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Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team fell to 8-6-0 on the season with a 5-3 loss in Los Angeles on Thursday night.


On falling behind 5-0:

Babcock: We gave them the two goals. We had the turnover. We kind of battled our way back. We had the one right away [early] in the game and they score on the breakaway when Gards falls. And then we were really playing pretty good, and Naz turns the puck over and it’s in our net. That’s two of them. In the end, you lose by two. You can’t turn pucks over. I thought the first eight minutes we weren’t as good as we should’ve been, and then I thought we did lots of good things. The penalty kill, too — we got caught too high on three opportunities and they scored on two of them. Those are things we can fix. I liked our energy; I liked a lot of things. We had a lot of good players, and yet we weren’t able to come away with the win.

On limiting the turnovers:

Babcock: You’ve just got to be ready. It’s a back-to-back night. We got in early. We ate. We should’ve been fresh. There should’ve been no issue, and yet we made those mistakes in the first period that, in the end, you spend the whole night working hard and grinding… we had lots of opportunities, no question about it. In the end, you feel like you left one out here. I thought this was a good team to play against. A good opportunity for us. I thought we’d have good energy after last night and I think we did. We just made those mistakes.

On building off of the end of the game looking forward to St. Louis:

Babcock: Besides the start, I didn’t mind our game, except the penalty kill. Our penalty kill is usually outstanding. I thought we did lots of good things in the game. The start, obviously, is problematic. You can’t turn the puck over. I don’t care what anyone says, you can’t outscore your turnovers. We’ve got to do a better job in that area. We travel tomorrow, but it’s still an off-day and we’ll get freshened up and get ready for St. Louis. They’re one of the best teams in the league. Should be fun.

On Kasperi Kapanen’s game:

Babcock: Good speed, way heavier than when he was here before. He used to be a skinny kid and now he’s got some meat on his bones and can fly. He had some quality chances. He looks like an NHL player to me.

On Jake Gardiner’s fall and turnover leading to the 1-0 goal:

Babcock: It’s just one of those things. You can’t turn it over. I don’t know what happened there. No one is trying to turn the puck over. In saying that, we can’t do it. We’ve got to get that out of our game.

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