Darryl Sutter Quotations

Usually Kipper is really sharp and he wasn't very sharp tonight. When you score four goals you should win the game.

We're being totally dominated in our own end. Hopefully it's good for our team to get dominated by two teams that are clearly better than us on back-to-back nights because it's clearly evident that our top players, our leadership group, have to take charge of the performances of the group.

Wow. That's pretty neat. That is weird. Maybe there's some fate there.

Would've preferred to get one more point (in a 3-2 shootout loss to St. Louis Monday) but I think coming off a tough month -- nine of 13 on the road -- I think that we did a good job and stuck with it.

When you're young like that, you just have to stick to those things that you do really, really well. With a player like that, it's never a mistake or a flaw in his game, it's just about how he harnesses it and challenges it.

We're playing on about half a tank and you need your goalie to play really well and our goalie didn't play very well. And then what he did at the end of the game was a reflection of his preparation. It was a very undisciplined thing to do and I don't accept it.

When you're a guy that's looked on as a power-play guy and you get three right off the top and you're a little bit nervous. He'll learn lots from it because he's a quick study.

We're continuing to talk and it's been very positive and productive. I don't see it as a real issue where it's a standoff or anything.

Losing (first place in the Northwest division) that's not what is important. It's not where you're at in the standings, it's more about how you're playing.

I don't know that it's nice, but I'd say it's about time.

I don't think you can single out one single player. It was about 26 minutes of special teams -- that's where the game was won and lost.

I don't think I've ever been in a game where that many power plays goals were scored.

He makes our team much tougher to play against and he knows what it takes to win.

We're playing really well up to that point. We make a play up the boards to our winger and we turn the puck over. You can't do that. It's playoff hockey, you can't do it. You've got to pay a price, get the puck out or protect it.

He's a good player. The thing about Dustin Boyd is he's a 200-foot player. There's some other guys that get a lot of splash because they're spectacular when they have the puck but he's a good player in all areas of the game.

He runs 500-600 head of cattle and has the best of both worlds - in the country and in the town.

He was really good. It was good to see.

Kipper is always one of the main reasons why we win hockey games.

I thought we played really well. It's a win on the road and two points against a high-scoring team.

I think we ran out of gas. It was like a road game for us.

I think we worked and did everything we wanted to. In the end they had a little bit more in the tank.

Marcus is an excellent two-way player, proven in the NHL and can play all three forward positions. He is by no means a short-term acquisition. He is a player I have been interested in since last summer. What's huge for us is that we did not have to give up a roster player or a prospect.

I think quite honestly we've signed the No. 1 free agent in the market. I don't think there's anybody else that compares.

We played well enough to get a point, but that's about it. Games like these have such a fine line, we had a disallowed goal on a quick whistle, and we had a broken play on the overtime goal, and that was the difference.

You look where this team is at and pro-rate it out, you'd be quite surprised with how well this team is doing, considering all the problems we have. Continue the pace. Considering everything this team has been faced with ... I give our team a lot of credit.

It seems like we're doing just enough to lose by a little.

It's the nuts and bolts time of the year and we don't have enough nuts and bolts.

I know you define leads by goals having the lead, but we never really had the lead.

Optional is latin for 'Be There'.

I may not know much but I can count.

It has not been a good day. I lost my glasses early this morning and I had to go buy a pair of 79 dollar reading glasses today. 79 bucks. You can literally get them at Costco, three-for-20.

A complacent player is a lazy player, and a lazy player is a loser.

The only thing that would be comforting for me would be that we do get to play them.

Both teams have come a long ways in terms of trying to get their organizations back to respectability. If they ever had the opportunity to play each other, it means that they've come a long ways.

We tried to get Jamie in the same deal as Chris Simon (two years ago). I look at (him) as a development type of player - a player who brings some skill to our team.

We hung in there this afternoon with a deflated line-up and I was proud of them.

This sounds like a broken record. We are being totally dominated.

Every goal that we've quietly set in our room, our players have reached it as a team. As a team, we've exceeded what I've expected. What we haven't exceeded -- or reached -- is individuals, where we thought they should be.

Dion has been our best player. All year. Period. It isn't even close.

Dion was not very good, especially early in the game.

Eric worked hard. He likes traffic. He gives you the same thing every day - it doesn't matter what group he's in (whether against rookies or veterans).

The top end of our team is not playing very well right now. There is a focus or purpose issue with some of our top players right now and its affecting our ability to play 60 minutes.

Quite honestly I think we're still a long ways off. I think it's a lot more complex than what you're seeing and hearing. There's big issues and a lot of small issues that hook into them. So to think there's any resolution is really premature.

Officially, in March, it's a lower-body injury. We're going to do the same thing that 29 other teams do now. When you guys ask about an injury, instead of me being so honest with you, all you'll hear now is that he's got a lower-body injury.

After the first period, it wasn't 1-0. It should have been more for them. Early, we had some players that weren't ready to play and that's disappointing. It's guys that you count on and everybody expects to be good players.

The Olympic break kind of messed it all up.

After Game 2, the one thing that's not close is power plays. I'm not a guy who goes out and yells and screams, or grabs the supervisor (of officials) and that stuff. I guess I should have got up and said something after Game 3, and I didn't.

You're talking about a boy that just turned 21. When you're 21 and playing in that element and in a position that next to the goalie is absolutely the toughest on the ice, it's not easy.

You want 10 out of 16 points (against a divisional rival) -- don't ask for much more. Anyone who asks for more really doesn't understand the whole concept. These teams are all so close.

A lot of it depends on guys who are banged up. We're starting on a road trip and all of those cities are an hour from Omaha. I'm not carrying an extra body if they're not playing, it's that simple. Especially the young guys, they're gonna play, that's the only way they're going to get better.

It's about warriors. There's guys that we're counting on and that they're counting on to be really good in the trenches.

It's about preparation and focus and one less interview.

It's a fine line. If you look at the series, the first game was an overtime game, the second game is a one-goal game, the third game was 3-2 going into the third period, last night was 2-2 into overtime.

It really is a middle-of-the-lower-body injury. That means he's week-to-week.

It's not how many you get, it's how many big ones. That was the biggest goal of the game.

For a team that's not a high-scoring team, our power play scores lots of big goals, goals that are at pivotal times.

It's his first National Hockey League playoff game and you're not playing him 12-15 minutes, you're playing him extensively. You talk with the other guys and ask them about their first playoff games and it's significant.

It's good to see them get rewarded, finally, because ... there are players that cave in at some point.

It's great for our players. It's great for our ownership and it's great for our fans. They all deserve to win. It's that simple.

It was a group decision to start the other guy. But the other guy wasn't very sharp against Chicago and I changed my mind this morning. I told Phil it was his start when he came to the rink.

It was one of those games. Hopefully, we got it out of our systems.

Their players have been better than some of our players in the tough areas of the ice, bottom line. We have a handful of guys that can do a lot better job of getting there.

Their penalty killing in this building is really, really good. They're probably the most aggressive penalty-killing team we've faced. That means you have to get an ugly goal, just like they did.

If you can get 10 points out of every team in your division then you have a chance to make the playoffs.

If you look at the last two games, there's a whole game of special teams. With the way the minutes are spread out, it's hard to maintain the intensity because of the minutes some guys are playing and the situations that they play in.

In the end, they just had more legs than we did. We were beaten by a great team. I thought our guys played great.

In the end character stepped up for us and battled to get a point.

I look at Edmonton and Calgary and both teams have gone a long way towards getting back towards respectability. It would mean they've both come a long way.

His energy level looked like it was better than their best players. We were fresher.

I'd say we played a good first period.

He's made that team on his performance over the last two seasons, not two weeks. The 19-year-olds are the difference in that tournament, always.

I could ask Phil to go on conditioning (assignment) and he could say yes or no. This way, I don't have to ask him. If I want to send him down, (I'll) send him down. We have two (goalies) playing in Omaha and 20 in the National Hockey League that could move here tomorrow. We're as good as our weakest player and the other night he was our weakest player. It's not acceptable.

You can review and play the tape. Both teams are dead even. Look at the series. First game is an overtime game and we won. The second game is 4-3, a one-goal game. The third game was 3-2 going in to the third period. (Thursday) night, same thing, it's an overtime game. It's a fine line.