February 11 postgame quotes: Dustin Penner

On his performance:
“The first period, you’ve got to get those nerves out. I think any time you’re an older guy and you’ve been out of the lineup, you kind of have to start over from scratch. I wanted to be able to bring more than just a fourth line mentality. I was kind of up and down in the first and then I settled in in the second and third. It felt be good to be able to make strides during the game, and I want to continue to do that, hopefully, in the next game.”

On his stickhandling and work in traffic:
“There’s no trick to my game when you’re my size. It’s when you get the puck, first off, you have to get the puck, and then you hold on to it and then have patience, because I should be able to use my size against anybody outside of Zdeno Chara. You know, that one would prove a formidable foe for me. It’s just getting confidence with the puck and holding on to it.”

On his line’s forechecking:
“When you play with Stoll and Lewis, they have a way of dragging you with them. You watch those guys skate, and the way they play, it helps me. I think everybody, though, as a whole, played really well tonight. It’s a nice feeling as a veteran guy seeing the young guys the way they’re playing, and knowing that we can interchange pretty much anybody for any position. We took a step in the right direction.”

On the defense stepping up following Alec Martinez’s injury:
“It’s a tough break. It happens. But yeah, you have to give one of the stars of the game to the five D, because any time you lose a player early, they’re going to log a lot of minutes. The other team, you know their coaches tell them to lean on the five guys that are left, maybe make it four. It’s a great job by our five D-men.”

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