Category: John Tavares

DUCKS 2, LEAFS 1. WHAT THEY SAID: “I have belief — full belief — in this team as far as their goal-scoring ability. Obviously, we’re a little snake-bitten right now, but I think they played well enough to score a couple and I just take ownership of that second one. If I can see it, I expect myself to stop it every time and he just beat me clean so that one’s on me and we should have had at least a point.” –JACK CAMPBELL

HEAD COACH SHELDON KEEFE

On the need to attack the opposition’s net to generate more offence next week:

Obviously, when you look at the last couple games on this trip, we haven’t been able to generate much offensively. So that’s part of it. You look at a lot of the goals that we’ve scored here in recent games, a lot of it’s been happening around the net. We need to have more of a presence in there, but it’s an interesting road trip. You’d never think that our team would give up two goals in two games and only come away with one point, you’d probably think we were talking about a different team, but that’s the reality, that’s the way it was this week. The offence dried up for us, a lot of things that have been going in for us haven’t and didn’t on this trip and we don’t get results as a result.

On the challenge of keeping the team’s spirits up after the road trip:

Well, it’s difficult, but I think just the fact that our team takes a lot of heat for how we defend and what we give up and how many goals we give up and all those types of things and how wide-open games are. We’ve focused a lot on that as a team, in terms of slowing a lot of that stuff down. I think we’ve done that for quite a while here now — and now today wasn’t as good as yesterday in that regard, but we’ve got to find ways within that to generate offence. I think that the positives are that our guys will feel good about the fact that they’re playing in these tight games and feel good about the fact on the back-to-back at the end of the trip here that we have our best period in the third and have a pretty strong push throughout the period, but we’ll regroup and be ready on home ice.

On the power play drying up in recent games:

Yeah, it has gone dry. Really, what I’m seeing is a lot of the shots that had been going in for us aren’t going in, in recent games. So when that happens, we’ve got to really look at things and see what we can change and see what we can do a little differently to find some different looks and change things up a little bit. Now, we’ve scored at pretty much a ridiculous pace for quite some time here now and over time those things dry up a little bit and you’ve got to make adjustments.

JACK CAMPBELL (26 SAVES)

On the pressure on him to be perfect when the team is struggling to score goals:

I have belief — full belief — in this team as far as their goal-scoring ability. Obviously, we’re a little snake-bitten right now, but I think they played well enough to score a couple and I just take ownership of that second one. If I can see it, I expect myself to stop it every time and he just beat me clean so that one’s on me and we should have had at least a point.

On his save on Getzlaf while shorthanded to end the second period:

Yeah, it was battling. It was a strange play at the net, it kind of went off a shin pad or something, I made a right pad save and the game kind of slowed down a little bit and I kind of saw it play out. I just tried to get my glove up and luckily, he put it there. So I’ll take that one for sure.

MITCH MARNER (22:26 TOI)

On the level of frustration at the recent lack of scoring for the team:

I just think we know it’s going to come so there’s no need to rush or put pressure on ourselves. We’re a team that can score and this road trip we showed that we can play in low-scoring games, it’s just our scoring wasn’t there, but it’ll come.

On what the team needs to do to generate more greasy goals:

Yeah, I just think those second opportunities. It starts with all of us. From our D to our forwards, we all come up top, we all get those shots through and tonight and through this road trip forward-wise, when we come in as F3, we’re not getting those shots through. We’re making those turnovers happen and getting caught with our D down and I just think ruining a little bit of chemistry and stuff like that. So, like I said, we know it’s going to turn around, there’s no reason to feel like we should put pressure on ourselves and we’ve just got to stay calm with it.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (23:03 TOI)

On the team having the personnel to be able to push through this week’s slump:

We’re all in this together. You play through the good and the bad and the adversity and obviously, in the position that we’re in, there’s lots of critics and lots of stuff that comes with it. But I think in this room we’re headstrong, and it doesn’t matter what’s going to get thrown our way, we’re going to come out of it stronger. Obviously, not the road trip that that we really wanted. So, that’s on us and we’ve got to just build forward and put this aside, learn from it and be better.

On what has prevented the team from generating offence:

I think it’s no secret you come on this road trip, it’s not easy and I think the teams that we played they’re more — their strategy and kind of structure is more to just kind of defend and push you to the outside and let you make the mistakes first. I think for us, we didn’t really challenge the middle of the goalie, he didn’t really have too many tough saves to make. I think that’s a bit of an issue for us right now. I think it’s a little bit of our structure too. I think we’re kind of one foot in the door, one foot out as far as the way we want to play, and I think we just all need to be 100 percent in.

JOHN TAVARES (21:18 TOI)

On what has led to a lack of goals in recent games:

Well, it’s that time of year, things get tighter. You don’t have as much room as maybe you get at times throughout the season. We’ve just got to find a way to get second and third opportunities, get a couple ugly ones. I thought we pressed hard and stayed with it. Obviously, we just didn’t cash in.

On if the struggle to score has led to the team playing tight:

Yeah, maybe. At times, I guess it’s just, honestly, don’t even think about where you’re putting it, just get it on net. I think get bodies there, find a way to cause some confusion, make it tough on them to have to defend you around their net, make it tough on the goaltender. Just got to stay patient, got to keep working and staying with it. Obviously, we’ve got to find a way to put some in and get some results. There was a lot of good things. Just got to find a way to, like I said, get inside that tough part of the ice. That’s tough to get opportunities at this time of year.

JOHN TAVARES: “Obviously, probably a little bit of rust and just getting back into the rhythm of things. Overall, I think physically I felt pretty good. Certainly, I can play a lot better, but good to get back in it. It was a tight hockey game and just great we came through at the end.”

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK On tonight’s game: We knew as a coaching staff – obviously, we did the pre-scout – we knew what we were in for. We knew it was going to be a grind. After the first period, the teams were on pace for 21-21 in shots. They did a real good job in the neutral zone; they did a real good job in their own zone blocking shots and staying on the inside. They just stayed with it. That’s what they’ve been doing. They’ve got good leadership there. If you look at it, they’ve got stars in three positions in Kopitar, Doughty and then in net [Quick]. So, they’ve got some leadership for the group as they try to build it. Obviously, their coach and their staff did a real good job. They made it hard, there was no free space. It was hard, but I thought it was a really good game for our team to just stay the course, this is where we are, do things right, don’t cheat and you’ll be rewarded in the end.

On Tavares’ return to the lineup: We were just talking about it. It doesn’t matter what you do, how hard you train, what work. He was fine but you’re not playing NHL games. I imagine Hyman is going to go through a stretch too. It’s hard when you’re sitting out and everyone else is practicing no matter who you work with and how good the development team is and all that stuff, it’s still not NHL hockey.

On if Dermott is rounding into his usual form: Yeah, the offensive side. You’ve still got to – you can’t have chances, that’s the key. Chances – you’ve got to be safe. Do all the other stuff and be safe and then you’re like the old guy.

On Petan’s performance tonight: I thought it was good for Petey. He went to work. He went down, went to work, came back and, obviously, there’s a guy for that spot so there’s not going to be a lot of opportunity. [Moore] is a real good hockey player too. It was an opportunity and we wanted to see Pete. Good for him.

On the Matthews line scoring a pair of goals despite few chances: I thought it was a tough night for every line. I thought Kerfoot’s line was real good, but there wasn’t a whole lot. From their end, they didn’t generate anything either. They had to throw it in, couldn’t get it through from the point, the blocked shots. Some people would think it was ugly, I thought it was beautiful.

On what Kerfoot brings to the team: I think Kerf is a good hockey player. A real smart, smart person, a good person, he works hard. He’s greasy, he’s competitive, he knows how to play, he’s just going to get better and better. I think we can have an unbelievable line there with [Mikheyev] and [Kapanen] once we get it organized and they get to know each other and feel good.

On Marner taking shorthanded faceoffs: I forget what happened, it’s just the way it was. Hyman will take those right-handed faceoffs when he’s back. Hyms is good at it, he’ll work at it. [Shore] has done a heck of a job for us there, really good job.

On why he thinks tonight was a beautiful game: We need to go through that. We need to figure out who we are and the harder the game is the better it is for the team. Now, would you like to win by a touchdown and everyone relax and all that? Yeah, but we’re not getting anywhere like that. This is important to do. You give up one goal, you play well without the puck, the goalie makes some saves, we didn’t win it on special teams, we had to grind. It’s good for us.

On the Kings being a different style of team than McLellan’s previous teams: That’s what I said this morning — every team you coach is different. The reason it’s different is you have a different group of guys. That’s how he has to coach to have success with this team. I talked to him for a long time this morning, did the pre-scout, have a pretty good handle on what the program is there. He’s going to do a real nice job

. On if Hyman will be available next game: I don’t know.

ALEX KERFOOT (1 GOAL)

On the hit he received by Jeff Carter in the first period: It was a pretty big hit. He made a good play; I had my head down a little bit and saw him at the last second but couldn’t get out of the way.

On his second period goal: It was good. It was kind of a broken play. There was a good line change by [Moore] and they turned the puck over right at the blue line and I was fortunate enough to be in a good spot and tried to put it on net and it went in.

On what the Kings did well tonight: They play well defensively. They lock it down pretty good, they don’t give up a lot off the rush, they kind of stay back and they’re tough to play against. We played them pretty good, stuck with our game plan and were able to get a couple there at the end.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST)

On the team’s performance tonight: I think we just stayed patient throughout the whole game. Not really much going on, I guess, in the first two periods, but we tried to stay patient and tried to play as little in our zone as we could, just tried to break out fast. Obviously, a tight game there and couple of big goals in the third.

On the challenge of staying patient when the opponent tries to slow the team down: It’s tough, but, I mean, that’s what a lot of teams tend to do, especially against us. We can do a better job of getting through the neutral zone and keeping it a bit more simple so we can get in the offensive zone and play in there. At times, games are going to be like that. Just try to stay patient, work with one another and continue to push through.

JAKE MUZZIN (22:19 TOI)

On playing his former team: It was weird. It was weird. A couple of chirps, a couple of laughs, but, at the end, of the day, you’re still trying to do your job and play hard. I don’t know, some funny moments and some serious ones. It was fun.

On if Kopitar told him to go to the penalty box in the second period: Yeah, I was complaining. It was a penalty, though.

On if he had any fun moments during the game with Doughty: He tripped me one time. I tripped him. A couple of subtle jokes back and forth, nothing crazy. I didn’t get him too fired up

. WILLIAM NYLANDER (1 GOAL, 1 ASSIST)

On what he liked about the team’s effort: I thought we were patient. We didn’t try to force much. We grinded through the game.

On if it’s good to be able to win a tight game like this: Yeah, of course. When it’s 1-1 going into the third, we’ve got to be able to win those games. We’ve been tied going into a lot of third periods and this was a good start in the right direction

JOHN TAVARES (18:00 TOI)

On how it felt to get back into game action: Not bad. Obviously, probably a little bit of rust and just getting back into the rhythm of things. Overall, I think physically I felt pretty good. Certainly, I can play a lot better, but good to get back in it. It was a tight hockey game and just great we came through at the end. Big couple of goals by [Matthews’] line. On missing an open net in the first period: Obviously, I’d love to have it back. I think I had way more time than I thought and knowing the type of goalie Quick is I got underneath it. It is what it is. You just move on and get ready for the next opportunity. Just glad that at the end of the day the result was still two points.