(General Manager) Kenny Holland made it very clear to me that we're a four-line hockey club. That's how they won all their Cups in the past, and that's how we're gonna do it. Our fourth line can really skate, can really check and they can match up against anybody. |
(Thursday) we're going to compete. We've skated for two days and now we'll start to compete. We were on a charge going in (to the Olympic break), now we'd like to charge coming out. |
[Mike Babcock, a veteran sportswriter and author of Stadium Stories: Nebraska Cornhuskers, said that supporters often discussed the possibility that Nebraska inevitably would hit a down cycle like Alabama, Southern Cal and Oklahoma.] But, ... I don't think they ever believed it. |
[Notebook: A couple of youngsters made a good impression on Babcock: forward Jiri Hudler and defenseman Brett Lebda .] I'd like to see less plays through the neutral zone and more around the net, but I thought he played well tonight, ... I thought the Lebda kid on the back end could really skate. And then obviously we talked about Howard. |
[NOTEBOOK: Rookie goaltender Jimmy Howard's 22-save performance against the Kings means he'll get another start Thursday against the Flames - and continue to do so until there's a reason to sit him.] We'll see however long he can ride it, ... He's got all athletic ability. Is he mentally tough enough to do it in this league on a regular basis? I don't know. We'll find out here. We'll give him a chance. |
A dominant player. But also a physically dominant player. |
A good win for us, obviously. Every one you play it's important to get off to a good start, and I thought we really skated early and I thought we had our game going real good. |
A real good decision by them. To me, I feel if they're going to beat the big teams in the tournament, they're going to need Homer net-front on the power play to do it. The other thing about Homer is, he's a phenomenal team guy. He works hard. His passion for playing is something that is contagious. He'll be a big part of their team. He's a huge part of our team. |
Accountability is for everyone. Otherwise, it becomes a superstar mentality. That's not winning hockey. |
All four goals, someone was right in the goalie's face. That's what you want and that's what you have to do at playoff time to beat good goalies. |
All those teams are right there, they're all battling for their life. And you've got Nashville, our rival in our division. So this is a tough point in our schedule right here. And it's an opportunity for us to take a step, so we have to accept that challenge and do something with it. |
Among the top five teams all time, that's special. |
And at the end, when we were on the penalty kill, our guys were really desperate. I loved to see that. Game five of the year and you find a way, an ugly one, to win on the road. That was a good win for us. |
Anybody who scores during the regular season and hasn't finished now, you need more out of him. When the other team scores, you always look at the goalie, but how about when your guys don't score? The shooters have to score, too. Guys that score have got to score. |
Anytime you're short-handed five times in the first period on the road you're lucky to survive it. |