Gerard Gallant met with the media following the loss to the Hurricanes and said (NYR, MSG):
- Anything on Panarin and Copp, “Not much, should be fine. Being cautious.”
- Was it scary to see the injuries, “I hate to see, but I’d sooner be cautious than not have them when the games really matter.”
- Do you approach the next two games with that caution, “Definitely. We don’t know what we are going to do yet, I’ll think about it tomorrow morning….but we’re not going to get first place, I noticed that. That is over with.”
- Is this the same issue for Copp, “I haven’t even talked to them yet. They told me between periods, ‘do you want them back, need them back?’ and I said ‘no, I need them back next week.”
- So Copp and Panarin could have returned if needed, “That is what they told me, but I’m on the cautious side. If it was next week, one of those games, both of them would have been back. Tomorrow they might wake up and not feel as good, but….”
- What do you make of the overall increase in scoring, “Our goalie is outstanding, we’ve been one of the best teams in the league in goals against this year, but it’s good to see goals scored in the game. That is what fans come to see, they want to see a lot of goals and tonight was a 4-3 game, pretty entertaining game. At times I didn’t like our game, but overall we battled back in a game that…we talked about it the last week, finish first or second and we know where we are going to finish now.”
- Does knowing for sure that you are in second place change your mindset, “Yea, it does, I’m not going to lie to you, it does. I’m not disappointed in, don’t get me wrong, we are going to play a good team no matter if we finish first or second or wherever you finish, you are going to face a great team. When you set your goals and over the last couple weeks we had a chance for first place. It didn’t happen. Am I disappointed? No, but it’s always nice to finish first.”
- How much pride do you have in second place, “I’ve talked about it, we are happy with our team, things are going well for us. We’ve had a good season and now the big test is going to be next week. I’m looking forward to it, I know we’ve got a team that can play with anybody when we play our game.”