Gerard Gallant met with the media following practice today and said (NYR):
- Any concern with Lindgren not practicing, “no concern at all. Give him the extra day.”
- What is the key for tomorrow, “It’s game one, be ready to play and compete and battle hard. We know they are a good hockey team, Pittsburgh was a good hockey team, we gotta be ready to play our game, compete, battle.”
- On Shesterkin being late on the ice, “yes, he was. He was on early getting extra shots and I don’t know if broke his pad or skate, I have no idea. He goes on with Benny 20 minutes early.”
- Does it take the pressure off after winning a round, “No, it’s a great feeling when you get through the round, but now you have another great team to play. You get ready for them the same way you get ready for Pittsburgh, you only got a couple of days to get prepared and get your team rested and the most important thing is the players getting rested, they had a day off yesterday and coaches will come in and try and get some system stuff, how we are going to play against these guys, but there are no surprises. You watch Carolina play and they play the same way as every other team, no surprises now with video and being able to watch games on off-nights. But no big deal, nothing different for us.”
- Have you always not been a fan of big pre-game speeches, “I do the same thing as I do for Game 1 of the regular season. I’m not putting more importance on this game over the other one. Players got enough pressure and we try and take pressure off them, just go play your game and have fun, that is what I do. We prepare the same way no matter what kind of game it’s going to be.”
- How did you feel about speeches when you were a player, “we have our speeches, we have our preparation, but we aren’t going to get in there and…I guess what I’m saying is, I’m not going to bring somebody from the Buffalo Bills or somebody like that and give you a speech to tell. Some coaches might like it, I don’t. I prepare my team the same way and nothing is going to be different. I’ve heard of people doing it and it worked good for teams and I’ve heard it work against teams.”
- Do your expectations increase as the playoffs go on, “Yea, I mean, honestly, from the first day of the playoffs, the 16-teams that are in there, everybody has a chance to win. Obviously Darryl Sutter put the Colorado Avalanche up there, with good reason, and they swept pretty good, like he said, but I truly believe that every team has a chance to win when they start the playoffs and I still believe that. We are going to have to play real well against Carolina, but I truly believe we have a chance to win.”
- Is their forecheck similar to Pittsburgh, “they are different, a younger team, aggressive team, really fast on their forecheck. I think it would be a little bit quicker and not taking anything away from Pittsburgh, they are a great team and forechecked hard too, but I think every team that you see at this time of the year is a good forechecking team.”
- What is the key to that, “getting the puck over the blue line. The more chances they get, they are aggressive on their forecheck, but if they are in there 30/40 seconds and getting second and third chances, they are going to be a real dangerous team.”
- Does Igor have to handle things different with that aggressive of a forecheck, “I don’t want Igor to handle nothing differently. When he plays the puck he gets it to our D-men or gets it out of the zone, just play the same way he always plays. We don’t want him making too many cute plays because they are an aggressive forechecking team.”
- How big is it to have Lindgren next to Fox, “It’s huge. They played together for a long time and Lindgren, the way he battles and competes, they read off each other real well.”
- Did you see Lindgren limited at all when he came back, “I didn’t. I’m sure you guys didn’t, the way he battled and competed, he was outstanding.”
- Has Motte picked up where he left off, “He looks great, two games he played he was real important for us. He’s been great.”
- What does seven games of playoff experience do for this team, “I think it’s huge, I really believe that those kids playing that first round and us winning in seven games, it was a lot of important times in that game and they played really well, they worked hard, played well and get a little more experience. I think the whole year is the most important thing for their experience, but getting a taste in the playoffs and seeing the intensity up a little bit, it was good for them.”
- Any reason you’ve been good on the road, “I think we’re a good team, it doesn’t matter home or on the road, we’re a good team and when we play our game for 60 minutes we have a real chance to win every game.”