Definitely we need to improve. (Without Betts) it means the other guys have to step up and do a lot of little things that Blair did quietly. |
He treated everybody the same. He was very caring. I think he sort of felt like we were his own kids. He was always willing to listen and talk. ... He would tell stories back over the years. He was a New York historian, almost. He could tell you about how neighborhoods were totally different and how they came to be. |
He's an incredible player and it would be a big absence. |
I like to play the games on it. |
I take pride in the way our line's been playing, making plays at both ends of the rink, ... We got away from our game plan in the second period and fortunately, we were able to come back to it in the third. |
I think we're definitely looking forward to it. We've haven't played in a while and they're playing much better than they were and so are we. We're always looking to prove ourselves and to improve ourselves. |
I thought we worked well together and provided that energy. We are all about improving ourselves, so we look forward to playing a good team like Philly. |
I've seen bits and pieces. I've been following it but I haven't been able to watch any full games. |
It was an amazing, amazing experience. You could see to a person how much respect and appreciation these people have for a deserving player and person in Mark Messier. You could sort of feel the emotion in the building, so it was a tremendous experience. |
It's huge. New Jersey is a lot different than the last time we played them, and it showed. We looked forward to (Sunday) as a challenge for us and we're certainly happy with what happened. |
Once we got back to our game, we were in control. |
Sometimes, in situations like this, you'd expect him to rant and rave. But he knows that's not the right move. He knows the way people work. He is as much a psychologist as a strategist. |
Tonight, obviously everybody is disappointed with the outcome. But you know what? Tomorrow is the beginning of what we've worked all year for, and that's the opportunity to play in the playoffs. Tomorrow it's a blank page. We can write whatever story we want to, and that's exciting. |
We gave ourselves a chance, but we just ran out of time. |
We opened the door for them, but it was a good sign that we kept the hinges on with good penalty-killing. Of course, Henrik is as good a penalty-killer as anyone. |