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Kings after deadline: Notes and quotes from their 2-1 loss to the Blackhawks

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This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

What they said and what the numbers were, courtesy of the talented Jeremy Zager and his talented media relations staff:

Kings Coach Terry Murray on his team’s scoring efforts: ‘Scoring’s not there. . . The bottom line is we’re not getting enough [shots] on a consistent basis to give ourselves an opportunity to find those second and third opportunities, or we’re hitting shots and the traffic’s not there. Scoring is something we have to make happen, we have to pay a price to score sometimes.’

Murray on whether he’d like Anze Kopitar shoot more: ‘Well, that’s the attitude we all have to have. We need to get more pucks to the net. We’re not a high shot team. We’ve got to generate more chances just through that shot mentality from everybody. In particular our top players, [and] our back needs to get more pucks to the net on the power play, that needs to start to come through for us. We had opportunities again tonight at critical times to take advantage of and get us back into a tie game, and we’re missing those opportunities.’

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Kopitar on the game: ‘We’ve got to start playing like we did in the beginning of the year, those first 15 games, we’ve got to get started again.

‘Chicago is a good team, we’ve got to work harder and smarter. If we work hard, we’re going to break through.... I thought we had a couple of good shifts and a couple misreads, but that’s what happens when a line gets put together. We need to work on our game, build some chemistry and hopefully we’ll start seeing some good things out there.

‘Every coach wants to put a line up against a particular line and we’ve just got to battle through it.’

Defenseman Rob Scuderi on the game: “We had a good last six or seven minutes there, but it’s certainly not enough to win a hockey game especially against a very good opponent.

‘It’s frustrating to us because we’re just so close. We haven’t been blown out of games, we’ve been in games but we just can’t get over this little hump we’re on. If we stick with it, don’t panic, and stick together I think we’ll be a better team because of it, but we just need to keep our heads about us. ‘Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp have a lot of skills. They’re hard to knock off the puck and create a lot of time and space for their teammates and that’s why they’re two world class players and the current champions right now. It was a good test for us and we weren’t out of the game, but we did just enough to lose.’

Blackhawks Coach Joel Quenneville: ‘I think that was probably our best team game as far as finding ways to get through it. Everybody’s sticking together and battling right through it. Crow [Corey Crawford] was great in the net for us tonight, a big win for him and for us and a good way to end the trip. We made both goals in Canada and California, so it was productive.’

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Chicago forward Patrick Kane: ‘I think obviously it was a good trip overall. I think we went 4-2 so it’s pretty good for us to get eight points altogether and I think with a trip like this that’s this long sometimes its tough to keep going strong and stay upbeat like we were the last couple of games so it’s a good way to finish the trip. We get to go home now and it’s a good thing that we’re excited to go back home playing in front of our fans , but overall we need to be happy with this trip. We got to go to Vegas, we got to come to California, and we got to play in Canada so overall we’re 3 for 3.’

Kane on his goal: ‘It wasn’t one of my prettiest goals but I’ll take it obviously. It was a big goal to go 2-0. I was fortunate that they called it a goal because it did hit my stomach and went off but its one of those plays where you see the puck going into the net and I think I need to start doing it more often, just to get it in the net in that area.’

Chicago goalie Corey Crawford: ‘You just have to stick with it and keep playing hard. I thought our guys did really well in blocking shots and keeping it to the outside and that made it way easier for me.’

Kings notes:

• The Kings remain the only NHL team not to have allowed a power-play goal at home (38 of 38 disadvantage kills).

• Tonight was only the seventh time in 22 games the Kings haven’t held a lead (only the second time in the last 13 games).

• Their 8-2-0 record after 10 home games is tied for the third best in club history (1992-93 club started 9-1-0 at home).

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• Kopitar has points in eight of his last 10 games (5-7=12).

Jack Johnson has 13 assists and 14 points (1-13=14) in the last 16 games.

Ryan Smyth has five points in the last seven games (3-2=5).

• The teams combined for 62 hits, each side with 31.

Jarret Stoll won 11 of 12 faceoffs.

• This was only the second time in 22 games that Davis Drewiske didn’t block a shot.

• Matt Greene has 19 hits in the last four games.

• The Kings practice at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at Toyota Sports Center.

--Helene Elliott

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