Gerard Gallant was on The Michael Kay Show on Monday and said some of (ESPN Radio):
- What is it like for you in OT, “it’s the same for me, you are just coaching the game. After the game you are disappointed or real excited like we were, but during the game nothing changes, you do your job, coach your game. I try to do my job and make sure the right guys are on the ice. I’m not nervous or nothing going on in OT, it’s the same game and I’ve done this for a number of years and you just do your job.”
- Did you think it might not be your series when you had to pull Shesterkin twice, “no, I never did, honestly. When I pulled him it was more to do with our team and the way we were playing than Shesterkin. I wanted to give him a rest in one of those games, he still played well. Some of those goals, the deflection goals, you can’t put that on him. I just didn’t like the way our team was playing and sometimes when you pull the goalie it wakes your team up a little bit more and I think that is what happened.”
- How is the communication with Shesterkin when he needs to be pulled, “I just go over and when he comes to the bench or between periods I might go over and say ‘this ain’t on you, it’s about our team, I’m trying to get our team going. It’s just a little quick tap on the pads, goalies understand, they know the situation….”
- Any chance Barclay Goodrow plays, “I hope so at the end, but he’s not skating yet, we’ll see later on, but definitely not the first two games.”
- Do you understand why people think Carolina is the favorite, “yea, I understand that and it’s fine with me. I’m sure a lot of people were betting on Pittsburgh, too. The bottom line is that they are a good team and earned that right to finish first in our division, they are a real good hockey team and we battled with them for the last month of the season and there were certain games it was two points from first place, we had first place a few times. I like the way we battled all year trying to get to first place. We are right there with them, we play well, there is no reason why we can’t win that series.”
- How much will you use the four regular season games to prepare, “No, we know what they are. They do that to a lot of teams. Like I said when we played against Pittsburgh, we bear them 3 games to 1 in the season and it doesn’t mean a thing. You go out there and you are playing your best hockey now. What happened in the past is in the past and we look forward to playing these games and I match up our team on paper and look at them on the boards and say ‘if we play well we’ll beat this hockey team.”
Gallant was also on the NHL Network on Monday and said some of (NHL Network):
- On saying the Rangers were “soft” during the Pitt series, “I don’t like to do that a lot. I think that when a coach and the way you work with your players and work with your team, they knew I was upset. I don’t think we are soft, but I think we could have been a little harder. We are talking about soft and winning those 1-on-1 battles and maintaining the puck below the goal line and those battle areas and I just didn’t think we did a good enough job in those games on the road. You don’t call individuals out but you can sort of throw a dig in for your team and I think they respond to it all the time.”
- On Shesterkin going through adversity in the playoffs, “100%, he went through some adversity and it’s not tough for a 25-year old guy to go into a playoff series and not have much experience and they are booing him and trying to jab him all the time and anytime there was a goal that went in there was ‘Igor, Igor’ and that is tough on a young man and I think he did an exceptional job. Obviously he was a star of the game last night for us and played a great game and had a great series and like I said, it’s a learning experience for him and I thought he did a great job and he’s been our MVP since Day 1.”
- On Chris Kreider and the leadership group, “It’s been really good and they talked a lot about picking a Captain, let’s get a Captain, you need a Captain and I was in Vegas for a few years and we didn’t have a Captain. Deryk Engelland was really our Captain and never wore the “C.” He was the leader in that group and I wanted to get to know our guys and Trouba is an outstanding guy, a character, leader. Chris Kreider is the same thing, they are great people and we’ve got a lot of good guys and I don’t think we are in any rush. If it comes up this summer and we talk about it again and decide on a Captain, but I’m a true believer of when you’ve got veteran guys, and we’ve got a young team, a lot of kids on our team, so there is no reason we can’t have 5-6 guys in that room be leaders and take a role. If we decide on picking a Captain someday, then that is fine with me, but I love it when our team is about 23-guys, not about a Captain and two Assistant Captains. For me, it’s worked really good with our group this year.”
- On how important Ryan Lindgren is, “honestly, he’s huge for our group. Him and Fox played together for so long, they are great partners, best of friends and when we lost him I said ‘uh-oh, this is going to be trouble, but fortunately for us he’s one of those tough, old-school guys that says ‘I’m playing’ and will do whatever it takes to play and that is what he wants to do. He’s a character kid who will do anything, block shots, whatever it takes to win and I love the Kid. Obviously he’s been great for us and getting Motte back was another big, huge get for us with his speed and his work ethic and defensive side of the game. Those guys are really important.”