On scoring a goal:
“I’ve got a lot to do to catch up, but it was good to get the first one.”
On the “hostility” between these teams:
“There’s a lot of battling going on. It was a tough game to play in. A lot of bodies banging, but that’s how it always is against them. We expected it, and we expected them to come out hard today, especially because of how we beat them last night. But overall I still don’t think we played great. But it was a good win.”
On appearing relieved after he scored:
“It was good to get that one off my back. I’m hoping I can get on a little roll here now. I’m kind of a streaky scorer, so I’m hoping that kind of continues.”
On generating several good scoring chances:
“I had a lot of good chances. Especially tonight, I had five or six that could have gone in. I guess that’s how I’ve got to look at it. It’s a good thing I’m getting those chances. Now I’ve just got to bear down and put them by the goalie.”
On whether he’s concentrating more on his own end of the ice this season:
“Yeah, for sure. We have two of our top defensemen out of the lineup in Greener and Mitchie, so I’ve had to take on a new role. I’m enjoying it. I love playing against the other team’s top players, but I still want to be able to kick in on the offense when I can.”
On playing a Phoenix team that hadn’t scored in three games:
“We knew they were going to be hungry, even from the first puck drop. We were pretty crappy at the start of that third period. Our five-on-five play was pretty bad. If it wasn’t for our special teams and our goaltending tonight, we wouldn’t have won that game. So we’ve really got to get back to playing solid five-on five hockey, because that’s what’s going to get us to that next level.”
On the challenge of playing on back-to-back nights:
“It’s a test, but it’s fun…We knew exactly what to expect tonight. We knew everything they were going to do. They did it all last night, and we knew a lot of what happened in last night’s game was going to boil over to tonight. It was why it was such a feisty game. It was fun, actually. It’s not fun playing back-to-back games, ever, because it takes a lot on your body and mentally, but it was good to get both wins.”
On the Muzzin and Doan collision:
“From what I saw, I saw the replay on the jumbotron quickly, and to me it looked like they kind of just ran into each other and unfortunately hit knee-on-knee. I think he obviously thought Muzz meant to do it, but I know Muzz as a guy and as a player, and he’s never one to go out and do something like that to someone.”
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