On when he got word he’d be starting:
Last night after the game.
On whether he was nervous:
Yeah, I mean I was probably more nervous last night than today. Once you start the day and you start going through your routine, everything’s pretty familiar. It’s the same game. I felt pretty good out there.
On facing higher caliber shooters in the shootout:
Like you said, the shooters are at a higher level here, and I just wanted to try and stay patient and stick to what I’ve been doing down there. I was fortunate on a couple, and came up with saves on a couple.
On facing Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry in the shootout:
It was a great experience, and it’s something I’ve dreamt about for a long time to play an NHL game, and to get the win. It was everything it was cracked up to be.
On Darryl Sutter showing confidence in him:
It feels good, for sure. Like I said, I just wanted to make sure I made the saves that I needed to and give the guys a chance to win, because we’ve got a great team in here, and they played real hard tonight, and all I had to do was give them a chance tonight.
On his first career save, which came on a quality Saku Koivu chance:
They made a nice play down low, and I remember I was going to try and pokecheck. I was a little far out, so it was a bit of a scramble for me. I just tried to take away as much of the angle as I could, and I came up with a save.
On his realization that he would be taking part in a shootout:
Honestly, be patient and stick to what I’ve been doing, and just like I said, give these guys a chance, because we have a lot of great shooters. Obviously goals were tough to come by today, but we were able to get the win there.
On whether his pre-game nap was more difficult than normal:
A little bit, yeah. It was a little bit of lost sleep last night, and a little bit of pre-game nap.
On the challenge of stopping nine shots at this level:
You know what? I was just trying to stay patient with those shooters. I was fortunate a couple of guys missed the net, and I made a couple saves. I wasn’t focusing on nine straight saves. I was just taking each one at a time. It worked out for us.
On the “fun factor” of tonight’s game:
It was a lot of fun. Like I said, I was trying to be as prepared as focused as I could be, but you only get one of those, so I was trying to enjoy it as well.
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