Hitchcock quotes

For those who have asked about quotes from the opposing team, I found some tonight. Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock quotes follow…

(on tonight’s game…)
“Our defense is a little bit unsung right now. (Mathieu) Roy stepped up tonight and gave us good minutes and (Marc) Methot stepped up and gave us good minutes. Between the goaltending and the defenseman, that’s been the most pleasant surprise (this season).”

(on the scoring…)
“Timing is everything. (Raffi) Torres’ goal gave us a lift on the power play. (Rick Nash’s) goal gave us some breathing room to play with (for the rest of the game). A lot of our scoring chances were in the first period. We had some chances we didn’t take advantage of and sometimes that can come back to bite you. We needed our goalie tonight and he was big.”

(on the team…)
“If we’re going to be a better team, we need better play from those top six guys if we’re going to get to the next level.”

(on the team’s penalty kill…)
“We made some significant changes in killing penalties. That’s been the most consistent, solid part of our game. We’ve tried to incorporate six forwards and be more comfortable doing that, rather than just using the four. We’re trying to have harder, more competitive reads in the PK, and so far, it’s working.”

(on goaltender Steve Mason…
“I thought tonight we needed Mase. He came up big early in the first and came up really big in the third when we needed him. We needed him tonight.”