February 1 postgame quotes: Colorado

Jared Bednar, on how the game “got away [from the Avalanche] so quickly”:
In the first period what they did is they threw everything at the net and then they got their big bodies down there and banged away and we didn’t do a good enough job sealing them out and making sure we got under sticks and keeping ’em off the net so that gave them their first goal and the second one squeaked through on the power play so you know, when they’re coming to the late like that, we just weren’t ready to go as well as we could’ve been, obviously. We tried to push back a little bit in the 2nd and created a handful of chances but the power play kind of — we went 0-for-4 again tonight. It’s not creating many very good lucks tonight, not as many as last night and that kind of takes our momentum away and gets our guys frustrated and it ends up 5-0. So it’s a tough one, it’s a tough start and lesson learned from us again tonight. We’ve got to be better than that at the start of the game keeping them off our net.

Bednar, on McNabb’s hit on Bourque in the first period:
Yeah you know to tell you the truth I didn’t see it. I just saw it happen live and I didn’t see the replay of it, I was looking at other things in the intermission. I couldn’t comment if it was a good hit or not. I have to look at it again.

Bednar, on losing Bourque for the rest of the game:
Yeah we lose him right away and then we lose Mitchell for 17 minutes so we’re immediately short, down to 10 forwards. We could add a little bit more to some of those guys. We have to have a little bit more from some of ’em up front. Their big guns came to play and came after us a little bit so we have to be better at matching those guys and their key players and our key players have to step up in a situation like that. There’s lots of ice time and it was only for a short period of time that we lost Mitchell so we should’ve been able to recover there.

Bednar, on his team having good chances but not burying any pucks:
We did have some good looks for a stretch, I’d say about a 15-minute stretch we started generating a little bit. Even a stretch going in to the second period we did some good things offensively. I thought Budaj was good, though. They did a good job keeping us off the net and making sure we didn’t get the traffic and screens we needed on the original shots. We made some nice plays away from the net but getting that one body in front of the goalie and taking his sight lines away is a key and you saw the one power play goal that they had. It was just a wrist shot from it looked like not a dangerous shot from the half wall from Carter but the screen was real good and he had trouble picking it up and it snuck through our goalie. We’ve got to make it a little tougher on their goalie to do that.

Bednar, on Martin’s performance:
Yeah well I talked to Pick about last night’s game. It wasn’t an easy game to play because, although the chances on my count last night were pretty even but we gave up better quality. So some of the chances we gave up were bad and we did the same thing tonight as the game went on. Pick admitted that he would have liked to be better, that he wasn’t picking up the play as quickly as he normally does so he was moving a little bit when shots were coming and kind of had him off balance a bit so he wanted to play a better game and tonight there’s a couple goals obviously that we’d like to have back. That wrist shot on the power play and that one from behind the net late in the game so those are disheartening, especially when you’re coming out early in the game and they get one and they bang away and we feel like we’re coming alive a little bit and then they get the second on the power play so they’re tough to recover from and even tougher for us as the way this year’s going and their trouble scoring.

Jarome Iginla, on how he tries to keep the team positive:
It’s not easy by any means. We know we’re not getting it done. [inaudible] …It’s a young group overall and this is a tough experience. It is hockey and it is the NHL so it is still fun. It’s fun to get out there and compete but hockey-wise it’s a tough experience to go through. Not finding enough ways to win games and it’s hard on the overall confidence but it’s a young group. You keep working at it daily, you keep trying to get better and you never quit and you’ve got to compete regardless of score, regardless of what’s going on. That’s what we can control and that’s the message that we’re trying to get in here is that it’s competing and battling and we’re going to make mistakes. We know that, we’ve seen that, but we’ve got to get our compete up and bring that up and get it done consistently. Like I said, it’s a young group going through it to hopefully learn and never have to go through this tough a stretch in their careers again.

Matt Duchene, on whether the team can take anything away from a 5-0 loss:
When you lose 5-0, I mean, what are you going to take from that. I mean, yeah we dominated at times offensively but we can’t score and then we can’t keep the puck out of our net ever. That’s why we’re 30th. That’s why we’re having one of the worst years in a long, long time as a team so extremely frustrating. We try to keep our heads up, try and have fun every game, play the game and keep things in perspective but at the same times it sucks.

Duchene, on what the team needs to work on:
Yeah I mean, we scored one goals in two games on a road trip. You’re never going to win, ever. And we allow 10 goals against, I mean, how are you going to win ever? I don’t know what to say.

Spencer Martin, on allowing an early goal in the first period:
Yeah, that’s got to be a focus as a goalie to make the first couple saves and get you’re team started and try to be the team to score first so obviously disappointed that they got goals early. That’s something I’ve got to learn from but I felt like as a team we just kind of dug in and tried to make it a game in the second and unfortunately got a little unlucky in the third.

Martin, on the mental struggles of being a young goalie allowing three goals in the first period:
Yeah I mean it’s pretty disappointing letting in three goals early like that but I try to take something from every game and from this game I felt like overall I was able to put it behind me, other then the second, but still you’ve got to be better.