Gerard Gallant met with the media following the win over the Sens and said (MSG, NYR):
- You finally get to see the ‘x’ next to the team in the standings tomorrow, “Yea, I guess so. Perfect, it feels great. It’s what you set out to do when the season starts and we got that accomplished and now we got nine games to get ready for and finish as high as we can, keep winning games and playing well.”
- On the team’s effort, “excellent, from start to finish it was an excellent game. I liked everything about it, we created a lot of scoring chances, shot the puck, Kreids got a couple of beautiful goals, it was a great night, Shesterkin looked really sharp and I just thought we came out ready to play, and sometimes it doesn’t matter how you get in the playoffs, but we came to the rink wanting to win and make the playoffs and that is what we did.”
- Did you feel that the team was focused to clinch tonight, “Yea, no, it’s hard to tell, seriously. Two weeks ago we played the Islanders, I felt good, thought the group was focused to play and we didn’t. Those games happen, but from the first period on we were playing our game, moving the puc, we did the right things, I like the way we played.”
- On Panarin raising his game, “He makes those plays and passes and that is what makes him a special player and he sees the ice and finds his linemates. I think he had a goal and a couple assists tonight, but he played an outstanding game. All our guys did, they did their jobs.”
- Do you think there was a moment during the year where the team realized what kind of season it could be, “Well, it wasn’t the first 12 games. I think somewhere around Chrismas, we were playing really well, I think we went 11-1 or something in that area and we were playing the right way and winning games, we weren’t winning lucky if the goalie stood on his head and I think that at that time the guys said that they had something special and it’s a good group of guys and, like I said, it’s been a lot of fun. We’ve won games in a lot of different ways this year, there is no doubt about that, but they stuck together. It’s not over yet, we have nine big games to play and finish as high as we can.”
- Do you want the team to focus on first place, “well, it better be, I think we are tied right now. You always fight for home ice, you fight to get in the playoffs and then when you are having the season we are having, you want to get home ice, that is the next goal and if it’s first place, that is great, if it’s not, you do the best you can and play the games the right way.”
- How did you get to this place with this team, “I think the guys, once they saw Shesterkin play the way he was early, the guys believed that we had outstanding goaltending for our team and that goes a long way. I don’t think we were playing really well the first 15-20 games, whatever it was, but our team starting getting confidence and building confidence from our goaltending and the guys played a better defensive game for the most part. I don’t know exactly what game it was, but we started playing better hockey, but I think they feel confident. You look at our top players and there is good skill and talent there and the other guys filled in real well, the Rooney’s, Reavos and those type of guys are important players for us and they just need to keep doing what they are doing and come to the rink and find ways to win. I said it a number of times, we aren’t a perfect team, but they find ways.”
- Kakko came through the game okay, “yea, everything is fine, him and Rooney are fine. I don’t think Roons did too well in the faceoffs, but we can give him a bye for that tonight (smile), but he was good.”
- On the leadership group, “I didn’t know them real well, from coaching against that team you know there are some character guys there and we talk about it all the time, the younger players had another year under their belt, started to get better and it’s more of a team.”