Stevens postgame quotes (Dec. 17)

John Stevens’ postgame thoughts…

(on the game…)
STEVENS: “Well, we got down 3-0 very quickly, which is never a good thing if you’re playing anyone, but it’s really a bad thing when you’re playing Detroit. Then I actually thought we kind of got our feet under us and got into the game, made it 3-1. Then I thought the fourth goal was critical, in terms of momentum. Then even at 4-2 in the second period, I thought we were playing. We were getting our opportunities in the offensive zone. We were spending time, but it just seemed like every time we tried to get our feet under us, we gave them another goal. I really thought their third and fourth lines tilted the scales heavily, because they were on the puck. There was work and there was sustained pressure. It tilted the scale in their favor. I really thought the bottom half of their lineup did a lot of damage tonight.’’

(on whether he knew, early, that something was wrong…)

STEVENS: “We actually felt good about the team. We thought the mood was good. We had a crisp practice yesterday. We thought we were ready. But, especially early, in the first five minutes, i thought they really came at us. They had five guys moving around the offensive zone. They had control of the puck. They’ve been the best team in the league at home this year, and they showed us why, but having said that, I still felt we got our feet under us. We scored that first goal and we had a good emotional lift on the bench, and then when we got to 4-2 I felt the same way. If we could have just held ground there, and just got out of that period (at) 4-2, I think we would have maybe had some hope going into the third period. But to give up two more like that really deflated the spirits of our team, and I think it showed.’’

(on only scoring two goals…)
STEVENS: “If we give up eight, the amount of goals we score is going to be a moot point, obviously. But you’re right. It’s obviously a concern. It’s gone from an acute problem to a chronic problem. We need to figure out ways to fix it, but we can’t get away from playing good defense. When I look around the league, it doesn’t matter who you’re talking about, if you want to win games, you’ve got to play defense. If you want to be considered to be a good team, that can go anywhere, you’ve got to be a good team defensively. But clearly you have to find a way to start scoring more goals. Two is not going to do it.’’

(on pulling Quick…)
STEVENS: “He’s played an awful lot of hockey lately, and sometimes that’s a momentum change. We actually got going for a little bit after that. When you spot Detroit a three-goal lead, it’s difficult. They seem to have done that a lot lately. I’ve seen them go up 5-0 in the first period and win 5-1. They just kind of cruise on through the game, because they’ve got such a good lead and they know they’re not going to give up five goals. It was probably the worst possible scenario for us to start a game in this building.’’