SHARKSPAGE

WCQF Game 2: Post-game comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray

SAN JOSE SHARKS HEAD COACH TODD MCLELLAN GM2 PRESS CONFERENCE

Post-game comments from San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan:

I am not too much worried about individual lines, I am disappointed in our team. When you look at the game it is hard to find two or three guys that competed at the level they needed to. We can talk about Joe’s line if you like, I would like to look at the team as a whole and obviously we need to be better in a lot of different areas. I thought we started well, we had the first 7 or 8 minutes the game we wanted to play. We had a power play and a little momentum there. Then very undisciplined as far as penalties go. We have to understand where we are at this time of the year. Liberties and trying to get away with things doesn’t work right now and it really comes back to cost you. It did tonight.

We don’t just close the book and move forward, we have to go back and look at it. We have to be a more competitive team. We can talk about systems and what we did well, what we didn’t do well, the power play, the penalty kill, faceoffs. It has to start with competitiveness. When you are along the boards, you have to compete as hard or harder than they do. When you get to the net and play, which we have been very good at the last 3 months, you have to be very competitive in that area. We weren’t tonight. We will challenge the group there. We expect a lot more from every individual. Then we will start looking ahead.

(On the Kings defense controlling play) They certainly did, you have to give them some credit. They were very good at breaking the puck out of their zone, our forecheck was really secondary. Any dumps we had they quick handled, they automatically came out. When we had a situation where we had some support, we weren’t strong enough on loose pucks. We weren’t strong enough on the boards. They didn’t have to expend enough energy in their end. We will look at fixing that. Again, I think we are going to have to look at each other tomorrow and ask if we gave enough tonight, if there was enough there to win a game. I don’t think there was.

You have to play with emotion this time of the year, you have to be emotionally attached. You have to have a little fire in your eyes and in your belly, but you have to play with controlled emotion and smart emotion. We actually put that on our boards. The first three penalties in succession in a 7 and a half minute span put a lot of stress on our team and they got the lead. They are one of the top defensive teams in the league for a reason. They have the ability to defend. You can’t fall behind 2 or 3 on them because they will shut it down. There goaltender was obviously very good.

(1-on-1 battles) was a team-wide problem. When you don’t play well you often have one or two lines going. We didn’t have that at all. When you talk about 1-on-1 battles, to me that means board play, net play, all over the ice, they were better. The score dictates that. Anyone who watched the game, you don’t have to be a real astute fan to see that they were a lot hungrier than we were, they were a lot more competitive than we were.

We should be able to (draw on our experience to come back). I believe we can. I know there is a room full of disappointed players. They will see some video of it tomorrow, we will discuss some things. Sometimes when you are as bad as we were tonight, the picture is a lot clearer than if you lose in overtime. It was pretty evident, pretty obvious that some guys need to elevate their game. Do we expect that to happen? Absolutely. We have some decisions to make. We had to make them earlier in the year, we have to make them now.

We had one of these (bad games) in Chicago, we lost 6-2. We had one in Anaheim not that long ago where we were outcompeted and outplayed. The good thing is, following those games we gathered our composure regrouped and came out. That is fully what I expect our group to do. It won’t guarantee us a win, but it will allow us to be more competitive and give us a chance.

(On the decisions made earlier in the season) I was referring back to our losing streak where we had to look at each other and we had to make some decisions. I am mad, and I think everybody should be because we are a better team, a more competitive group than we showed on the ice. If we don’t have a bit of anger, if we don’t have a bit of shame lingering around us tomorrow or tonight when we go home, I would be extremely disappointed.

LOS ANGELES KINGS HEAD COACH TERRY MURRAY AFTER GAME 2

Post-game comments from Los Angeles Kings head coach Terry Murray:

It was a very big win coming into this building for game 2. You are short with key players out of the lineup, that requires a real competitive attitude. Guys have to really dig in and play hard for each other. I think that competitive spirit is something our team has shown for many, many years. They care about each other, they play hard for each other. They did in when they have to. For me that is defined as a great hockey club. The right guys stepped up and produced at the right times, the Doughty’s, the Johnson’s on the back end. Ryan Smyth played a real big game for us tonight. The key guys you needed to step up, played as hard as they could.

Ironically the power play has been something that has been a concern for us the last quarter of the season, and here it is in the big game tonight it stepped up and performed well. There has been a lot of time put in to get this thing going, turned around and to have the right outcome at a critical point. It happened here tonight. It was a good job for guys just getting to the net. I thought we had a great net presence, a lot of traffic in front the whole game. To get pucks from the back end, especially with Doughty and Johnson, they have powerful shots heavy shots.

The defenseman, the 6 guys did a real good job. Composed, they made plays, they blocked a lot of shots, they were very hard in front of their crease. Overall it takes everybody. The forwards came back, they reloaded, I thought we had a real good F3 throughout the game. They worked hard with the defenseman on the low breakout. Whatever Quick had the chance to get, he was there for us.

(Drew Doughty) is playing the last quarter of the season the way he played last year for us. He is skating, he is confident with the puck. He is a dominant player. I think he can take control any shift he wants to when he is out there and that is the kind of confidence he has played with the last 20 games down the stretch and now here tonight. That is the important part of it. Whenever you need something big to happen, tonight because of the adversity we faced with key guys out he had to step up. Doughty has always shown that ability, to step up at the right time and make key plays and get things turned around if neccessary. His upside is unlimited as far as I am concerned. You have great ability. He is the best defenseman I have seen going back 10 years. He really has incredible potential.

The old cliche is getting a split on the road to start a series and coming back home, I guess when you talk about offense. It was never more true than it was here tonight. We had to pour it all in. We knew there was two days until the next game. Guys held nothing back, hard in front of the boards, hard in front of the net, they really paid the price to get the job done. I love the way we cycled the puck, that was critical to the defensive part of our game. Get the pucks behind them, strong on the cycle, Lewis with Smyth and Williams when they were taking over were really good. That takes time off the clock and lets you play with confidence and get pucks to the net at the right area at the right time.

Our MO is we want to be a good defending hockey club. You have to be a good defending hockey club to win in the National Hockey League during the regular season. It becomes highlighted even more in the playoffs. This was a game that we needed that backend to really step up and do a good job for us. Quick was, there was 7 guys back there who did a tremendous job for us. Moving the pucks whenever the opportunity was there, just getting it out of trouble, and at the other times a big penalty kill and blocking shots. It was everybody. Scuderi with his big stick, and Mitchell has tremendous range and I thought discouraged a lot of shooting angles and a lot of shots. We were just able to break up a lot of passes through the seam.