David Quinn met with the media on Friday following practice and said (NYR):
- On being able to have practice time, “Any time you can have real practices, I’m sure they aren’t tickled pink about it but that is life, it gives you a chance to reiterate things that can get lost over the course of a season when you don’t have a chance to practice. Stuff we can get better at.”
- On the Leafs, “you fuel their offense and it’s going to be a long night. That is going to be key against anybody but especially a team with this skill set. You have to manage the puck and if you turn it over you gotta make them go 200 ft, 190 ft, you can’t let them go 90 ft, 100 ft because that is when you get burned. You just have to manage pucks and make good decisions.”
- On Staal, “felt better today, see how he feels tomorrow.”
- On Kreider, “he is out, won’t make the trip. Day to day.”
- This is a new thing with Kreider, “yep.”
- Is Georgiev in net, “yes, Georgie will play tomorrow night.”
- On Georgiev’s last start against the Leafs, “it was funny, I don’t want to take anything away from him, he was great, don’t get me wrong, but they had 25 shots on the PP and we have to clean that up obviously. I was talking to Zucc, probably about a week before he got traded, we were talking about that game and he said that Georgie played well but it never felt that way. They were shooting pucks and getting great chances but 5 on 5 we actually played pretty well that game. Hopefully we can do some things better on the PK to not allow them to get 25 shots on the PP, certainly that will help our cause. You are talking about one of the most skilled and talented teams in the league. They are going to get some chances, you just want to try and minimize them.”
- More on Georgiev, “He has proven what he is capable of handling, he has been in some big pressure games against really good teams and done very well. Just another opportunity for him to continue to grow, develop and get better.”
- On Brendan Smith’s season, “When I first saw him play he was a forward, he was 15-years old, but he transferred to being a defenseman. He has those instincts naturally because he has played so much forward. He’s so competitive and plays at a pace that he is hard to contain and not easily denied. When he gets the puck in the offensive zone you better be ready to defend him because he is going to earn every ounce of ice. He’s a hockey player and done a good job.”