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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: KINGS v COYOTESMay 15, 2012Jeff CarterDarryl SutterPHOENIX, ARIZONA: Game Two Los Angeles – 4 THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Sutter. Q. What was your take on the hits on Lewis and Brown? COACH SUTTER: Think Doan's hit on Lewy, Lewy is turning back. It's probably more of a hockey player, eh? It's a tough one. I didn't really have a big problem with that. But the one on Browny, it's hard to say from the bench. I didn't look at it. But I don't think the puck was even close, was it? That's about it. Q. Was there frustration on their part, do you think? COACH SUTTER: Probably. Two top guys for them. Q. The other side of that, happy with your own team's composure? COACH SUTTER: Think we held our own early and didn't want to get into penalty trouble. I thought Cliffy took one in the second period. I didn't like that. That was it. We didn't want to get into any trouble after whistles. Q. You got some production from Carter. COACH SUTTER: Well, he's certainly getting good opportunities, so it's good to see him cash in. He had a couple the other night, really good ones, and then tonight early, he had one, too, where he was cutting in on the power play. You know it's coming. Guys like that, it's percentages, right? Q. What else was there about Jeff Carter's game that you liked tonight? COACH SUTTER: Tried to give everybody minutes. He probably had big minutes. Used him more killing penalties and obviously in the power play, he's out there. We need something out of everybody. Q. You see Penner, the way he uses his size to go by Carter, King sitting up in front. How much is your size a factor in this series right now? COACH SUTTER: You know, it's only important‑‑ I'm doing a generalization of it. It's only important if you use it properly. It's not useful if you don't use it to protect the puck, get opportunities. Doesn't help your team at all if you don't do it like that. Can't do it in a way that you're taking penalties either. I don't think necessarily those two guys. I think as a group we're trying to do that. Q. I know you've talked about shift to shift and game by game, not being momentum. What you guys are doing now has started to look like you're really building a lot of confidence, playing that way. Have you played a bad game yet? COACH SUTTER: Well, I didn't think tonight we were especially great. I thought we were better the first game than we were tonight. I think tonight we wanted to get through that first period 'cause we knew it was going to be important for them. I think we scored the deflection goal, then we scored a power play goal. That was really important for us, I think. Q. After what happened at the end of the second period, did you stress to your guys anything about keeping disciplined in that third period? COACH SUTTER: Yeah, we didn't want to do anything after the whistle other than Dustin's‑‑ you couldn't see what went on down in the corner from the bench. We wanted to stay right away from it. I don't think we have anything to prove that way. You know, that's for another time, another place. Q. They made a concerted effort to shut down the Brown line tonight. COACH SUTTER: Moved their guys around. They did a good job of it, quite honestly. Q. You had the depth with the Richards line. Talk about the depth on this team, the four lines. COACH SUTTER: We had to move Brad to center tonight. You know what, they moved their lines around too, right? That's a tribute to their depth. I think both teams had six or seven centermen in the lineup. It's more centermen than who is playing against who than anything else. If it's 1‑0 going into the third, then the matchups look pretty good, don't they (laughter)? Q. Your team has on quite a remarkable run. Did you see this coming at the end of the season? COACH SUTTER: We started zero, so we came to Phoenix. I don't look at it as a remarkable run. I think we won the first game, we are going to have to play better next game than we did tonight. I know that. Q. (Question about Fraser.) COACH SUTTER: This afternoon. Personal family thing. Spent some time with him this afternoon. Wanted to get going. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Jeff. Q. Heading into this game, did you feel snake bit around the net? Is that over with you now? JEFF CARTER: I hope so (laughter). Yeah, I mean, obviously I'd love to be scoring every game. They haven't come that easily for me the last little while here. It's something that I've been working on in practice, trying to get to the net during the game, get a couple greasy ones. I was lucky enough tonight. Q. Jeff, did you start to sense frustration on their part, some of the hits questionable? JEFF CARTER: Yeah, I think we did a good job on the right guys tonight. We made it hard on their key guys. Yeah, might have taken them off their game a little bit. I actually didn't see the two hits that happened, so I can't say much about that. I think we're doing a good job. Q. Are you concerned at all in the power play you get two goals, but overall both goals are five‑on‑three, and you had a little bit of a struggle to get things going at five‑on‑four. What can you do to address that? JEFF CARTER: Definitely nice to get two tonight, obviously, like you said, it's five‑on‑three. Something we've been working on. We have to get a lot better if we want to keep going here. We have to keep working on it, keep getting shots in net traffic. We have guys in the two unit that can put the pucks in the net, so it's got to come. Q. You are on an incredible run here in the playoffs. Did you see this as a possibility when the playoffs began? JEFF CARTER: Well, I mean, obviously that's what we came here to do, was to win two games. I thought we did a fairly good job both games. Still think we have some room for improvement, which is obviously a good thing being up 2‑0. We were a confident group coming in. We had to battle hard the last month of the season just to get in. Pretty much playing playoff hockey all the way through there. I think that's helped us carry over playing into the playoffs. We just kept rolling. Q. With one goal in the first 10 games, was your confidence sagging at all or were you still upbeat? JEFF CARTER: You're obviously thinking about it. It's always in the back of your mind. I tried to keep patient and keep working in practice, like I said, during the games trying to get to the net, trying to get a couple good bounces there. Lucky enough to get a couple today. It's a good start. Q. From a physical standpoint, was there anything in the first 30 minutes of the game that led you to believe the last 30 minutes were going to be like that? JEFF CARTER: I thought they came pretty hard there at the start. That's what you expect in a game like this, with this much on the line. You know, I think when we got up a few goals there, got five‑on‑three, a couple hits there, might have got a little frustrating for them. That's the way hockey is. Q. You mentioned playing playoff hockey all the way down the stretch. How does this compare for you to the run two years ago in Philadelphia? JEFF CARTER: Oh, it's real similar. Same thing when we were in Philly there. Basically had to battle right down to the last game. Shootout there to make it. I think, like I said, when you're in that kind of position, just kind of rolls over into the playoffs. Whereas, if we were locked in there a little while in the season, you might sit back a bit, get a little complacent. I think it's definitely helped us out. Q. Your effectiveness wasn't limited to the three goals tonight. How would you describe your efforts in the neutral and defensive zone? JEFF CARTER: I was happy with my game tonight. We played all situations. I thought we did a fairly good job of limiting their chances. They had a few at the end there. You know, I thought our line and our penalty kill units and whatnot did a good job. Q. You won seven straight on the road. Besides playing as well as you say you have, how do you play so well on the road? JEFF CARTER: I think it's just a mindset. We get away, there's no distractions. The guys are together. The coaches have us well‑prepared. For some reason this team all year likes to play on the road. We've had a lot of success since I got here. They had a lot of success before I got here. Hopefully we can just keep it rolling. Q. Can you touch on Penner's play on your goal there, the way he was able to win the battle, shield Doan, use his size to his advantage there. JEFF CARTER: It was a great play by him. Him and Richy down low working hard to get pucks back. Penns is such a big guy, when he gets planted in front of the net, has position, you're not moving him. He laid it up for me there. He has a lot of skill. Q. You never want to see any guy get run, but when you see them trying to eliminate your captain, how do you keep your composure? JEFF CARTER: It's one of the things in the room we talked about, is just keeping calm. We knew they were going to come and try and maybe suck us into a few penalties. Obviously you never like to see anybody on your team get hit like that. Browny is a huge part of our team. They know that. He's probably been our best player all playoffs. He's a guy they're keying on. He's a tough guy, he can take it. Q. How about the adjustments by the Coyote? Talk about your line being effective in the first couple periods. JEFF CARTER: I thought we had a lot of jump tonight. We had a good start to the game, kind of carried over with myself and Penns are skating up the walls. Both being big guys, it's kind of tough to stop. Richy is such a smart player in the middle, he's going to find us. It was a good night for us. We needed to have a big night. Kopie and Browny and Stick have been carrying us for a while. We needed to do our part, so it was good. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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