Kings Locker Room: Doughty ‘Super Frustrated’ & Kopitar on Byfield

The Los Angeles Kings dropped their third straight game Saturday in a back-and-forth affair against the Nashville Predators.

A game that saw three different lead changes and a goalie pulled after 39 seconds, the Kings have to find answers for their struggles right now.

Hear from Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty postgame.

Doughty on momentum swings and his overall takeaways:

We did an awesome job battling back, down 2-0 right off the back. We showed a lot of heart, a lot of courage. We got the lead and we've got to be able to hold onto that lead. All three of the goals they scored in the third were mistakes on our part, it wasn't something nice they were doing. Even the power-play goal, we know we have to have that guy in the high slot and that goes for every goal they scored. They're our mistakes and we know that so we have to fix them.

Doughty on if blowing a lead makes the loss hurt more:

Yeah because I honestly thought there was absolutely no chance we were losing that game tonight. That's the way it felt going out for the third period in here (the Kings locker room) 100%. It's really frustrating we lost that game after battling back like that. Yeah, just super frustrating. 

Doughty on key takeaways from the third period:

The coaches are harping on us, against a team like this (the Predators) you have to get pucks behind them. Yeah, you have to do that against every team, but this team's neutral zone is very similar to ours. We know how hard it is when teams get pucks in behind us. You know, we saw us not doing that enough in the third period, and it caused a couple of goals against and that's what happens when you don't play the game plan.

Kopitar on if blowing the lead makes the loss hurt more:

Yeah, for sure. Obviously, not the start we wanted getting scored on the first two shifts. Battled back and took the lead, just couldn't sustain it. We've got to improve in some areas and get back at it tomorrow.

Kopitar on individual breakdowns in the third:

It's times like this when you have to look at yourself first and then go from there. If everyone just elevates their game a few notches we'll be a lot better as a team. Start with yourself and expand and help each other.

Kopitar on what the team needs to fix from Saturday's game:

Not give up five goals. Yeah, play hard, I thought it was better than the game the other day. But, we obviously still need to do better and we will.

Kopitar on Byfield back with the first line:

He was using the body a lot. I think he's been playing really well since he got called up, we're going to need him to play like that.