Player quotes
Johnson was humble in calling his big play luck. Kopitar said he and Cammalleri had given up when they saw Johnson make the diving stop, and that sparked them back into it. Ersberg talks about his NHL debut. And I threw in a quote from Cloutier.
JACK JOHNSON
On his diving stop of Toews' shot on the empty net with 30 seconds left to set up the tying goal: ``I just got lucky. If I did that 100 more times, I don’t think I’d bat it out of the air like that again. But I’ll take it. I think he gave up a little bit on the play there and I took one more stride to catch up on him. There was still plenty of time to get one more attack at them so I thought I’d try to catch him and make a last-ditch effort.''
On the second-period collapse: ``We were terrible for a few minutes. Cloutier was playing well and the team in front of him sucked.''
On the third period and thinking about the earlier comeback against Dallas: ``We went out knowing we had scored like that before so we could do it again.''
On Ersberg: ``He played well. He didn’t look like he was nervous at all and he’s a big reason we came back too. We’re happy we got to overtime and disappointed we couldn’t steal two points from them, but we’ll take a point from that.''
ANZE KOPITAR
On the comeback: ``This team showed a lot of character. Going down 5-1 into third period, we've been down four goals in the third before, but you have to go out there and try to work hard and show some emotion. You have to show that you're not quitting and then the goals start coming, everyone gets excited, and I think we deserved that point.''
On his thinking entering the third: ``We’re not going to quit, just go out there and try to put up as many points as we can. If not score right off the first shot at least try to create some scrambles. I think we did pretty good in the third. It’s tough, especially because on ropes pretty much whole third period. We didn’t score right off the bat. But the second half of the period was really strong. I think we dominated that period.''
On Ersberg: ``He kept us in the game too. He stopped that breakaway on Sharp. That was really good for him and for us to see he is a good goalie. We were working for him too. It’s hard to come into the net down 5-1, you're not going to be really excited.''
On Johnson's play: ``That was a big play. Just talking to Cammy, we had kind of let it go already. We were just skating on the ice, and I saw him wanting to shoot and thought OK, that should be the game over. Not a lot of guys miss that. But JJ made that play, everything turned around and the crowd got buzzing again. We put some pucks on the net and managed to score that fifth one.''
On thinking about the Dallas comeback: ``I think the guys were too busy to think about that game. We were really focused on coming in, putting pucks on the net, creating scrambles and going hard to the crease. But after a while the memory comes back and you think of that game.''
On how this could be his last game with some of the guys in the room: ``We’re all professionals and try not to think of that. What happens, happens on Tuesday and that’s just how it is in professional sports. This locker room showed a lot of character today, and that’s the most important thing.''
ERIK ERSBERG
On realizing he was going to get the call: ``We had a kind of a meltdown there, I guess, defensively. You start realizing you might be going in. You don’t have to think too much. When the coach calls you, you just have to go in and do your job. I wasn’t too nervous.''
On coming off the bench: ``It’s always better to start. You have all the preparations before the game. But it’s not too bad coming in either. You’ve got to prepare for that too, especially over here. If there’s one thing I’ve learned this year, there’s more pulled goalies than there is in Sweden.''
On the team playing better defense once he got in: ``Maybe they thought they had to step it up when I came in. Sometimes when you change the goalies it helps.''
On the breakaway stop of Sharp with about seven minutes left: ``It’s always nice to save breakaways, especially when you’re making a late comeback like we did and trying to help the team get a point.''
On the OT goal: ``It was a shot in traffic. I got it on my arm but it bounced right to some guy’s stick and he knocked it in. It’s a little sour, but we got one point and I guess that’s pretty good when you’re down 5-1.''
DAN CLOUTIER
``I've got to be better on some of those goals. I know it's a young team, we've been saying that for two years, but I think we need to come up with something other than inexperience. I'm an older guy so I have to make the saves at certain times in the game.''
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About the bloggers
Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews.com.
JACK JOHNSON
On the second-period collapse: ``We were terrible for a few minutes. Cloutier was playing well and the team in front of him sucked.''
Say no more,
Seems everytime the Kings lose,
the team in front of him(any Goalie) sucked.''
Say no more,
Matt do know if any one in the Kings read this blog?
Say no more....
Kopitar is turning into a hockey star.
Can't criticize this loss. At least the hawks didn't leave with 2 points after regulation. Thay had to get a LUCKY bounce and Patrick Sharp staring a wide open net. And I do mean lucky.
OUTSTANDING TURNAROUND
OUTSTANDING COMEBACK
OUTSTANDING FUTURE
Great comeback BUT if the Kings think Cloutier has some how fixed himself they're nuts. I watched Luongo stop 49 shots on the road against Nashville the other night. Think about how far away the Kings are with Labs and DC.
Unless Lombardi finds a miracle cure in goal this team cannot become a top 8 playoff team - never.
What an emotional roller coaster.
1st period - completely bored out of my skull
2nd period - pure fun and laughter. It was funny to see the kings having a breakdown. Kept thinking about the draft.
3rd period - I was completely jacked up...praying for a tying goal. When they tied it I yelled at the top of my lungs, jumping around on the house knocking things over.
OT - I was like "NOOOOOO FUUUUUUHK!" I kicked the coffee table over and said to myself "good game".
I was happy for the comeback, and happy that with 18 games left, we're still in the led for Stamkos!
I dont know why everyone rags on Lubo. The one bad play he made was onthe Havlat goal, and I think he wasn't too sure who to take. I think the worst d-man on the Kings was Preising. Terrible game by him.
Kinda funny DL has never mentioned the name Stamkos. Seems it's only some fans on that bandwagon.
I'm extreemly happy with this teams progress and just hope DL can find a goalie solution and a couple strong defensmen. Having faith in DL, I believe he'll try to make the changes where it's most needed and not what the fans think. See that Ellis pickup coming? How abt the Hickey choice last year? Don't even try to guess what DL's going to do because it's just a waste of time.
Crab said:
What an emotional roller coaster.
1st period - completely bored out of my skull
2nd period - pure fun and laughter. It was funny to see the kings having a breakdown. Kept thinking about the draft.
3rd period - I was completely jacked up...praying for a tying goal. When they tied it I yelled at the top of my lungs, jumping around on the house knocking things over.
OT - I was like "NOOOOOO FUUUUUUHK!" I kicked the coffee table over and said to myself "good game".
Man this was me too teh T LOL, im glad im not the only crazy fan out there
Hey Matt,
Why is Bruce Garrioch reporting that Demitra might return to the Kings in the offseason? Have you heard anything that may confirm or dismiss this?
What a fun 3rd period that was!!!
JMFJ was all over the place that was the best I've seen him skate in awhile. He seemed to step it up last night. I guess having Blake out is a real plus for him. I have seen the light.
Kopitar or if you heard the Chicago guys Ko-pee-tar was awesome. Geez Louise he's only 20. Imagine when he's 28?
Frolov. The dude been on fire for how long? and he's only at 80%. Like I said in a previous post. What if he was 100 % all year?
Squid. Finally the monkey is off his back with the goal. Hopefully, this will get him going.
Awesome comeback guys for the point. Too bad we couldn't win it like in Dallas.
Big Rob in Dallas
what is happening with Stuart? there was a rumor he just turned down a deal from Lombardi but I have heard nothing solid. I suppose if it's true he'll be one of the first dealt, but preferably not.
I really dislike Seabrook. Really.
I hope the Stuart rumor is nothing but a rumor. We'll find out by tommorrow afternoon.
Boy that was a fun third!
Stuart and JJ are by far and away the best D on our team. JJ fired a few hard shots and made a great move into the zone but missed the shot. I sure hope we can keep Stuart for a few more years. I sure don't miss Modry. I'm still going to give Clouts a few more games before I make up my mind on him, yes he had two good games and one bad game, although the D sure let him down. Ersberg looked like a mini JLB-huge puck rebounds! Yes, he made some good saves but when the puck hit him it had these huge bounces back out into the zone, he got VERY LUCKY on those!