May 28 postgame quotes: Chicago

Joel Quenneville, on the Saad-Shaw-Kane line:
They were excellent, outstanding. They brought speed off the rush, play recognition, finish, support. I thought they all had huge games.

Quenneville, on Michal Handzus:
He’s a smart player. Penalty killing is his strength. Shawsy has been playing a lot. Was half a shift left side, I threw him out there. He didn’t play much in overtime. But what a great finish. Happy for him. Excited about our team.

Quenneville, on Patrick Kane:
He’s a special player. They’ve been tight on him. They got a tight gap. It’s tough to get through that neutral zone with possession. I thought he had some great looks, beat the rusher off his zone. Read off his new linemates there, figured things out quickly. He anticipates as good as any player. Patience level with the puck is as good as anyone. Nice to see him get a big night like that. Those guys I’m sure are excited about moving forward.

Quenneville, on what was said when Los Angeles came back in the second period:
We didn’t change too much our approach. We’ve been in tough situations before. I think we wanted to play the right way. I think when we got behind in Game 2 and Game 3 in the third periods, we opened it up, they picked us apart. We had more of a purpose. Obviously scoring early helped us. Overtime, I’ve seen a lot of games, been involved in a lot of games. That might have been the greatest overtime I’ve seen.

Quenneville, on whether something “was clicking” with Brandon Saad:
I’d say the line. Whether it was him…I thought he had a special night. He had a lot of speed. You look at Shawsy’s contribution, Kaner’s contribution. It was one of those nights where everything fell in there nicely.

Quenneville, on the similarities between the Game 5 and the defensive adjustments when trailing Detroit 3-1 in 2013:
That was exactly what we just said. We didn’t like the last three games. It was almost exactly last year, three down, Detroit, 3-1. We changed the pairs back. These pairs that were here tonight were basically the pairs for most of last year. It wasn’t like they were unfamiliar.

Quennevile, on whether he was able to enjoy overtime:
When they had the whistle there, basically the timeout in the first overtime there, I don’t know how many minutes and seconds, but it was just like it was a ‘wow’ factor. I think I appreciated it. The guys were working. The pace was unbelievable. It was good action. I guess maybe had a little appreciation when there was a stoppage in play.

Quenneville, on whether “pride” was a factor:
You know, our guys, they find ways. It’s a testament to their competitiveness, their will to win, overcoming a lot of hurdles and obstacles. Tonight was a great, great challenge with a great start. Having to come back in the third, winning it in dramatic fashion. It’s a big win for us. We still have to go win in L.A. I’m sure we’re going to be excited about the challenge.

Michal Handzus, on the game-winner:
I was in the neutral zone. Obviously Kaner and Saad did a great job. They had a lot of patience. Saad kind of kept the puck, two guys on him, got open.

Handzus, on whether he is “disappointed: with his play this series:
Yeah, I want to help the team as much as I can. Obviously I play on the PK a lot. I didn’t play very well offensively. So, yeah, I wasn’t very happy with my play.

Handzus, on whether he was surprised by skating with Patrick Kane for the game-winner:
No, I thought we played — even in the first overtime I played with Kaner a lot. He was double-shifting a little bit. I think I had maybe four or five shifts, I was with Kaner. I was ready for any shift, yes.

Handzus, on the length of play between stoppages in the first overtime:
I didn’t even realize. When I saw the timeout was three minutes left, I knew that’s probably why, there was no whistle. It was very entertaining for fans. I thought it was a great game all around. Then overtime I thought was very entertaining, up and down, a lot of chances. I thought it was very interesting.

Handzus, on Quenneville’s praise of overtime:
It was a great game. Obviously a lot of emotion. I thought fans were great. It was as loud as I can remember here. You know, we put everything on the line. Obviously it’s a big win, but in playoffs you got to stay even keel. It’s only one game. We’re still 3-2 down. We’ve got to go there and do the big job, win one over there.

Handzus, on Brandon Saad saying that he had “speed” down the middle of the ice:
I think he slowed down, so maybe it looks like it. I was surprised, too, that I got open like that. He had a great heads-up play that he waited, waited, bring the guys to him, then just made a great pass.

Handzus, on having to move past the emotional win:
Yeah, that’s what I said. Got to stay in the playoffs, stay even keel. You cannot get too high, too low. Obviously it was a big game, elimination overtime, we won it. 3-2 down, going to their building. We’ve got to get prepared. Take a deep breath, get prepared. Travel day tomorrow. Just get ready for it. We know they’re going to be hungry over there. Just got to be ready for the game.

Patrick Kane, on his line’s performance:
Yeah, I thought our biggest thing going into the game was trying to get pucks back, create off the turnovers in their end. Saw that a few times, especially on Saad’s goal. We had a couple other plays we did that, too. It was a fun game playing with them, too. They’re both extremely hard workers. Personally I thought Saad was the best player on the ice tonight. He was bringing so much speed and puck protection. He was awesome tonight.

Kane, on his performance:
Well, it was good. I think my teammates made me look good out there, to be honest with you. You know, it’s a huge win for us. It’s always nice to contribute. That’s kind of the mindset going forward here, you know, for the rest of the series, the rest of the playoffs. Try to contribute any way you can every night, whether it’s on the score sheet or any other way you can. So it was a good start.

Kane, on the first overtime:
I thought it was an unbelievable period. Up and back the whole period. A lot of chances. I think we probably had more chances than they did in overtime. But a lot of times you thought the game was over, especially for us. So it was a really fun period to play in. I know they cleaned the ice there at 10 minutes. I don’t think they ended up cleaning it till like 3:50 or something on the clock. Not a lot of whistles. Just up and back. It was a fun period of happy.

Kane, on whether Chicago will carry momentum to Los Angeles:
It was back and forth with momentum tonight. Obviously we had a great start, then they came back and tied it, got the lead. Smitty with the huge goal to make it 4-4. I think the rest of the game we had most of the momentum, and that led to us scoring the fifth and final goal. You see momentum in the series, how it can shift. L.A.’s had a lot of it. I think it’s our turn now to hold onto it and keep that momentum.

Kane, on the feeling when Los Angeles took a 4-3 lead:
I don’t think we were nervous. We knew we had a whole period to, you know, try and get one back. It worked out that we got one early, so it made things a lot better.

Kane, on playing for pride in Game 5:
Yeah, I think it’s a special group. I think we know that in the locker room. Seems like in a lot of these games we find ways to win whether we should or not. I thought we carried the play for most of the play tonight. I thought Crawford was really good in net. He made the big saves in overtime when he had to to give us a chance to try to end it. It’s a great group of guys. Obviously we have a lot of experience and know what it takes at this time of year. I think we’re very comfortable in that locker room with one another.

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