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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: KINGS v BLACKHAWKSJune 5, 2013Darryl SutterLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Can you talk about why your team has been so successful at home when it seems like you struggle a little bit on the road? COACH SUTTER: We've only played three games in this series. Give the other team credit, in Game1. We didn't play really well in Game2. Unfortunately, our business is about the score. So I base it on performance, not score, more than anything, that way we stay in the right place all the time. You can play really well and lose. The questions are always, You didn't do this, you didn't do that, right? Doesn't matter. Q. A lot of times in playoff competition you get great performances from unexpected sources. Is Voynov that example of what I'm talking about now and how he's been so successful? COACH SUTTER: You know, you have unsung always at playoff time the farther you go. Basically what happens, if you don't make the playoffs, what are perceived as star players take the heat, or coaches. As you go further down the road in playoffs, the only way you do it is by having great depth. There's guys that get a little bit more spotlight, usually because of offensive production. So when you talk about someone like Voynov, that's why we put him in a lot of situations to excel at what his skill set is. Basically what you're asking him to do is maximize his skill set. Simple. If you do that, you get an opportunity to play in those situations. All it is for someone like him, it's one more year's experience removed from playing in the American League, coming up partway through the year, playing in the playoffs, playing back in the American League this year, coming back to the NHL, then to play the same amount of minutes again at playoff time. It's just a little bit more experience. Q. Dustin Brown talked about in the room they're so impressed with how Voynov is able to match up physically against the bigger guys. For a guy of small stature, he plays well defensively against some of the bigger players. COACH SUTTER: I think there's a lot of talk made about size, you know, big teams and all that. Quite honest, it's a bunch of bull. When you look at the actual stats part of it, I think everybody's team average is 6'1" and about 204. That's what our team is, that's what their team is. Some guys are just under it, some just over it. Is there a big stature difference? I don't think so. We try and have him so he's not always on the ice against Hossa, Bickell, so he's more into his skill set, so he can maximize his skill set, not put the square peg in the round hole. Q. It looks like the hearing is over, but we don't know what came of it yet. You said last night you weren't expecting anything. Are you hoping for something? COACH SUTTER: You know what, I moved on right after the game. Had my feelings on it, I think I'm correct. After that it doesn't matter, to be quite honest, it never has. Q. How is Jeff Carter today? COACH SUTTER: Awesome. I wish I was Jeff Carter today (laughter). Q. Anything on Mike? COACH SUTTER: You know what, guys just got here at 11. Kind of circling the wagons. We'll know as we go along. Just talked to him 30 seconds. Q. What kind of progress did he make yesterday? COACH SUTTER: Light workout. Whether that's progress or not... I talked to him for a minute after the game. More interested in the fact we won than how he was feeling. Q. After giving up four goals in Game2, did you think there would be any effect on Jonathan? COACH SUTTER: No. Obviously he'd love to have a couple of those goals back. But he got parks and rides pretty easily. Q. When you got here first, what were your initial impressions of Voynov? And how have they changed? COACH SUTTER: You know, I'm not even sure if he was here. I don't remember. Q. When he first came up then. COACH SUTTER: I guess what I remember most was he wasn't playing much if he was here. It was a big adjustment for him. There definitely was a language barrier. Whether he was uncomfortable with not wanting to converse, whatever it was. That's an issue. Have to be able to coach a player and team. You have to be able to communicate. That was an issue here, in a lot of different areas. That was really important to me. The next part of it was, because of the roster, the team, I forget when it was, I know there was a point that we sent Slava back to Manchester. At that point, it was to find a roster spot for King and Nolan. Then he came back to the big club when we traded for Jeff. Basically it was to replace Johnson. We were basically saying, Okay, we're on a fine line here, we're seeing if we're a playoff team or not, but let's put the young player in there, have a veteran player to partner with him. What's the progress he's made since then? I think we put him in a position to succeed, not to fail. He's a young player. He has so little experience, you think about it, game experience at this level. Quite honest, he's probably got as much playoff experience as regular‑season experience. I bet it's close now. There's been highs and lows in this season. There's been highs and lows in this playoffs, that's for sure. Q. Talk about what Justin Williams has done in this post‑season for you guys. He seemed to be everywhere last night. COACH SUTTER: I think he had a really good start to the St.Louis series. As the series went along, that series went along, he really struggled. I think the travel, just the way the series was, it was a tough, hard series that wore him down. He's one of the older guys on the team now. Even though he's, what is he, 33, I think it took its toll on him. We didn't have much of a reset between that and the San Jose series. He measures his game, a lot of it, on his offensive opportunity part of it. I think he wasn't getting what he wanted. He was a frustrated player. I think there's times that that trickles into parts of the game that was not productive for the rest of the team. You have to watch how you use him. I think he'd be the first one to tell you, again, that he didn't play the way he wanted in Chicago in Game1. We're making a big deal out of it today because he had a good first period last night. We need him to play like that every night. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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