On the team’s performance:
“Just playing our normal game…We had all our guys back. Not giving them a whole lot of odd-man chances until they had that Benn one there. We just kind of had a bad change. But that’s kind of the hockey we want to play.”
On if he knew that his last regular season goal came one year ago to the day:
“Oh, in the playoffs, huh? Yeah, I don’t know. It must be a while. It hasn’t been a lot of fun, so it felt good.”
On when he knew he was getting into the lineup, on the challenge of playing infrequently:
“They told me this morning when we had our meetings. It was kind of unexpected, to be honest. But we’ve been working hard, and to be honest it is tough to keep going, but you just do it and you’ve got to be ready.”
On his goal:
“They just kind of made a play and Cliffy kind of got a good read on it, got kind of a stick on it and poked it free. You try to shoot it as quick as you can, and it went in.”
On the team’s response after a loss in Minnesota the night before:
“That’s tough. I mean, all the guys were pretty tired this morning. I know guys took advantage of the hotel beds – I know that, this afternoon. I mean, it’s 7:00 last night and 5:00 tonight. That’s a tough schedule. It was a big win, for sure, and then we can get some rest in Phoenix here.”
On the push to finish the roadtrip with a win in Phoenix:
“You try to win every game, right? So I mean, we’re always trying to push to have [wins], but definitely, if you look at the trip as a whole, it’d be huge if we got that next win. But right now we’ll enjoy it for tonight and then get some rest again tomorrow and get back at it. It’s a tough schedule. I know the guys, like I said, were all tired today, so I’m sure they’re excited to get to Phoenix and get to bed tonight.”
On whether he hoped his goal would hold up as the game-winner:
“Well, yeah. You never want them to score, so yeah, that would’ve been nice. But as long as we won I’m glad. Stick came back – or Justin; I won’t call him Stick because you guys don’t know who I’m talking about – but Justin came back and scored, so it was nice. But a win’s a win. We kind of got a little loose in the third a little bit there. They had some good chances, but a win’s a win and we’ll move on.”
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