Sutter Impressed With His Team’s Effort In Game 2

Daryl Sutter hasn’t ever been necessarily known for big displays of emotion, but you can tell that the Los Angeles Kings coach is very pleased with his team finding a way to win two hard-fought overtime games to lead the Stanley Cup Finals 2-0 headed back to the Staples Center for Game 3 Monday night.

Sutter was almost downright effusive in praise of his team, though he could have just been trying not to waste words with his team heading for the bus to get back home to Southern California tonight. He responded bluntly, and with a smirk on his face, to inquiries about how his team played, saying, “I thought it was a hell of a battle. What did you think? Were you happy with how our team played tonight? Tough building. You just finished playing a team with the most home wins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs that played hard.”

He was even more pleased with Drew Doughty’s Scott Niedermayer-esque goal in the first (Doughty himself even compared the goal to Niedermayer’s after the game) with the joy of a proud papa. He said, “Made a great play. You know what, a 200-foot play, right? One of those coast-to-coast things. You’ll look at a lot of times. Win or lose, that’s a great play.”

Sutter -- who replaced Terry Murray half-way through the season -- admired the hard-fought battle between both clubs, who’s play resulted in the first Stanley Cup Finals since 1951 to begin with two straight overtimes. The Devils especially pushed in the opening period. “I think we weathered the storm the first period,” he said, “and withstood a pretty strong forecheck, made some mistakes. Our goalie made some saves, same as theirs.”

Still, Sutter remains unimpressed by Los Angeles’ 10-0 road record, seemingly wanting to win this for the fans back in SoCal. He responded to questions about their road record almost bizarrely, saying, “I’d hate to say that we went undefeated on the road.”

You can understand his desire to get it done on home ice, but even if they don’t, an undefeated road record in this series will win his franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup.