Stevens postgame quotes (Dec. 19)

John Stevens’ postgame thoughts…

(on the win…)
STEVENS: “It is very satisfying, not just the fact that we won, but we felt like we played very well in doing so. We had some really good things going on in the offensive zone. We had some long stretches where we held onto the puck and had some really sustained offensive-zone time and created a lot of good looks at the net. We just felt that in this game, we really had to try to spend some time in the offensive zone, because they’re such a good offensive team. I really felt it wasn’t just Kopi and Stolly’s line. We had all the lines getting the puck in deep and hanging onto it, making plays. So to get two points out of this game at the end of the trip, and go home 2-2, it’s an important two points. If you give up a point to an Eastern Conference team, so be it. It’s the two points that we needed, so it was a big two points.’’

(on what he will tell his coaching successor…)
STEVENS: “You know what, I’m not sure. I’m sure he will have a lot of questions about personnel, what’s gone on here, all kinds of things. I’m a pretty open and honest guy, so anything he wants to know, I’ll be willing to tell him and give my opinion on it. He certainly knows Dean well enough, but I’m sure he’s going to want to know an awful lot about the team, and I’m sure he has watched the team, especially lately here. The one thing he can rest assured is that we have some quality people here to build around. We’ve got a lot of good soldiers in the (locker) room there who are going to help us get out of this.’’

(on trying to get a third goal…)

STEVENS: “I really liked the power play tonight. I liked the way we moved the puck. We got the puck to the net on the power play tonight. We want to start scoring more than two goals, but to be honest with you, the two games that we won with two goals, it’s pretty gratifying, but I think, at the end of the day, we need to score more than two goals. Mike Richards coming back is going to help. I think Penner is really coming around. I thought Justin Williams was a good player. So you add Mike Richards to our lineup, I think he makes everyone better. Certainly I like what we saw tonight, but we need to build on it.’’

(on whether he will stay on the coaching staff if asked…)

STEVENS: “I sure hope so. I love this team. I love the organization. I have a good relationship with the players, and it’s absolutely my intention to stay on and help this team win.’’