Stevens postgame quotes (Dec. 15)

John Stevens’ postgame thoughts…

(on winning his first game as interim coach…)
STEVENS: “My status doesn’t change. It still feels like a win. I’ve been here all year, so this was just a big win for our team, through a slide that we’ve been on here. I just thought the guys played extremely hard tonight. We had a great first period there, where we did an awful lot of good things and didn’t score. Then we got behind with what amounted to a very lucky play. It kind of bounced in off a couple guys. I thought the fact that they came out the way they did, and found a way to win a hockey game, was a really good sign of the guys and the perseverance that they have. They were determined to get the job done, and that was terrific.’’

(on scoring with net presence…)
STEVENS: “It’s something we’ve really been working on all year, to try to get our defensemen to work hard to find lanes, get the puck to the net and get people to the net. Brownie is one of the best guys at the net, over the years, so it’s not surprising that he played a big part in both goals.’’

(on not getting to the three-goal mark…)
STEVENS: “We’ve got to start somewhere. We scored two here tonight. The dangerous thing here is that we would open up and get away from our fundamental roots as a good defensive team. I didn’t think we did that tonight. I thought we created a lot on the forecheck. I thought the forwards were really skating tonight. I don’t know the count on the scoring chances, but I think we’re going to be happy with what we see. Guys are frustrated. Guys are coming off, when they have opportunities to score, and that’s the last thing we want to happen. It’s a 2-1 lead, but I think it’s going to start giving guys confidence to put those opportunities away.’’

(on Mike Richards’ status for the rest of the road trip…)
STEVENS: “I would be very surprised if he was able to play in Detroit. If they deemed him medically ready to play, then he’s a guy that we would welcome back as soon as he’s ready.’’