right thing was there, We just have to find a way to do a little better on our clears.''

On Blake, and this is obviously completely different from what Blake later said: ``Blake is going to have an MRI tommorrow so we'll have much more of a report on him tomorrow. He skated briefly today and I think the plan is for him to practice over the next few days and if everything goes well he’ll be an option for us later (in the) week.''

On Thornton: ``I think he won’t play tomorrow. He may be an option for us later (in the) week as well.''

On Purcell: ``We're giving him an opportunity to play, a number of games to show us where he’s at. He’s got very good puck ability. He got a couple opportunities on the powerplay last night. His line scored the goal that got us back to 1-1.''

On the difference between Purcell between now and his first call-up: ``I think all those guys seem to relax a little bit more the second time. The anxiety of being up and maybe fear of if I don’t do something right, I'll go right back down is lessened. There's always pressure to perform. I don’t think anybody can alleviate that. It's just part of the process of learning to be a better player, to learn to play with the pressure of being in the NHL. Maybe the second time they come up they do tend to hear more what the process is all about. The first time they're all caught up in that they're here and excited and all other things that go with it.''

On trouble with Phoenix: ``I think they’re a very good skating club. Their speed has been something that we’ve got to deal with. Speed in every line they’ve got. There's no week-skating forward on their team. They get in on you quick on the forecehck and counter-attack with lots of speed as well. It's something we talked about. I thought did a decent job 5-on-5 last game. It was the power play that hurt us. They scored two power-play goals and got a fortunate bounce, but when you work hard you get a fortunate bounce. I thought it was a very close game. We came back and were right there. Unfortunately, we didn’t mount enough of a continued attack, and that’s what we’ll need to do. We've got to continue to be competive and continue to strive to bust through the win column against them. I believe we're on the right track and it's through work and compete and battle that we will solve the hold Phoenix has had on us.''