Gerard Gallant met with the media following the win in Game 2 and said (NYR, MSG):
- On the game, “For the most part it was real good. They had a good push early in the third period and we held that back and then we got a big goal to make it 5-2.”
- On Goodrow and Lindgren, “Goodrow is week-to-week and Lindy is a game-time decision, basically, again, same thing, day-to-day.”
- Did you feel good about Braun and Hunt going in, “Yea, felt fine. That happens all year. They are two good hockey players, battle and play hard. Obviously you are missing two top players but that is the way it is in the playoffs. They are a missing a couple too, so you grind away and battle and do the best you can.”
- Is Goodrow upper or lower body, “Lower-body.”
- How big was Shesterkin, “He made 3/4 real good saves in the third, for sure, early on when it was 3-2 and that was huge for us We come out and it was probably the worse 4-5 minutes we had in the whole game. That was big.”
- What did tonight tell you about the team, “it’s good to get on the board, but it’s even better when you play a complete game and we need to play that a little bit better. Every time we seem to get some momentum going we give it back to them and we can’t keep doing that, we gotta play better and stronger hockey in our d-zone.”
- What about this team makes you confident they can bounce back like they did, “It’s the 82-game regular season, we’ve done it all regular season long. We have a talented hockey club and when we want to play real, good hockey and sound hockey we are a good team. Like I said, Crosby’s goal, the second goal, pretty good individual play by him. There are four guys around him and he still makes the play and gets the rebound. That is what he can do and what they can do as a team.”
- On defending Crosby compared to Game 1, “I still think he’s a dangerous player, but, again, I talked about matching up…Mika’s line plays against him quite a bit, but it’s the next guys up and whoever is playing against that line has to do a good job. Overall, we contained him a little bit, but they are a great players, Guentzal and Crosby are good players, that line is a real top line and they are tough to defend. I think overall we did a decent job, but they are going to get their chances.”
- On Panarin’s game, “Honestly, I can’t say he was real good or real bad. Right now they are watching the game back and he had some big plays for us and the PP was really good and he is a big part of that. When you are coaching in games like that, the intensity like that, I just didn’t watch individual players, to be totally honest.”
- On Igor after his collision with Carter, “He’s fine.”
- What was your reaction when you saw him go down, “I wasn’t too happy, obviously. In a game like that there is no reason for it. I was disappointed them going after him a little bit like that. Carter is a good, honest player, but it just didn’t look good to me.”
- On needing to win a road game to win the series, “I’m just worried about the next game. I’m not worried about three more wins for both teams. It’s just go to Pittsburgh and Game 3 is a big game for both teams. Go there and try and win that next game.”
- Was it more consistent, but not at the level it needs to be at, “Offensively we had some great chances and created, but I just think we’ve got to be better defensively, stronger defensively. When we are quick in the d-zone we are a real good team and we are sitting in the slot too much and they are getting too many chances from the point and creating stuff and we gotta be quicker and better.”
- Was it a relief to finally get a PP chance, “Yea, it’s about time (laugh). I was pretty happy we finally got some chances, for sure.”
- Do you think the refs are letting them play more or you should you have gotten more calls, “You go back to last game and I thought we should have gotten more chances and it didn’t happen. It was 4-1 last game and tonight it didn’t start out real good either and I was disappointed and then all the sudden they started taking some penalties and our PP got a chance. Overall it’s a tough job for the officials, guys are playing hard and competitive, but right off the bat I thought they should have gotten a penalty for tripping the goalie 2-3 shifts in and it wasn’t called and they get the next two PPs and you are saying here we go again.”
- Is there a chance Goodrow could be back in this series, “….week-to-week….that is all I’m saying.”
- On the Chytil, Kakko, Lafreniere line again, “They were good, solid again. Young kids that work hard and compete hard and I like what they bring to our group. They don’t have a lot of experience, but I like the way they play and they bring a lot to the group and they’ve all improved a lot this year so they are taking that big step and this is just going to help them.”