April 27 postgame quotes: San Jose

Head Coach Todd McLellan, on drawing Vancouver in the first round:
“Vancouver is our opponent. Now we can start working, they will be doing the same thing. We have a rivalry that exists with them. Had a series in the past where we were unsuccessful. They are a very talented group of players up there with two very good goaltenders. We’re going to have our hands full.”

McLellan, on how the approach to this game changed after St Louis clinched home ice:
“I thought it changed, I felt the intensity of the game wasn’t quite where it would have been if one of these two teams could clinch home ice. After that, I thought it was fairly evenly played game. They would have the momentum then we would take it back a little bit. It was fairly clean. I think both teams were trying to get through the finish line and get ready for playoffs.”

McLellan, on why Martin Havlat didn’t play:
“Well Martin didn’t skate yesterday. Everybody has bumps and bruises this time of the year. When the results after warms up in St Louis, we decided to get Kennedy in for the night.”

Joe Thornton, on the incentive to win while not getting hurt with home-ice a non-factor:
“We’re going to go up to Vancouver. Excited to play them. You want to win every game you play but you don’t want to get hurt. Now we know who we are going to play and we’re going to go up to Vancouver and win some games. Even with St Louis winning, it was still a good game. It’s always a one goal game against these guys but yeah they have St Louis and we got Vancouver.”

Thornton, on the Vancouver Canucks:
“They compete hard. They won the Northwest for a reason. They have a real good team. We have a big challenge on our hands.”

Thornton, on whether Antti Niemi’s form is encouraging heading into the playoffs:
“He’s been great. He’s the reason we’re in the postseason. When you have a great goaltender like that you can ride him a long time I think. “

Antti Niemi, on facing Vancouver:
“They played better lately. They have lots of talent, big hockey city so it’s going to be a big challenge for us. We lost to them two years ago and I think they got lucky, a few lucky goals so hopefully we get a few lucky bounces this time.”

Niemi, on how he felt after getting rested against Phoenix on Wednesday:
“Maybe a couple of pucks I bounced a little bit in the first. After a couple of saves I felt pretty good.”

Niemi, on whether there was a lack of intensity between the teams:
“I think we wanted to get the home ice advantage and we realized before the game we can’t get that so I think it took a little bit of energy off of us.”

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