Postgame quotes (3/9)

By Rich Hammond on March 9, 2009 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) |

TERRY MURRAY
(Re: game recap): ``It was a lot of digging in, a lot of battling in that last 10 minutes. It was a good win. There were a lot of big plays in the third period. We, at times, showed a little bit of a lack of composure with the puck and could have made plays, and maybe we were feeling the stress of a 3-2 game, but every time they would get possession of the puck, there was a lot of digging in. At the end you have (Matt) Greene lying down to block a shot, then the rebound goes right back and hits him in the head, but he jumped right back up. The guy was a warrior tonight.''

(Re: Moller and Simmonds): ``The line did a good job. Moller's line was good again tonight. They matched up against (Kyle) Wellwood all night and right at the very end they got caught out there, because of the icing, but it was a good experience for two young players.''

JARRET STOLL
(Re game recap): ``We did a good job of checking and we were all over the puck. There weren't too many odd-man rushes and we locked it down pretty good defensively. They had some good shifts in the third but Quick made some big saves and we had some timely power-play goals. Just a good battle from everybody, especially at the end with Greene blocking that shot with his face. Stuff like that, there's not stats for stuff like that, but it's really important and it was tonight.''

(Re composure during the game): ``Our composure was pretty good. When they got the second goal to get within one, I don't think we changed our game too much. We wanted to stay on the forecheck and go out for the puck and not let back too much. Sometimes you have a tendency to do that when you have a lead late in the third. Everyone dug in the third.''

JONATHAN QUICK
(Re game recap): ``Every guy put in a little something today. Greene took one off the face and still kept playing there. We kept playing and just kept doing what we were doing. The team especially responded well after that [Vancouver's second] goal.''

(Re second Vancouver goal): ``I'm not letting myself off the hook. I should've had it. It was just through the legs and I never picked it up and it was one of those goals you have to forget about and keep playing.''

(Re playoff race): ``Three points out, that's a game and a half, 16 games to play and we have a lot of hockey to play. It's not over yet and we're going to continue to fight. We're going to make this push here.''

3 Comments

Gary Livingston said:

Big thanks to Greene for sacrificing himself. The guy deserves extra praise for that and I'm sure the example he made will trinkle down to the other players and the passion they play with.

March 9, 2009 11:12 PM

Telos said:

I love how every player acknowledges it and embraces Greene for it. This team needs to feed off of that sacrifice and turn it into wins.

March 10, 2009 12:42 AM

Datacloud

said:

I should remember this question the next time you ask for such to take to TM, but what I want to know is why the Kings often lapse into prevent D with a lead in the third. A lot of times, it doesn't work, especially against teams like Detroit, who smoked us witha two-goal lead in the third when we went into "no offense" mode.

3 shots in the third and zero in the final 12 minutes or so. Not acceptable.

March 10, 2009 8:38 AM

J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey. E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra
@inlandnewspapers.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.