the Kings scored four straight goals to beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 today....they improved to 6-0-2 in their last eight games, and are now 17-2-0 when scoring four or more goals in a game....
coach Terry Murray’s postgame thoughts…
(on rebounding from Ovechkin’s early goal…)
MURRAY: “We didn’t get unsettled. It was a strong play by Ovechkin on that first rush, there’s no doubt. I think that got the focus of Doughty. I thought Doughty was outstanding after that goal against. He became a man with a real attitude. He was asked to go out and take the challenge on. But the team, in general, played steady, played strong. We, I thought, managed the puck pretty well. There could have been a few times when we could have done a little bit better job, but overall we did some nice things going into the offensive zone.”
(on Kopitar scoring a goal…)
MURRAY: “That was a strong play. A great play by Simmer, just to take it hard to the net. Those are the kinds of goals that are going to be there in the last half of the year. You’ve got to take it hard. You’ve got to look for ugly plays and rebounds and loose pucks, and it was great for Kopi to get that first goal. I thought he was very strong here tonight. He was with the puck and carried it with authority, made some good plays, had a real strong game.”
(on the win…)
MURRAY: “It’s a big two points for us, to come into this building, against a great hockey club and play a pretty solid defensive game, first of all, and then to be able to score some goals, which have been hard to find for us recently. To be able to do that is a good thing, and now we’ve got to do it all over again in Philadelphia.”
(on the balanced scoring from three lines…)
MURRAY: “I can’t take credit for anything like that. … It worked. When you’re around the game and things go off-page a bit, on the offensive part of things, for lines and for players, a change is a good thing. They get refocused and come out and, sometimes, you get a good result like tonight.”
(on Bernier’s ability to rebound after the early goal…)
MURRAY: “Bernier did a good job here tonight. He had some big stops. The power play, especially, there was a lot of offensive threat coming at him. He was focused, he was on top of the crease, challenging, very square and did a nice job overall.”
Anze Kopitar breaks his scoring drought....
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