May 3 practice quotes: Penner, Scuderi, Stoll

Dustin Penner, on trailing two-nothing:
“It’s not easy to be in, but that’s why we play a best-of-seven. They held court in St. Louis, and we plan on doing the same thing here. We’re looking forward to getting a big boost from our home crowd and splitting the series even, 2-2.”

Penner, on remaining “even keel”:
“Every playoff run, no matter how long or short it is, is different. We’re not going to do what we did last year. We’ve got to find different games to win games now.”

Penner, on the most difficult aspect of the games in St. Louis, other than losing:
“Probably just the way it happened. We were outplayed in Game 1 but we had a chance to win the game, especially in overtime. Then last night, we played two good periods and let it slip away. That’s uncharacteristic of our team and what we’re built around.”

Penner, on the difference between St. Louis last season and this season:
“It’s Bouwmeester’s first playoffs, I believe. Leopold’s a veteran. They’re a similar team. They play the same style. They’re finding themselves in the right bounces of pucks right now.”

Penner, on how to curb a team with lots of confidence:
“We just worry about things we can control. Our first shifts as players, our first period. We try to set up little goals, and hopefully they lead to the big goal that we want, which is a win.”

Penner, on not expecting to be down 2-0 in the series:
“We expect to win them all. We know, based on reality, that’s probably not going to happen, but you just take each task on as it comes at you. Now we’re down two-nothing, and we’ve got to worry about having a good start. We know that they’re going to come in here – they know what opportunity lies in front of them. They want to get that third one, just like we did last year, for each series. So we’ve got to combat what they’re going to bring to the table.”

Penner, on being in a “desperate” situation:
“Kind of slanting this one way, yeah? We’re not worried about what it looks like on the outside. We’re focused on what we have to do in the locker room and on the ice.”

Rob Scuderi, on the team’s resiliency:
“You look at last year, and we had built a three-nothing series lead in every series we had, and it’s not always going to be that easy. I’ve been in series where I’ve been down before and come back, and you’ve just got to keep your head about you, make sure you pick up the desperation in your play and try to get the next one.”

Scuderi, on whether the team is in a “state of shock”:
“I wouldn’t say ‘shock’. St. Louis beat us fair and square. There’s no crying about it, but we’ve got a game tomorrow, and we can cut the series in half if we get that one.”

Scuderi, on what has to happen to start that process:
“I think as a team, I think we need to move the puck north a little better, and after we move it north I think we have to try to have some more offensive control of the puck. We have great forwards. We’re getting good chances. But I think if we have a little more sustained attack, I like our chances of scoring some more goals.”

Scuderi, on whether fundamentals break down when a team is losing:
“I don’t think so. We’ve played some good hockey at points in the two games. Certainly there’s been some hockey that we haven’t played well and they’ve capitalized on. But overall, I like where our game is, and we just have to do what we do better.”

Scuderi, on the importance of scoring goals, even if that isn’t necessarily “his department”:
“Even though it may not be my department or some guys’ department, you can still do things to help the team, whether that be getting up in the play, moving the puck better, staying on the blue line, trying to keep the puck in. Whatever it is, we’re all connected as a group, and we have to win as a group.”

Scuderi, on the team’s frustration level:
“I’d say it’s small. I’d say it’s just from scoring goals. We’ve had some good chances, and we just haven’t buried. If there’s a little bit of frustration – and I do stress a little bit – it would be in that department. But I don’t think it’s overwhelming at any point.”

Jarret Stoll, on the team scoring two goals in two games:
“Yeah, that won’t cut it. That won’t win you a series, that’s for sure. Yeah, there are a lot of areas we’ve got to be better. We know that. Penalty kill was better last game. Our five-on-five play wasn’t. Power play got us a goal early, but we just didn’t get that timely goal, that big goal, the two-nothing goal that we needed. You said it – you’re not going to win very many games when you score one goal, and we know that. We’re home. We’ve just got to make sure we take advantage of these home games, and not much room for error now. We know that.”

Stoll, on whether match-ups are more important in this series as opposed to other series:
“We’ve just got to play. Match-ups, that’s a big key. But we’ve just got to win now. We’ve got to win games and find ways to win one game, and go from there.”

Stoll, on Jonathan Quick shouldering the blame:
“Well, that’s just the type of guy he is, but we all know that’s not his fault. Scores could have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for him. Everybody knows that. We know that. That’s just the type of guy he is. He’s a first class teammate, and he’ll say those things. But we all know he’s a great goaltender, and he’s played really well in this series so far. We’re going to need him. We’re going to need everybody to win the next game.”

Stoll, on whether this is the type of series the team expected last year from St. Louis:
“I don’t really want to talk about last year, to be honest with you. We’re here. We’re now. We’re in the now. We’re down two-nothing. We’ve got to play some hockey and win a game.”

Stoll, on whether St. Louis is harder to play against this year:
“They were hard last year. They’re hard this year. Yeah, they’re a tough opponent. To be honest, anybody in the playoffs, I would say would be a tough opponent. It’s a good league. There are good teams, good players. Everybody wants to win. It’s not just the St. Louis Blues that are a tough opponent, but that’s who we’re facing, and we’ve got to find a way to get back in this series.”