A few postgame commentsfrom the Kings' 5-2 win over Pittsburgh on Thursday:

Kings coach Terry Murray, asked if the outcome was more significant because it was against the Penguins: "I'm going to say no. They're a premier team -- they're the Stanley Cup champions -- and you need your top players to respond and play well against the premier teams in the game. But I'd like to think we respect every team and give our best effort."
Murray, on goalie Jonathan Quick, who stopped 21 of 23 shots: "He made some tremendous saves. One in the first, one in the second, they were as good as you could possibly ask, on lateral plays. The one on Guerin, I think it was, in the first period, it was just a skilled play, a reaction play on his part, and I think it just shows the talent that he has."
Quick, on the team's confidence level: "Pretty confident after a game like that, but we can't get ahead of ourselves here. We've got to realize we've got a long season ahead of us. ...
"Obviously, they're a great team, and the team battled really hard to get that win. You've got feel good about yourself, but tomorrow, you've got to refocus and get ready for Saturday."
Pittsburgh forward Sidney Crosby: "I think we would have liked to have been a little better. We didn't play great, and sometimes you get away with that. It's a good lesson for us. We have gotten away with bad periods in the past, but tonight we didn't."
Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury: "It's never a fun one to lose and it's just very frustrating to give up so many goals tonight. This team (L.A.) was ready and they have good players ... Tonight, the Kings played a full 60-minute game and were able to come back and win."

In a little over three weeks, the Ducks have gone from 12th place into the Western Conference to a playoff spot -- either the seventh or eighth, depending on the outcome of today's St. Louis-Colorado game.
Whichever spot they finish in -- and it could be crucial in terms of a match up -- the Ducks that finish the season are playing at a level that eluded them for most of the year.
What was the key? Well, a single word was very popular when the Ducks tried to explain their turnaround after Friday's 4-3 shootout win over Dallas, the game that clinched their spot in the postseason.
Coach Randy Carlyle said the March 4 trade-deadline day -- when the Ducks engineered four separate deals and remade their roster -- was the turning point for his team, adding, "I think that's where we became more consistent as a group, and our record indicates that.
"I don't know what our record is from the trade deadline" -- it's 11-5-1 after Saturday's regular season finale, the 5-4 shootout loss at Phoenix -- but I think we've won 10 out of 13 games. ... We knew we were going to have to do that, and we went out on the road and did it."
Veteran defenseman Scott Niedermayer also cited "consistency (and) playing the way we need to.
"You only have success when you play as a team. You can win with many different systems, but if you don't play them as a team, you're not going to. So we're just playing harder as a team, together."
Teemu Selanne added another voice to that chorus.
"Well, consistency is the key for our hockey club," he said. "Before, we'd play good games, a couple of good games, and then we'd play really bad ones. In this league, you can't play like that if you're going to have success.
"So obviously, consistency is the key, and when the games got more important, everybody took a lot more pride to make sure that we're going to be ready and going to win some games, and good things happened."
Those good things could mean significant momentum for the Ducks, given the way they finished.
"As we slipped further in the standings," said defenseman Chris Pronger, "it was just a matter of clearing our heads and pushing forward and understanding that it was going to take a win, and one after another after another, to get us back into the race and back into playoff position.
"And we were able to do that by playing well in all three zones, and our specialty teams were excellent. Irregardless of how we did tonight, it was a pretty solid last month for our hockey team, and certainly something we can build off and build on going into the playoffs."
Wrapping up: The Kings also feel like they ended the regular season with something to build on, but the next step in the construction won't come until next season.
Long since eliminated from the playoff race for the seventh straight year, the Kings finished their year at 34-37-11 by beating San Jose 4-3 on Saturday. That total of 79 points is just eight more than a year ago, but it may feel like a bigger step since the team became was generally more competitive, staying in the playoff picture until mid-February by stabilizing its long-running goaltending issues with rookie Jonathan Quick ("Every game, he's given us an opportunity to win," said coach Terry Murray) and second-year Erik Ersberg. And Murray's focus on defense helped the team cut its goals-against by 28 (262 to 234).
"I think we're moving quickly in the right direction," said Murray. "The foundation seems to be coming into place for the start of next year, and that was the priority."
On the other hand, the team slipped offensively, scoring 24 fewer goals and finishing tied for 26th in the league at 207 goals for.
"We want to be better in the offensive part of the game, no question," said Murray. "That's an area that's a concern. I didn't think it would be at the start of the season. We were in pretty good position, pretty good shape, I thought.
"But in the last few weeks, the last month, I liked the attitude in the offensive zone. Better on the puck, cycling better, better five-man rotation. I think our defensemen are getting more involved, and that's the secondary kind of scoring that you have to have."
While the players saw positives, they certainly did not accept the idea of finishing 14th in the 15-team Western Conference.
"We didn't get it done this year," said defenseman Matt Greene. "I think guys are really disappointed. ... Nobody's saying, 'I had a good year individually.' Everybody's disappointed about making it, but hopefully we can learn from this. ...
"But I think the future's bright. You look at the awards tonight -- Drew Doughty's our best defenseman, (Anze) Kopitar's our leading point-getter, and Dustin Brown's our MVP. And they're all at least a couple years younger than me. (Brown is 24, Kopitar 21 and Doughty 19. Greene, for the record, is 25.) That's a sign that things are going the right way, when your young players are your best players."
Now, those players need to work to improve, said Murray.
"I think the off-season is going to tell a lot with the conditioning of these individuals," he said. "They're going to get better following up their season with the off-ice program, pushing themselves, getting to become men with their power, strength and endurance, and going from there."
And given the lack of scoring punch and the team's comfortable situation in relation to the salary cap, there's certainly a chance to improve the team through free agency -- though Murray shied away from calling for that.
"We need to get better with the players that are here," he said. "... The other parts that I think you're referring to, that's in house, and we'll have lots of discussions over the next several weeks."
Winners: By the way, here are those end-of-season awards Greene mentioned, awarded on Saturday:
Selected by the media:
Billy Libby Memorial Award (Most Valuable Player): Dustin Brown.
Mark Bavis Memorial Award (Best Newcomer): Drew Doughty.
Outstanding defenseman: Doughty.
Defensive player: Michal Handzus.
Selected by players:
Ace Bailey Memorial Award (Most Inspirational): Sean O'Donnell.
Unsung Hero: Handzus.
Selected by the Kings Care Foundation:
Community Service: Brown.
Selected by the Kings Booster Club:
Most Popular: Brown.

ANAHEIM -- Wednesday, general manager Bob Murray remade the Anaheim Ducks.
Thursday, the new-look Ducks started the process of seeing how the pieces would all fit together.
On the day of the NHL trade deadline -- the first for the team with Murray in charge -- the Ducks said goodbye to some familiar faces and lightened their burden of free-agents-to-be, all while trying to remain competitive in the battle for the one of the final berths in the Western Conference playoffs.
And so out went checking-line center Samuel Pahlsson, left wing Travis Moen and defensemen Kent Huskins and Steve Montador. Along with last week's trade of left wing Chris Kunitz to Pittsburgh, that means the team has dispatched five players who can become unrestricted free agents this summer.
"We knew going into the year that we had a larger number than normal of guys playing out their options and guys wanting to be come unrestricted free agents," said coach Randy Carlyle. "And the organization can't, and will not, let assets go without some form of return."
Defenseman Chris Pronger, who stayed put despite a flurry of rumors about possible trades, said the team was "a little shocked" by the changes.
"But having said that," he added, "I think guys understand that it's a business and understand the nature of the game. We got rid, essentially, of five unrestricted free agents. And you knew at some point, when you have 13 of them going into the season" -- actually, it was 14 -- "that some of them are going to have to be moved."
Arriving Wednesday were center Erik Christensen (acquired from Atlanta for Eric O'Dell, a second-round pick last year still playing junior hockey), center Petteri Nokelainen from Boston (for Montador) and defenseman James Wisniewski from Chicago (acquired with minor-league center Petri Kontiola for Pahlsson, minor-league defenseman Logan Stephenson and a conditional draft pick). All were at Thursday's practice at the Honda Center, and all are slated to play tonight when the Ducks host Dallas. That will also be the first home game for Ryan Whitney, the defenseman who came from Pittsburgh in exchange for Kunitz.
Moen and Huskins went to San Jose for two prospects, Boston University center Nick Bonino and junior goalie Timo Pielmeier.
Coupled with the latest in the ongoing shuffling of players between Anaheim and its Iowa farm team -- Drew Miller and Brendan Mikkelson went down; Troy Bodie and Brett Festerling came up -- it means a quarter of the roster could have changed between the Ducks' last game and tonight's contest.
"I think you have to prepare yourself in these situations for turnover," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "I can't remember the last time we had that many players, specifically, added to your lineup for the next game. It's somewhat unique, but this is the life of a coach in salary-cap and trade-deadline situations."
To Pronger, too, the extent of the turnover was something new.
"I've never been a part of a team that made five or six trades like this," said Pronger, "so that's a little bit different.
"I think people can look at it any way they want, but at the end of the day, we're professionals and we have to play the game to the best of our abilities. If 15 guys get traded or nobody gets traded, we've got to come with that same mindset."
The 25-year-old Christensen had five goals and 14 assists in 47 games with Atlanta, and was averaging a little over 14 minutes on ice per game. Thursday, he was installed on the Ducks' top line, practicing with Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf.
"We feel that where he played today," said Carlyle, "he can give us offense, and hopefully it's a shot for him to play with Getzlaf and Perry. ... Any player that feels uncomfortable about that, I'd like you to tell me who he is. That's a nice situation to come into."
As it happens, it's not unlike the situation he faced at the start of the season in Atlanta, when he moved over from Pittsburgh and found himself playing with Thrashers star Ilya Kovalchuk.
"I came into Atlanta and they pegged me as a No. 1 center," Christensen said. "And that's sort of the role that I wanted, and was very hard on myself when things didn't go very well -- just kind of got extremely nervous and tense before a game.
"So I ended up working with a sports psychologist throughout the year, and two months, I think I've played the best hockey I have in a year and a half. But then I could never get my job back and be in that role that I thought I could be in."
What's different this time, he says, is that he's taking that role with a much more established team.
"In Atlanta, everybody talks about getting guys in to play with Kovy and taking some pressure off him," Christensen said. "But here, there's a lot of very good hockey players, and they've had success, obviously, with a Stanley Cup banner. So the pressure is definitely lessened here. Everyone knows what they're doing. It's exciting to be a part of it."
Wisniewski, coming back from off-season knee surgery, had played in 31 games, with two goals and 11 assists.
"I probably could have come back even earlier," he said, "but being my third one, we wanted to make sure I was 100 percent, which I was, and everything's been perfect since then."
He was plus-six and averaging just over 19 minutes per game.
"We feel he can step in to play in our top four," said Carlyle, "Yes, we lost Montador, who played hard and gave us a lot, but we feel Wisniewski and the way he plays the game will complement -- now we have the option of playing Wisniewski with Pronger or (Scott) Niedermayer, or putting Whitney with either of them, or putting those two together and putting Pronger and Niedermayer on the ice at the same time. ...
"We feel comfortable with our back end."
Wisniewski is clearly excited to be part of that group.
"It's a great opportunity," he said. "You have two hall-of-fame defensemen you get to learn from, and have an opportunity to play for a great organization, great team, so I was pretty happy."
Still, he said, he was a little shocked by the deal, particularly in light of how he learned about it.
"I was waiting around 2 o'clock, 2:15, 2:20,and didn't hear anything," he said, "so I thought it was over with. And then all of a sudden I got a phone call from a radio station in Toronto asking me how I felt being traded to Anaheim. I was like, 'I don't know. I'm just finding out now.'
"But I think that's the nature of the beast. I think it was a good time for me to part ways with Chicago. They were great to me throughout my whole professional career, and now it's time to flip the page and start a new one here. ...
"I felt like I was not getting quite the quality of minutes I wanted to. Hopefully I can get that here."
Nokelainen had a tough time getting on the ice in Boston, playing less than 10 minutes a game. He played in just 33 games, having been sidelined since Feb. 10 after suffering a scratched cornea in his right eye. The eye is still dilated because of medication and his vision is slightly blurry, he said, although it's improved to the point that he'll be able to play.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Nokelainen doubles the Finnish contingent on the Ducks, joining his boyhood idol Teemu Selanne.
"Because Teemu's been here so long, he was the guy I was watching when I was a kid," said Nokelainen, who had a Selanne poster on the wall in his room as a 10-year-old. "So I used to always follow the Anaheim Ducks. So I've been following the team and know the guys and how they play.
He admitted it's a bit odd to now be a teammate of Selanne.
"It's kind of weird when you come in and see the guy right there," he said. "But after a couple of days, it's an old thing. ...
"At that time, when I was 10, 12, he was the biggest star in Finland hockey-wise, and still is one of the biggest stars."
Nokelainen appears ticketed to fill Pahlsson's role as the checking-line center, at least initially.
"We think he can come in and play center and provide us with some size down the middle," Carlyle said. "He's good on the defense side of the puck and is a former first-round draft choice" -- by the Islanders in 2004 -- "that has some offense skills behind him. But right now, we're going to play him in a situation where we think he can provide strength down the middle."
Said Nokelainen, "Probably right now, it's the checking line, and that's fine with me. I had such limited ice time in Boston, and all kinds of injuries. I think it's a really good opportunity for my career, to show I can do a lot better and do a lot more."
So the new faces are on hand. Now it's just a matter of finding how they fit in.
"I think you've got to let five or 10 games go by to see how the new additions do," said Pronger. "They've got to have time to settle in. We've got to have time to get chemistry between the lines and defensive pairings and within the core group itself.
"But I like the makeup of our team. I think we're going to surprise some people."
Contract status: The Ducks now have six unrestricted free agents on the roster after starting with 14. Remaining are Rob Niedermayer, Scott Niedermayer, Francois Beauchemin, Todd Marchant, Bret Hedican and Brad Larson, who has missed the entire season after sports-hernia surgery.
Of the newcomers, Nokelainen is signed through next year, and Whitney has four years remaining on his deal. Christensen and Wisniewski become restricted free agents after this year, meaning the Ducks would have the right to match any other team's contract offer or receive draft picks as