Kings Locker Room: Doughty on a Change Between Periods & McLellan on the Trip

It was a disappointing loss for the Los Angeles Kings. Blowing a three-goal lead in the third period is a disaster regardless of the opposition. 

Still, the 3-2-1 trip is a decent return for the Kings heading into the All-Star break and puts them in a decent spot moving forward.

Hear from Drew Doughty and Todd McLellan post-game.

Doughty on what changed between the second and third period:

We didn't really make too many plays in the third. We were flipping a lot of pucks, I mean, we were doing that all night because they have a very aggressive style of play. But I think we were doing it a little too much, sitting back a little too much. Should be able to close out that game.

On what he thinks about getting a point against a good Carolina team:

Yeah, it's a point but we should have had two points so it's pretty frustrating right now. We have to learn how to win games in the third period.

On what he did like from the team, particularly in the second period:

We were just playing hard, we were playing the way the coaches wanted us to play. We were making good passes, scoring big goals. That was a really good period from us, maybe one of the best of the trip. But the bottom line is, we messed it up in the third.

On what the leaders are saying when Carolina ties the game at four:

Just get back to our game. We're going to win this game, we still felt, even though we were going into overtime, we could easily win that game. I can't be taking a win in overtime there, wish I didn't do that. It sucks, I kind of feel like it's on me.

McLellan on dealing with Carolina's push in the third period:

We knew they were going to have a push, we thought we could handle it. I actually didn't think we played a terrible period. Unfortunate on the rebound goal right off the bat, that gave them a lot of momentum. And then the third goal, the deflection, the puck was going wide we've got to do a better job on that. Unfortunately, we dump one over the glass, put a good team on the power play twice to win the game. Not exactly the recipe you need but for the first two periods I thought we played a fantastic game. Back on our heels a little in the third, good teams do that to teams. But yeah, we weren't under siege, you look back to the Florida game, almost 20 shots. They (Carolina) were held to ten, they took advantage of them.

On satisfaction from a 3-2-1 trip:

Yeah, we will. This trip's about as hard as you'll find in the National Hockey League. You've got to come through Florida, Tampa and Carolina. And the teams we started with weren't easy. It's been a long 12 days and it's dragged out to the bitter end and the fact that we can come out above .500 was a good thing for us. Because there's not a lot of teams out west doing that, so we think we put ourselves in a better position. The taste of tonight's game, we think we left a point behind, but you know what, when it's all said and done we'll take the points we got.