5:52 PM: Gerard Gallant spoke this morning and said (NYR):
- On Sammy Blais skating, “was he out? Good, that’s great. It’s a great sign, he worked hard and he’s at that stage where he can start to skate and it’s awesome.”
- Is it possible he returns in the playoffs, “it’s possible.”
- But not this series, “I’m not going to rule him out today. You can probably figure that out.”
- Has Goodrow been on the ice, “Not with our team. I don’t know if he skated himself or not, I don’t think so….but doing much better. “
- On having road playoff experience heading into this series, “I think, no matter where you go now, obviously every building is going to be loud and crazy and I think Shesterkin got a feel for that in his first playoff games, I think our team got a feel of it. You just gotta ignore that and play the game. We talk about that all the time, obviously it gives the home team momentum, but you just gotta make sure you are ready for it.”
- Does playing as an underdog mean less pressure, “Definitely, I don’t pay no attention to that and I’m sure the players look at it and say ‘we’re the underdogs again.’ I think it’s good for our group. We’ll battle hard, compete hard and hopefully try and find ways to win.”
- What do you think this playoff experience will mean for the young guys, “I’m not looking past this series, I’m looking at tonight’s game. Whatever happens is going to happen, but we’re going take it one game at a time. Obviously the experience is great and the first seven playoff games is excellent for them, all season long was a great experience for them. Just keep getting better and playing hard.”
- On Fox in the first round, “they play a lot of minutes, all situations and our group of defensemen did as good a job as they could. I’m happy with the way they are playing.”
- Are match ups going to be a big part of this series, “I don’t think a whole lot. They’ve got a lot of depth and speed. Obviously Aho’s line is a very talented line and they always match up the Staal line with one of our top-two lines, that will be an issue, but, again, you play who you are going to play against and they got a real talented team and a deep team but they don’t have the superstar names like Crosby and Malkin that we had last series. I’m not saying those players aren’t as good as those guys, but I’m just saying that, the big names come out and we are going to play our game and we’ve got some pretty good hockey players and names on our side, too. I think it’s going to be a good battle.”
- Was that Blais’ first time out with the team, “With the team, yes…he’s been skating.”
12:06 PM: Sammy Blais was on the ice in a non-contact jersey today at the Rangers morning skate. (NYR)
Blais had surgery for a knee injury in November and was ruled out for the season and with a recovery time of 6-8 months.