November 4 postgame quotes: John Stevens

On what the team did well to turn the game around:
Obviously at the start of the period there we switched the lines a little bit just to maybe try and give a little different look. I thought those guys came out and really put together a good rush. Ty made a great play on the rush there and just kind of gave us energy, and then we thought their goalie was kind of getting out of the net a little early on those rims. I think he probably learns from Rinne. He’s probably the best in the league at getting out. I think they really rely on the goalies getting out, so Folin made a great play there just turning his hands over, and the power play scored a goal for us. I thought we played good early in the hockey game, but some bad bounces ended up in our net. Quite honestly, that game’s good for us. A little adversity through the course of a hockey game. Things don’t always go the way they’re scheduled to go in a hockey game and you’ve got to deal with some setbacks. It was good that we had to face some adversity, it’s good that we fought back and got a point. I would’ve liked to get two, but at the end of the day, it’s a point that it didn’t look like we were going to get.

On whether it was good to see Alex Iafallo score his first career goal:
Yeah. Everyone’s starting to wonder about his scoring and everything, but I think the process in his case is going to be a lot more important than the outcome. But it’s just a matter of time. He’s got a lot of shots on net, he’s created a lot of opportunity, the puck seems to follow him around. It was a really good play by everybody, and it’s nice to see him get rewarded for his work.

On the types of looks he was hoping to generate by flipping Tyler Toffoli and Dustin Brown:
I just changed it. I mean, we’re down three-nothing. They’ve got a little bit of continuity in terms of their match-ups probably with their D more than their forwards, quite honestly, and just a little bit different look. Ty and Kopi played together lots before. Brownie’s a real power guy who goes to the net. We just flipped the wingers there. It’s not a major change, but it is a little bit of a different look. A little bit of energy, it creates a different look for the other team, and they did a good job – not just them, the other group, too. We had a real good shift from our fourth line in the third period there. Sometimes you just make a change. It wasn’t working at that point, so we figured we’d change it up.

On what concerned him during the first two periods:
We’re down three-nothing. That’s a concern. I thought we had a really good start to the hockey game. Foles falls down on that play on a flip out of the zone. I think 99 times out of 100 he’s fine with that play. They did that a lot tonight. I would’ve liked to see us block a shot on that second goal. I think Muzz was trying to the right thing, but the puck went through his feet. It was kind of a lazy from the top. The third goal is one we’d probably like to have back. I think we can do a lot better job in coverage. I liked a lot of the things we did. I didn’t like the middle part of the second period. It seemed like we played ping pong there. We turned a lot of pucks over, and the way they check in the neutral zone, you’ve got to get in and forecheck, and I think once we got back to business, we allowed ourselves to climb back into the hockey game.

On whether Darcy Kuemper’s record versus Nashville was a primary reason he started in goal:
Well, he’s played well for us. Our goalies have been saving our rear ends a few times this year, and they’ve given us a chance to win every night. Darcy got behind there, but I think he made some big saves once it got to be three-nothing that kept it three-nothing. But we looked at the schedule, we looked at past records with Nashville. Big week next week. Trying to manage the rest that’ll work for Jonny and take advantage of how well Darcy’s played.

On whether it’s “shocking” when the team loses in overtime:
Losing sucks, to be honest with you. There’s no other way to say it. You want to get two points. That’s a regulation win, too, which you don’t like to see get away on you. I guess at the end of the day you can be happy with the point because it didn’t look like we were going to get one, but I flat out don’t like losing. Overtime or regulation, it’s not much fun.

-Lead photo via Aaron Poole/NHLI

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