On what he has liked about the current road trip:
Won two games. [Reporter: What’s been important to those wins?] We played a full 60 minutes against a real disciplined team in Jersey, and obviously a Rangers team that’s similar to the Islanders team in terms of the high end part of it and managing it.
On how Andrej Sekera has acclimated himself to the team:
It was tough for him at the start. I think we started with a lot of road games, so he’s only played a handful of games. It hasn’t two months, so he’s played mostly games on the road, and he’s a good player. He can play with lots of different players and play against a lot of different types of players.
On how the team has turned around its play on the road:
Big thing on the road with our team has been extra innings.
On the Islanders:
Real deep team. When you look at their fourth line, it’s got 20-something goals. It’s pretty significant in this league. I know that the top end of their lineup with John Tavares, he’s a star player and he could win the scoring race, but the depth of their team is pretty significant in the league when you look at the production that they get from guys who don’t get a lot of credit. [Reporter: How about slowing down their speed, what do you guys do?] Well, we’re a fast team, too. You can’t slow speed down, otherwise you go sit in the little box over there.
On the mentality in the dressing room during the playoff push:
Our mentality has been the same since day one. That’s really important, and I know that the media has a hard time as a whole understanding it, but it’s more difficult to make the playoffs in this league than it is to win the Stanley Cup.
On coaching his final game at Nassau Coliseum:
Well, maybe not. [Reporter: Maybe not.] It’s a great old building. Actually I don’t have great memories here because of those guys, that team there. But it was always good for me coming here obviously because either one or two of my brothers were here, so it wasn’t necessarily the game, it was being able to come here. I probably learned a lot as a young player watching this team. And it’s always good, quite honest, the respect that I have for Bill Torrey and Al Arbour, being able to see Mr. Torrey. I went out for dinner with him in Florida a couple weeks ago, so that’s special.
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