Terry Murray’s postgame thoughts…

(on finishing the trip 5-0…)
MURRAY: “Well, this road trip has been pretty exciting. You get five wins on the road at this time of the year, the desperation that everybody is playing with is pretty remarkable, the way we have dug in. This game today was, I think, a real good look at the kind of team that we’re starting to become. A lot of character, big heart, never gave up. It looked, at times, like it was slipping big-time on us, and then to dig in, in the third period, and find a way to get it done, was tremendous.”

(on what was said during the second intermission…)
MURRAY: “We always have meetings between periods, and there’s always stuff talked about. There’s a solid group of guys in here who understand that, when it’s a 2-1 game, what needs to be done. We had to execute better. We had to get skating better, start putting more pucks on the net. A little more determination, with heavier sticks along the boards to come up with more pucks. It’s the group in here. The guys did a great job. We got a couple of great big saves at the other end, with Quick, and whenever you start to see those kinds of plays in your own end, our team has responded and gone the other way pretty consistently this year.”

(on an impressive comeback…)
MURRAY: “It’s very impressed. First of all, because it’s the New Jersey Devils, who really have played very well this year. Best goals against in the league. Their penalty killing has been great, and they’re the lowest penalized team in the league, so that, I guess, was a little bit of a surprise for me, that there was a penalty with a minute left in the game. But the guys responded. Kopitar makes a good play off the half-board to find the weak side. I thought Doughty’s play, just to get possession of the puck and open up the middle lane with his subtle little move… To be able to find that, and back away and shoot it with traffic in front of the net, it was a pretty simple play, but it takes a long time, sometimes, when you’re working with young players, in order to get it all in place to make it happen like that.”

(on Simmonds’ tying goal…)
MURRAY: “It’s desperation time. The big play on that goal was on the other side of the ice. Richardson really sealed off one of their players, came up with the puck and made the play, to keep it alive. Then, throwing pucks to the net late in the game, you’re just looking for something. There was good traffic. Smytty was right there. You’re looking for a lucky break.”

(on the character shown to rally from a 2-0 deficit…)
MURRAY: “That was the same at the start of the trip, in Detroit. We were down 2-0 and never let up, came back and won the game and just built off that kind of an attitude. It’s an attitude that’s starting to stick with this group in there. There’s a lot of pride. There’s a lot of young guys who are figuring out what it takes, that it’s a 60-minute game, and it’s a tremendous effort to finish that trip off. It makes a six-hour flight a lot shorter.”

(on Quick’s game,,,)
MURRAY: “I think he’d like to have the second goal back, off the right side there, but he made some big stops. There was a save on Zubrus, and a lot of pressure on Quick from that Zajak line. They’re a determined line. It’s easy to understand why they have the numbers they have. They really dig in heavy and hard and battle and make the little plays around the net. Quick had to stick in with the pressure and, again, made some big stops. I think that’s where we fed off. A lot of that energy was going back the other way because of what he was doing.”