Kings Locker Room: Copley on 20 Wins, Gavrikov on First Goal & More

The Los Angeles Kings are rolling right now, having won four straight games after defeating the Washington Capitals 4-2 Monday.

The win marked Pheonix Copley's 20th of the season, making him the fastest player to 20 wins in franchise history.

It also saw Vladislav Gavrikov grab his first as a King and Adrian Kempe grab his 30th of the season. 

Hear from Copley, Gavrikov, Phil Danault and Todd McLellan.

Copley on reaching 20 wins:

It's awesome, I care about winning a lot, that's what I want to do. But, it's a team effort and I'll never take credit individually for anything. It's definitely a team effort, the guys and us as a group.

On if it's special to be the fastest Kings goalie to reach 20 wins:

For sure, it's a great honor. Like I said, I care a lot about winning. But again, it shows how special this team is I think. And, I think we have a great group here and we're excited going forward.

On if it's more rewarding beating his former team:

That is awesome, I've got to say, that makes me happy. 

On if his calm style of goaltending makes it easy to rebound after giving up a soft goal:

For sure, like I was saying before, there's highs and lows and it's sports. Stuff can happen that you don't want to happen and at that point it's out of my control. I just have to move on and do my best to stop the next one. 

On Joonas Korpisalo as a goalie partner:

He's (Korpisalo) been awesome. He's been really supportive, really nice. And yeah, I've got nothing but good things to say about him, he's been great. He's come in and we get along well, so it's awesome. 

Gavrikov on if it felt good to get the first goal in a Kings jersey:

Yeah, exactly, but most importantly we got two points. No matter who scored the goals, we got two points and that's most important for us, climbing the standings right now.

On his yoga stretches in warmups:

Yeah, I've done it before to be honest. So, I'll keep doing that. It's good for the hips you know.

On getting more aggressive on both sides of the puck as he gets more comfortable:

Yes, exactly. I knew it was going to take a while to learn the details and stuff. But, yeah I feel more comfortable every game.

Danault on if he felt the two goals from his line were coming:

Yeah, I think we finished with the empty netter last game. And, I don't know, it just released a little bit. And today, we were buzzing and I think we played the same way, actually, as we did the last couple games. Just capitalized today and that was big.

On the importance of getting to the net when playing with skilled players like Fiala and Arvidsson:

Yeah, absolutely, it was part of my game plan. Just to go to the net when these guys are buzzing around me. Just go in my office, that's where I scored all of my goals last season too, so we're just learning to play with each other. Like Kevin said, just new to our line, but it's awesome, he's dynamic and brings a lot to our line. So, we're just figuring each other out still.

McLellan on Durzi:

He had to go in and get evaluated after the hit. The evaluation takes a certain amount of time and basically the clock ran out. Saw him in there he seems to be feeling good, so, see how he's feeling in the morning. But I think he'll be okay.

On the penalties:

It's a problem, I don't know what else to tell you. It's a problem and you know it or you wouldn't have asked that question. And it's been ongoing for a little while. There's some people that can fix it, there the ones that keep taking the penalties. And if we continue on, it will cost us in the long run. We may be getting away with it right now. So, I'd like to think it can be fixed within the locker room. Tonight was the first night or power play let us down, I think in a long time, and we have to get that going again. And maybe that was frustration, I don't know what it was. But it's got to get fixed.

On if it would be difficult to break up the Gavrikov-Roy pairing:

Yes and no. They're playing really well together. But it's not just about two players, it's about the group as a whole. We're going to need all seven defensemen fresh and ready to play as the season goes on. So Walks (Sean Walker) has to get back in and when Walks gets back in we may flip some guys around again. We'll just take our team and see how everything evolves. But those two are playing well together.

On Copley passing a lot of credit to his team being a reflection of him:

I think it is yeah. And that's the type of character he has. He's going to look to his teammates first and pass the dues to them. But in turn, you could probably walk into the locker room and every one of those players would tell you that he's a pretty calming influence in there. And he's easy to play in front of too, so it's a two way street.

On Byfield potentially turning the corner from a production standpoint:

Yeah, you know, I don't. I know he got the assist tonight and I know he's got some others. But, the fact that he's got that many in a row and has that impact, that's great. But that's just how my mind works, he's had an impact on every game. And, I believe he feels that from the group and from the staff, that he doesn't have to score and get on the scoresheet every night. Eventually it would be nice to see him get a goal for him and for the team and if one goes in then the rest may come. But when he's not scoring he's valuable. And it's really, really good for a young player to have that in their game. I think I've mentioned in the past, there's players that think they need stats to stay. Right now, good thing for Q, he's not thinking that way. He's playing to stay and he's doing a really good job of it.