January 12 postgame quotes: Muzzin, Pearson

Jake Muzzin, on what went into tonight’s 5-1 win:
It starts with a good start. Our starts lately haven’t been the greatest, so we kind of focused on that a little more, and we were able to do it tonight. We got afour-minute power play early and capitalized on it and got another one late in the first. We’ve given up a few goals lately in the first period and kind of wanted to play with the lead, so we focused on that. We have to continue.

Muzzin, on whether this was one of the team’s most complete performances:
Yeah, it was a good game. I was talking earlier about we’re capable of playing – just continuing and being consistent game-to-game. We’re dropping in the standings, and it’s time to put a roll together here, so it’s a good start to it.

Muzzin, on the transition and end-to-end chances off the rush:
We’ve been slow lately, so we wanted to speed it up and get it to our forwards quicker, and we were able to catch ‘em on a few there, so that’s what we focused on.

Muzzin, on how his Bauer stick is feeling:
It’s nice. I need more.

Muzzin, on whether the team focused on breakouts as five-man units:
We were focused on connecting all five instead of D and forwards. We wanted to be all five together, so we were able to do that tonight.

Tanner Pearson, on whether this showed the type of game the team is capable of playing:
Yeah. I think we’ve got to get rid of the inconsistency. If we play like this every night we definitely set up ourselves for a good chance of winning.

Pearson, on four of the five goals being scored on end-to-end transition:
I think the last game we didn’t do a really good job of getting the puck in behind their D and turning pucks over to the blue. We’re a good rush team, and if that first shot doesn’t go in, then someone else is going to the net and there’s a good chance to get the second chance going. It was going well for us tonight. We just need to keep this momentum into the next game.

Pearson, on breaking out in five man units:
Obviously the last game there were a couple bounces that ended up in the back of our net from trying to break out, so clean that up. I think we want to be a fast team below our goal line, and when we are, we’re a good hockey club. Keep on doing that, and things should be positive for us.

Pearson, on whether this was the most complete game the team has played:
I think maybe in the third maybe we defended a bit more than we wanted to. I think we’ve got to be a checking team, but when the score’s like that, you maybe back off a bit. You’ve got to keep it going and carry this one in and string them along.