What you're seeing are great skating teams. Nothing says you're going to win a game just because you're better on paper. |
When Don and I talked, Chris' name popped up immediately. Not only because of how well he has played with Detroit this season, but because of the way he has represented USA Hockey... it made the choice easy. |
When there was penalties that had to be killed and the last two minutes of the game had to be won, this was the guy that Detroit wanted on the ice. |
When we came over, I thought we would have a balanced attack, maybe not one guy, an attack where each line could contribute on any given night. I think there's been a lot of opportunities to put the puck in the back of the net and we haven't, but I don't think it's because we have a lack of finishers. |
When we cheat the process, you're rolling the dice and usually you crap out. |
When we looked back at it, our power play had as many chances as we had at even strength. Tonight we hit a few people and got a few bounces off things, but we were creating the opportunities. It was frustrating for everybody the other night, but we were still getting chances. |
When you get the best players in the world, there is going to be a lot of skills on the ice. I know we will have the skill to match that. I don't think any of the teams are going to be sitting back in a 1-4 (defense), they're going to be aggressive because they want the puck. These are the most creative players in the world and they're going to be looking for every opportunity to create. |
When you win nine in a row and then you lose one, you realize you don't want to taste that any more, so you'd better get back to work. |
When you're down two goals, facing elimination in the third period, that's not the time you want to go to the (penalty) box. I think there was a lot of frustration setting in at that point. |
Winning's not so crazy. It wasn't easy. Things were bouncing funny out there it seems all night. Montreal plays a good skating game, a good fore-checking game. It doesn't translate to a smooth style game. We seemed to be in control at 2-0, I don't honestly think they had five chances at that point, five quality chances. That goal gave them some life and they ran with it. |
You can go down one of two roads. You can try to get through the game without getting booed to death or you can be the best player on the ice. I told him before the game that I wanted to hear his name as the first star. |
You can't help but notice guys on other teams -- you're right there on the bench, ... Even though I will have some input, there are people who are scouting who will be seeing these players more often than I will. |
You have a bunch of guys from a bunch of different places, playing a bunch of different ways. You have to somehow corral them and try to bring them in as one, ... We didn't accomplish that here this week, but we did give them the information how we're going to try to do that. |
You have a bunch of guys from a bunch of different places, playing a bunch of different ways. You have to somehow corral them and try to bring them in as one. We didn't accomplish that here this week, but we did give them the information how we're going to try to do that. |
You hear me say 'Offense, offense, offense,' but we didn't score many goals [in 2003-04] and we've got to fix the problem, ... But we want to be a good defensive team, too. It's important to have a good mix. |