Gerard Gallant met with the media following the Rangers win over Florida and said (NYR):
- Was that as good as you could want going into the break, “that was perfect, the last two periods were great and we battled back from a tough first period when a team as good as they are owned the puck pretty much, but I was really happy, obviously with the way our team responded.”
- How much confidence can you gain beating a team like Florida, “it feels real good obviously. They are in back to back games, but that is part of our league, a lot of back to back games, but I thought we came out in the second and third period and put pressure on them and made them turn pucks over and it was a different game. The first period we were a little too passive, showed a little too much respect and that is what happens.”
- On Lafreniere scoring right after the Panthers took the lead, “that is typical of being aggressive on the forecheck and they turned the puck over. That was definitely a big part and obviously, the hit on Strome was a big part of the game and changed a lot of things for us.”
- Did you like Strome fighting in the third period, “right there? it was perfect. I would never tell a guy to go fight, but the way it came down, he’s an important player, but you can’t not respond to a guy that hits you like that, so Strome did a great job.”
- Is Lafreniere playing with more confidence, “Definitely he’s got more confidence and I talked to him on the bench tonight, there were a couple of shifts he was just to casual on the puck in the neutral zone, but most parts of his game is getting real good, he’s playing good defensive hockey, he’s confident in the offensive zone with the puck, he’s just got to make sure he’s strong on the puck in the neutral zone because that is what we talk about with young players, they turn it over and it’s going the other way, you can’t do that against a great team like that, but he’s playing good and working hard and I’m happy with the way he’s going.”
- Is the team at where you thought they would be at this point, “Definitely (laugh), no, I mean I said earlier in the year, I knew we had a good team, I don’t know what level we are going to get to, but after tonight you feel pretty good about your team, you playing real good teams, Florida, to me, is arguably the best team in the league. You can say that about Carolina and some other teams, but we went out and played a game and it couldn’t end any better for us. I wish we were playing again in a couple of nights, but we have the break now and the guys knew what to do and worked hard and played the game the right way.”
- On Shesterkin’s ability to play the puck, “It’s huge, he’s big, makes some real good plays, confident back there. Knock on wood, so far all the plays he’s made back there on breakouts have been real good. Shesterkin plays the puck real well and real confident and he’s a big difference for us.”
- Why did Reaves start with Kreider and Zibanejad, “Reavo? A little message to their top players, that is all. I didn’t send him out, but when they see him faced across from them, Barkov, Huberdeau, just a little message.”
- What was the message after Sunday, “I think the people that were here heard it after Sunday’s game. I wasn’t happy, let’s get ready to play a better game.”
- On winning his 300th game as a coach, “That is what they said, I don’t pay attention, usually my wife tells me when something like that happens. Tonight the boys gave me the puck…It means I’ve been around a while. It doesn’t mean a lot to be honest with you. I hope I get 500 wins someday, 300 is a nice number, but I’ve had success with the last three teams I’ve been with and had good teams and we found ways to win games, but it’s not a big deal, really.”
- On the time off, “We told the guys ‘go have fun, enjoy yourself, be smart about what you are going to do. Obviously, get on the bike and do some exercise every second day. We are in a good place right now, but we got 35 big games when we come back and it’s all about trying to win games and get two points and higher in the standings. We played a lot of road games and have a pretty good schedule coming up the next month. There is little travel, one trip to Ottawa, so the next month will be good for our team.”
- On the top four with Fox out, “they gutted it out. We made some mistakes tonight and gave up some breakaways and 2 on 1s. It was tough, they battled hard and I liked the response from them. I know what I’m going to get from Trouba every night, but K’Andre is growing up to be a man now and Lindy always plays hard and competes.”
- Is K’Andre playing more physical, “definitely and he’s growing, at what, 21-years old? The kid is not filled out the way he’s going to be filled out. I like his game. He makes mistakes, we all make mistakes, but he’s playing a little more physical, bumping more people, standing at the front of the net, confident with the puck, his game is growing for sure.”
- On Braden Schneider, “like him a lot, character, tough, hard, confident with the puck and when you play against those guys tonight, no matter what line you play against they are going to put pressure on you and he responded real well, played really well and we are really excited. I knew he was going to be a good player, but he hasn’t played many pro games and he’s done a real good job.”
- On the break, “I think we need it, personally, I think we need it. We played so many games on the road, 47 games, I think it’s the most in the league or second-most in the league. The good thing about the break is we are coming back and have four great days of practice before we play our first game. We’ll practice the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and we play on the 15th. It’s not like we got one or two practice, we have four good days.”