6:45 PM: Louis Domingue said on ESPN that he expects to start tomorrow.
6:25 PM: Mike Sullivan said that both Rickard Rakell and Casey DeSmith are day-to-day.
Gerard Gallant met with the media on Wednesday and said (NYR):
- What is the mindset today, “move on, get ready for the next one. It was a battle last night and we come out the short end of the stick, but it’s one game so gotta move on, it’s no big deal. We would have loved to won it, but we gotta battle back and win the next one.”
- What needs to be improved on, “consistency with our game, play that heavy game for 60 minutes. You can’t play it for 25 and expect success from that. We did a lot of things right the first 25 and after that they took over a little bit.”
- Did you see them revert back to how they played earlier in the season, “there were some times in that, but I think that was some of the overtime, the third period, second period they had a lot of chances against us and we just got away from doing the good things that we’ve done. For whatever reason it happens, but it shouldn’t be that much of a difference from being excellent for 25-minutes and then being not so good.”
- Is Igor physically okay, “he’s great. I just seen them all, no issues with him. 83 shots is quite a bit, but he’s been doing that all year for us.”
- Any update on Lindgren, “he’s banged up a little bit, but he’ll be there tomorrow, I’m sure. Just maintenance and get ready for playoff games and that is what it’s going to be with a lot of the players.”
- On only getting one PP, “there probably should have been a couple of calls made, definitely, when you look back at it and look at it, but we’re not going to complain. We’re going to play our game and obviously disappointed that they got the 5 on 3 and so a couple of hits like that, but you move on, play the game. That wasn’t the difference in the hockey game, just have to make sure we play better for 60-minutes and we’ll be fine.”
- Are these games easier or harder to get over, “It’ll be harder if we are playing Colorado, probably the best team in the league, and you lose 5-0, games like that, where you say to your team ‘how do we get back from this?’ We are playing a very good team and I think anybody can win this series, the better team is going to win this series and it’s going to be a battle. It’s one game, you get over it and move on. Last night it was tough, no doubt, the game is over, you lose in a six period battle and you lose your home ice a little bit. We still believe we are a really good team, still believe we are going to win this series. That is the thing I’m going to take from this and tomorrow night is a big game now. I don’t feel like we came in here and got dominated by a team. We played this team well all year and we know what we got and we know we gotta be better.”
- Did the overtimes change you how had things scheduled, “today wasn’t going to be an offf-day, but obviously you aren’t going to skate your team after six periods of hockey. I’m sure the same for them, but it doesn’t change a whole lot. Tomorrow the guys will do their regular routine and get ready for a game again.”
- Did you like Fox’s game last night, “he was real good, he made some good plays, made some great passes and a couple of our best chances weren’t shots on net, we just missed on the execution, but he played really solid.”
- Is there anything you can do to get players to shoot, “I’m trying (laugh)…you watch games every night and see the highlights…and honestly, Foxy is walking down the gut there and has a great chance to shoot the puck, but if Stromer doesn’t get handcuffed a little bit he’s got a wide open net. I’m not going to tell those players not to make those plays, they are skilled and talented and they gotta make those plays. As a coach you are saying shoot and when you do and the success isn’t there you are kicking yourself a little bit, they work so many times and those are the plays they work on in practice. I’m not going to tell Foxy…you’re a hell of a player, keep doing what your doing.”
- On Kakko’s chance where he didn’t shoot, “yea, shoot then (laugh). When skilled guys…I’d like to see them shoot it, get more pucks to the net, there is no doubt. On that situation Foxy is going to make the right play more times than not.”
- On Crosby’s line, “well, the first 25 was real good against them and then we gave them too much room to make plays. When you are playing against that line they are going to make some real quick plays, they have a lot of speed, a lot of talent, Guentzel goes to the net, they know what they are doing, they do a lot of great faceoff plays. We gotta do a better job there too. We’ll play them hard and play better for 60-minutes.”
- Are there adjustments to make, “We’ll I’m not going to change our style of play, that is for sure. Last night was six periods of hockey. Were they better in the second half? Yes, but were we dominant in the first half? Yea. I’m not going to make big adjustments, I’m going to try and get us to be more consistent with our game.”
- Can you sustain how physical you were at the start, “it wasn’t just the hits, it was playing fast. The hits were great when Reavo finished some checks on their defenseman, but it’s not just that, it’s about playing fast and staying in the offensive zone and getting more game there. Once we started letting them go d to d and across the ice then the game opened up and that is not the way we want to play. We had to be quicker on our forecheck and the hitting helps, but it’s not all about that.”
- Do you think the issue was more with forechecking than puck management, “yea and the puck management hurt us probably half way through the second when we started to make some plays. Instead of driving the net and getting pucks in behind their defense we started trying to make plays in the high slot and they were broken up and they started going the other way.”
- Did K’Andre Miller step up, “they all did. Everyone of them played hard, competed hard. K’Andre is a great young player for us and doing a great job and we really like the improvement, same with Schneider and all the guys.”
- Do you think it’s too hard to play at the first period pace the entire game, “I think…the forecheck isn’t, finishing every check is going to wear you down too. Do I expect Reavo and those guys to play that way the whole game? Yes I do because that is what their role is and that is what they do best. Do I expect Panarin’s line to do that all night? No. I like to play fast and be aggressive on the forecheck, but they aren’t going to finish checks all night long. They’ll finish some bumps and that, but I don’t expect them to run around and take their energy out from finishing checks, they aren’t going to do that.”
- Did the Chytil, Kakko, Lafreniere line show you anything, “Played real well, I liked the way they played. It’s too bad they were on the ice for the winning goal against them, but I thought they had a real good night.”
- What did you think of Panarin, “He created a lot of chances last night. When we look back at the chances, he missed on some real good chances, but overall, we all can be better. Not just Panarin, we all can be better. We were all really good and then we were all fair. That is my assessment of Panarin and the rest of the team.”
- What did you learn about Igor last night, “nothing. (laugh) Same as always, gives us a chance to win, that is what he does.”