On if it felt good to finally win a shootout:
“Yeah, I think that we would have mentally scarred if we hadn’t won that one. You go to game seven – we’ve been in four shootouts – and we were 0-3. Obviously, tonight we got a couple of goals, which was good.”
On whether Nashville’s defensive approach tends to gravitate towards the shootout:
“No, trust me. That’s not part of our plan. When you’re 0-3 in shootouts, the last thing you want to do is go to another one. We’re on the road here. The other team has last change, and we’re trying to get a little bit of order in our game. I don’t think we’ve hit stride at all. We’re just sort of grinding out points, and that’s what you have to do. When you’re not going on top of your game totally, you have to find ways to get points, either great goaltending, or tonight I thought penalty killing was really good. We took too many penalties, but…obviously, we got off to a good start. I thought we were pretty good in the first 10 minutes, and then we took some penalties and sort of took some momentum away. I thought we clogged up a lot of things that we wanted to do in terms of the neutral zone and did some things there. But they’re a good team. They’re a big, strong team, and there’s a reason they won the Stanley Cup.”
On Pekka Rinne:
“Pekka’s one of those guys – if you know Pekka Rinne – he’s one of those great pros that you meet. He’s humble. He’s a great athlete. He’s a great goalie, and we haven’t been able to get a win for him. We haven’t scored enough goals in the shootout or five-on-five. So I think it was important for him, and he’ll tell you that. I think that’s just a weight off his back, because he’s one of those guys that every game, he wants to be the star.”
On whether it was good to finally win a shootout:
“Yeah, I think that we would have mentally scarred if we hadn’t won that one. You go to game seven – we’ve been in four shootouts – and we were 0-3. Obviously, tonight we got a couple of goals, which was good.”
On whether Nashville’s defensive approach tends to gravitate towards the shootout:
“No, trust me. That’s not part of our plan. When you’re 0-3 in shootouts, the last thing you want to do is go to another one. We’re on the road here. The other team has last change, and we’re trying to get a little bit of order in our game. I don’t think we’ve hit stride at all. We’re just sort of grinding out points, and that’s what you have to do. When you’re not going on top of your game totally, you have to find ways to get points, either great goaltending, or tonight I thought penalty killing was really good. We took too many penalties, but…obviously, we got off to a good start. I thought we were pretty good in the first 10 minutes, and then we took some penalties and sort of took some momentum away. I thought we clogged up a lot of things that we wanted to do in terms of the neutral zone and did some things there. But they’re a good team. They’re a big, strong team, and there’s a reason they won the Stanley Cup.”
On Pekka Rinne:
“Pekka’s one of those guys – if you know Pekka Rinne – he’s one of those great pros that you meet. He’s humble. He’s a great athlete. He’s a great goalie, and we haven’t been able to get a win for him. We haven’t scored enough goals in the shootout or five-on-five. So I think it was important for him, and he’ll tell you that. I think that’s just a weight off his back, because he’s one of those guys that every game, he wants to be the star.”
On whether it was good to finally win a shootout:
“Yeah, I think that we would have mentally scarred if we hadn’t won that one. You go to game seven – we’ve been in four shootouts – and we were 0-3. Obviously, tonight we got a couple of goals, which was good.”
On whether Nashville’s defensive approach tends to gravitate towards the shootout:
“No, trust me. That’s not part of our plan. When you’re 0-3 in shootouts, the last thing you want to do is go to another one. We’re on the road here. The other team has last change, and we’re trying to get a little bit of order in our game. I don’t think we’ve hit stride at all. We’re just sort of grinding out points, and that’s what you have to do. When you’re not going on top of your game totally, you have to find ways to get points, either great goaltending, or tonight I thought penalty killing was really good. We took too many penalties, but…obviously, we got off to a good start. I thought we were pretty good in the first 10 minutes, and then we took some penalties and sort of took some momentum away. I thought we clogged up a lot of things that we wanted to do in terms of the neutral zone and did some things there. But they’re a good team. They’re a big, strong team, and there’s a reason they won the Stanley Cup.”
On Pekka Rinne:
“Pekka’s one of those guys – if you know Pekka Rinne – he’s one of those great pros that you meet. He’s humble. He’s a great athlete. He’s a great goalie, and we haven’t been able to get a win for him. We haven’t scored enough goals in the shootout or five-on-five. So I think it was important for him, and he’ll tell you that. I think that’s just a weight off his back, because he’s one of those guys that every game, he wants to be the star.”
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