February 12 postgame quotes: Carter, Toffoli

Jeff Carter, on the team’s performance in the win:
To be honest with you, it was pretty similar to the last time we played ‘em. It felt like we controlled the play a lot, we hung onto it in their end, made plays. The difference tonight was we capitalized on our chances. It’s a good win. It’s a big win for us.

Carter, on his line’s recent play:
It was good. We’ve been trying to kind of work from our end out, the whole team as a whole. I think it’s been coming along, especially near the end of the road trip we saw it kind of paying off for us. Again tonight, Tyler obviously had a big game. He plays the right way and makes plays in our end and that translates into goals for him, so it’s been going good.

Carter, on how to build on the three-game winning streak:
It’s exactly what I said. We’ve got to keep building on our game and keep working from our end out. It’s something we’ve been working on a lot the last couple weeks, and I think you’re starting to see it come around.

Carter, on whether the importance of the game was discussed in the dressing room:
We’ve been in these games before – a lot of them in the last couple years. Not a lot needs to be said in this room. I think when you looked around the room before the game you could tell that everybody was ready and everybody realized what tonight was about. It was a big win for us.

Carter, on what the team is doing better now that it hadn’t done before:
We’ve been working from our end out, from below the puck and not cheating for offense, and making plays. It’s simple hockey, really, and it’s what you’re supposed to and it’s what [makes you] effective out there.

Carter, on Tyler Toffoli striving for consistency as a young player:
I think he’s been doing a really good job at it. Obviously there are going to be ups and downs. He’s had – like we all have – streaks where the puck hasn’t been going in for us. But I think Tyler, he’s real strong in his own end. He plays the right way. For a young guy, that’s pretty impressive. He battles on the walls, he makes plays to the centermen, which makes my job a heck of a lot easier. Like I said earlier, when he’s doing that – which he is doing – he gets offense from that. He’s a smart kid. He gets it, so hopefully he can keep going.

Carter, on the Washington Capitals:
They’re a strong team. They’re playing well. They’ve got a lot of offense and they’ve got a lot of weapons. We’ll look at ‘em over the next couple days, and we’ll have a better showing than we did last time.

Tyler Toffoli, on notching the team’s first hat trick of the season:
It was exciting and it’s a personal accomplishment, but this time of the year it’s huge to get wins. It’s the third straight, and we’ve got to keep rolling.

Toffoli, on what separated tonight’s game from the previous Calgary games:
I think we stayed with it. They scored two quick goals, but we didn’t let it faze us. We stayed with our game and kept working hard and we scored big goals at the right time.

Toffoli, on what was working well with his line:
I think we’re moving our feet, getting pucks to the net. We’re taking care of our own zone, moving pucks fast, coming out of our zone quickly and that’s how we’re getting a lot of our chances on the rush.

Toffoli, on Dwight King:
I think Dwight’s been playing really well. I said it last game – he’s moving his feet and making solid plays, and he got rewarded again tonight with a huge goal.

Toffoli, on winning a four-point swing game:
Yeah, we said it before the game and in between periods that we need both of these points and we can’t give ‘em any. So that was a huge third period for us and a huge win.

Toffoli, on his personal success this season:
We’re a pretty tight knit group here and individual stats don’t really mean a whole lot. We just want to win games. We’re trying to get consistent, and the past few games have been really good.

Toffoli, on whether he envisioned this level of production after recovering from mononucleosis:
I felt fine. I felt fine the whole time, really. It was just my spleen was enlarged, and I was just itching to get back. I finally got back and had a couple tough games, but I feel like my game’s at a whole new level right now.