April 23 practice quotes: Jeff Carter

Jeff Carter, on what the team improved on in Game 3:
I thought we played our game plan better. We got pucks deep and we had a better forecheck, which in turn, when we’re forechecking we’re creating opportunities and getting pucks to the net. That’s something we didn’t do in the first two games. We were getting pucks going, but we were turning pucks over and they were going the other way. Something we need to continue to get better at here is making their D play in their own end.

Carter, on being a desperate team:
We have to be desperate, we’re down 3-0. There is not time to sit back and wait for things to happen. You have to go out there and make them happen. If we don’t it’s going to be a long summer, so we need everyone on the same page tomorrow night.

Carter, on slowing down San Jose in Game 3:
We just did what we were supposed to be doing. We know they’re a highly skilled team and we turned the puck over. Their D get the puck right up to their forwards and they’re gone. When we’re getting pucks deep, making their D play in their own end, putting pressure on their D it slows them down. We know there are going to be turnovers and their D are going to get the puck in neutral zone transition. We just have to be over their wingers, over their centermen. That’s what we were supposed to have been doing the whole time.

Carter, on the team being built to handle challenges:
Yeah, absolutely. We have a lot of guys who have been through a lot of good times and a lot of bad times. We’ve won cups. We’ve had guys who have been there and lost. So we know what it feels on both sides. We’ve got great character in our room, a lot of leaders. I can tell you that we haven’t given up hope. We go out there and win one game, then go from there.

Carter, on how Mike Richards has handled his offensive struggles:
Mike’s good. He’s been around a long time. Whether it’s going good or bad for him, he’s coming in with the right attitude. He’s going to work and he’s going to be a leader. [Reporter: Has he accepted being on the fourth line? He said on any other team it would be a shock, but here they roll four lines, so it’s not like he’s playing 10 minutes.] He’s still playing, I think, 19 minutes last night. I don’t know if that’s a fourth line center.

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