Gerard Gallant met with the media following the morning skate today and said (NYR):
- Do you feel you will learn a lot about the team this weekend, “I don’t have to learn no more about our team, I know what our team is all about. We’ve been good all year long and they are going to be tough games, we are playing two great teams. Go play and do the best we can and see what happens. Our players don’t need to prove anything more to me, when we play our good game we are as good as anybody in the league.”
- Is that the mentality you want the rest of the team to have, “The last, like I said, I’m a happy coach when our team plays like we played in Dallas. Even though we lost against the Islanders the other night, I thought we played the game I want us to play. Didn’t score enough, but Sorokin made some unbelievable saves. If we play like that we will win a lot of hockey games.”
- Does Vatrano have any inside info on playing Tampa as much as he did with the Panthers, “if we gotta get information from our players then there is something wrong with the coaching staff (laugh). I coached with Coop, so I know everything he does, we had three weeks together in Europe.”
- What are you doing with the goalies, “Tonight? Shesterkin plays tonight and I’d guess that Georgie plays tomorrow.”
- What is playoff style hockey, “the last two games, last two games were good. Competed hard, played hard, a complete, 200-ft game and we had 20 guys going and that is the biggest thing.”