Interviews with:
COACH DARRYL SUTTER
DWIGHT KING
JARRET STOLL
DUSTIN PENNER
Questions for Coach Sutter.
Q. (Question regarding Fraser.)
COACH SUTTER: No, he’s back in Alberta. Not that easy to get there
or here.
Q. It has to be a gratifying feeling being up 2-0. Any injuries
from last night?
COACH SUTTER: I think there’s lots of injuries as it goes along,
right? But that’s usually not something that gets talked about from our
side or from the players’ side.
Q. Last night the discipline your team showed, it was impressive.
That could have gotten ugly last night. You have to be impressed with the
discipline.
COACH SUTTER: Well, it’s nice to talk about it, right? But this is
a physical game. You know, there’s a time and place for that. Numbers
don’t change, unless they change teams.
Q. Impressions of what Clifford was able to do after being out for
such a short time?
COACH SUTTER: Short notice. He knew he was going in warmup. I
talked to him around 2:00 so he knew he was playing. He got a few shifts.
You know, quite honestly, he was the logical guy to go in for Fraser
because they bring the same sort of thing. Can’t take penalties, has to
play hard, has to be responsible and be on the right side of the puck. If
he does that, he gets a chance to play.
Q. Dustin Penner was saying that this team still hasn’t played its
best game. Do you agree?
COACH SUTTER: You know, it’s always the best thing about being a
player, is if you can say that and you honestly believe that, then that’s a
good thing. Sometimes it’s talked about, and that’s not the case, where
they can actually go to another level.
I think as a group, clearly, I said it last night, I know everybody
thinks that I’m not answering properly sometimes, but we were better in
Game 1 than we were in Game 2.
Q. Given the circumstances in terms of travel, you have been pretty
efficient. Two trips to Vancouver, but only one to St. Louis.
COACH SUTTER: I think the big thing was the time between series.
That’s the most important when you look at it for our team. That means
that you won more than you lost significantly. A lot of times when you
lose more, if you lose in four or five, you get lots of rest, too.
Q. You get the whole summer?
COACH SUTTER: Right (laughter).
That’s the key. When you look at it, it’s not very normal that
you’ve only played this few of games in the third round, so…
That to me is the biggest difference I see.
Q. You’ve seen some teams in the past not respond well to extended
breaks. Are you impressed with your team’s focus?
COACH SUTTER: You mean the breaks between series?
DWIGHT KING
Q. I know tomorrow Staples is going to be rocking. Is it tough to
keep your emotions in check?
DWIGHT KING: You definitely feed off the crowd. There’s a lot of
energy out there. Everybody will be amped up and playing hard.
Q. When we see your captain get hit the way he did, what’s the sense
on the bench?
DWIGHT KING: It’s not very good to see your top player at the moment
get hit like that. But it’s good to see him get up and show no ill effects
out of it.
We’ve obviously got to play physical again. Tomorrow night’s going
to be the same.
Q. Talk about his leadership skills.
DWIGHT KING: He leads by example, as is pretty obvious. He’s been a
top player in playoffs. He’s out there and gives it his all. When you see
that, you want to follow up on it.
Q. Whether it’s last night or the St. Louis series, how much have
you been able to use other team’s lack of discipline to your favor?
DWIGHT KING: Yeah, I think our special teams in general have been
really good. Obviously our penalty kill has been great so far. When teams
take penalties, we seem to get timely goals on the power play. It’s helped
us a lot.
Q. You don’t retaliate. Discipline was impressive, especially last
night.
DWIGHT KING: Nobody’s happy when those plays happen, but discipline
is a huge part of playoffs. You get the opportunities like the five-minute
power plays we got, the couple goals we got out of it, that’s what won the
games.
Q. Have you been surprised how much you’ve been able to get teams
off their game or is that because of your style?
DWIGHT KING: Yeah, I think it’s the style we play. We try to impose
our will a little bit, be physical, be hard on top players on the opposing
team. Over time, people get frustrated with that.
Q. For you specifically, does the term ‘beyond my wildest dreams’
mean anything to you?
DWIGHT KING: It’s been obviously great so far. Just hope to keep it
going tomorrow, keep the good luck going.
Q. Given where you started this season to where you are now, could
you imagine being here at this point?
DWIGHT KING: No. But this is any kid’s dream, being in this
situation. Having it all come true in this short amount of time, it’s been
great.
Q. Do you get the butterflies?
DWIGHT KING: Once in a while before each round, you take it all in.
But once you get back to playing, you’re in the mindset of just playing
hockey.
Q. How much are guys like Justin or Rob, guys who have been to this
point before and beyond, how much have they helped you in terms of keeping
things kind of focused?
DWIGHT KING: Yeah, there’s guys who have been there before on our
team, not just for myself, but for everybody else out there who got caught
up in the moment a little bit, they’re there to keep you grounded. They
obviously know we’re not done yet. We still got a little bit of work to
do. As long as we keep on the right path here, things will keep looking
good.
JARRET STOLL
Q. Coming this far, so efficient, only the one loss. Two of the
three series, you’re playing within your own time zone. Almost too easy to
be believed.
JARRET STOLL: It’s nice. You definitely want to have an hour
flight, as opposed to Nashville, four and a half hours coming home. Get in
your own bed pretty early last night, get some good sleep.
We faced some adversity here and there, but we dealt with it pretty
well, I think. We put ourselves in good situations by getting the first
goal in a lot of games, which helps. Some games you get a quickie early
on, but its huge for us to keep the game 0-0, and just get our game going.
Q. They seemed to show some frustration last night. Is your
response, Good?
JARRET STOLL: Exactly. As far as we’re concerned, they have to
adjust to us. If we keep playing our game, keep playing the way we want to
play, hopefully that’s what they’ll have to do.
We have to worry about ourselves. We can’t worry about them. Our
game is obviously in the right place, and we’re winning hockey games.
We know we can get better in certain areas, and that’s what we have
to focus on.
Q. How much sense does it make to remain poised and not retaliate?
JARRET STOLL: Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense to retaliate, you got
to just play the game. We were in a good situation to not retaliate. If
they want to get something going and set the tone maybe for the next game.
Maybe that was part of their mindset or whatnot.
We just have to stay within the game, stay within ourselves, realize
the situation we’re in and how we got there.
The whole St. Louis series, we were a disciplined, composed team.
Took some penalties probably didn’t want to take. Ended up winning the
series.
It’s composure when everything is on the line and everything is at
high tempo, somehow you have to be composed in those situations.
Q. Can you address the shots? First game, 17 in the first period.
Right off the faceoff, Carter throws it on net. Is that a conscious
mindset that the Kings have had here so far in this series?
JARRET STOLL: Yeah, we have to, especially with facing a goaltender
like Smith. You have to throw everything at him. Obviously he’s going to
make a lot of saves. But you never know where those rebounds are going.
Not only by Smith not knowing where the rebounds are going, but the
defense. Maybe we can jump on a loose puck and get second-chance
opportunities that way.
Very rarely are you going to beat them on a clean shot. Have to have
traffic. I knew we were playing okay, but I didn’t think we were getting
that many shots at them. It’s nice to see.
Q. (Question regarding the disciplinary actions.)
JARRET STOLL: The Doan one is kind of tough. It’s a hockey play.
When you face off with someone who is trying to protect the puck and he
ends up kind of turning a little bit. Putting yourself in Shane Doan’s
position, it’s a tough position for him to be in. I don’t think he has a
hearing, so be it. The Hanzal one, I definitely think — hopefully he gets
two games, in my opinion, hopefully that’s what he gets.
If you’re going to finish a check, maybe you close him that way on
the board, you don’t shove him in the board, especially when he’s five, six
feet from the board.
Q. Brown keeps going down and gets back up.
JARRET STOLL: Yeah, I was a little shocked how quick he did get up.
It was a pretty dangerous play. Like I said, he was vulnerable. Guy is
going in to get the puck, he’s got to get that puck, he’s in a tough
situation.
He’s a tough guy. He’ll be back and ready for Game 3.
Finish your checks, maybe they get a little frustrated from that.
That’s the way it is in the playoffs. You have to remain composed and
battle through it.
Q. Does it come as a shock or surprise how you’ve been able to
steamroll throughout these Stanley Cup Playoffs?
JARRET STOLL: Well, it hasn’t been easy. We’ve had some adversity,
we’ve had some tough games where we haven’t had our A game, we needed our
goaltender or defense to bail us out.
But as a four-line unit, going out there, we’re in sync a little bit
more than obviously we were in the regular season. We’re getting
contributions from everybody. We’re winning different ways. That’s the
way you have to do it in the playoffs if you want to go deep.
Some games we got Kopie, Brown, last night Carter with the hat trick,
Penns, Lewy. Everyone is playing well, playing on the same page and
contribute.
Q. When did the feelings start to turn for this team?
JARRET STOLL: I think it turned in our first series against
Vancouver. We know how good a team they are. The last couple years
they’ve had some great seasons.
We just got some confidence throughout that season, playing our game,
playing the style we needed to play, and it was working. Good goaltending
on out, we just played a good game on the ice, and we were very consistent
with it. So far so good, but there’s a long way to go.
Q. (Question regarding Carter.)
JARRET STOLL: Just the added depth it gave our whole lineup. One
player coming in of his caliber changed everything. Didn’t matter where he
was on the lineup, first line, second line, didn’t really matter.
Throughout our whole lineup, it gave us that much more of a scoring punch.
Moved a couple guys around here or there.
He fit in very well right from the start. I knew him a little bit
before. Obviously Rick knows him. He knew a couple other people, too, so
it was a very easy transition.
Q. Face offs, anything going on?
JARRET STOLL: There’s a lot of talk with the linesmen, what they
want, what they don’t want. First couple games, there’s been a lot of that
for sure. Guys getting kicked out.
I don’t think we were too good last night, but we’ll regroup and be
better here.
Q. Are they cracking down?
JARRET STOLL: Yeah, seems like they’re cracking down a little bit.
We just have to figure that out and make it work somehow.
Q. (Question regarding the Lakers.)
JARRET STOLL: No, I don’t really. It is what it is. It’s L.A.
We’re all in the playoffs. It’s great to see that. The Lakers, with their
whole winning tradition, it’s pretty special. Hopefully we can switch it
over to the Kings for a little bit.
DUSTIN PENNER
Q. Talk about the physicality of that second game. Do you expect
more of the same in Game 3?
DUSTIN PENNER: In the Playoffs, you have to come to expect the
unexpected. I think we knew that was a possibility last game. We can’t
change the way we play. We can just go out and control what we can
control.
Q. You have done a good job this entire playoffs of not having that
retaliation, staying away from after the whistles. Have you talked about
that?
DUSTIN PENNER: We talked about that a lot since Game 1 with
Vancouver, just playing between the whistles, making sure we don’t let
anything the other team does affect how we play the game.
Q. How quickly after Game 2 has Darryl reset it for you guys, put
the last two games in the past?
DUSTIN PENNER: Yeah, he’s done that all series. He did that even
before the playoffs. We had that mindset where it didn’t matter what you
did last game. I think we’ve developed that mentality on our own with his
help.
He doesn’t have to be as stringent on it after the game. We know
what we have to do. We know what’s been working for us in the past. It’s
up to the leadership group, to each man, to focus on what’s got us to where
we are now.
Q. How much does that play into you grabbing control of games and
series early? How much does that mindset play into that?
DUSTIN PENNER: It’s a huge part of it. We try not to take anything
for granted from the other team, especially starting each series on the
road. We want to get that edge where we can steal one in their building.
Right now it’s working out well for us.
Q. The discipline on this team, you showed a lot of it last night,
took advantage of the power plays.
DUSTIN PENNER: Yeah, I think that’s what good teams try to do, they
try to play in between the whistles. They don’t get over-emotional, take
reckless penalties.
Q. You were saying last night this team still hasn’t played its best
game yet. Where do you think there could be improvement?
DUSTIN PENNER: Power play. I think we sometimes pass up a lot of
key scoring opportunities to make an extra pass that gets blocked. I don’t
think there’s a team that’s made it far in the playoffs resting on their
last game, what they did, saying, ‘that’s the best game we played.’
It’s that constant drive to the perfect game, as close as you’ll get,
that I think makes a team successful.
Q. They really have been keying on your captain. How resilient was
he in that last game?
DUSTIN PENNER: It’s almost comical to watch because you think he
runs on batteries sometimes. He keeps on going. You knock him down, but
you can’t keep him down.
He takes a lot of punishment because he gives it out. He’s been that
type of leader all year, not just last game or last series.
Q. I know you probably don’t want to look at too big of a picture.
Has there been a point where you guys thought a Cup run might be real?
DUSTIN PENNER: When we clinched a playoff spot, that’s a great
thought, we had a chance.
Q. You have a chance because you were in there?
DUSTIN PENNER: Yeah. It’s kind of like poker. A chip and a chair
(laughter).
Q. You could see things coming together, you had the right elements?
DUSTIN PENNER: Yeah, from the guys that had been here before, we’d
seen certain pieces of the puzzle on prior teams that either won it or been
to the Stanley Cup finals, on the team we have now.
Obviously, our goaltending has been great all year. You guys have
alluded to that in the media. The best thing about that is it hasn’t
affected how he plays, talking about Jonathan Quick.
Our defense, starting with him, but from the forwards getting on the
forecheck, it’s been great all year. We’re the second lowest in the
league, and that’s because we bought into a team concept. Starting with
goaltending. It’s continued on by our defense who get the puck in the
forwards’ hands, don’t make too many cute plays, simplify the game.
Q. Thursday night the Staples Center is going to be rocking. Do you
have to keep that in check?
DUSTIN PENNER: Yeah. You don’t want to use that energy in a
negative way or a way that gets you off your game. We love the support
we’re getting from L.A., especially when we’re in the Staples arena. It’s
been great. We look forward to every home game we have.
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