Gerard Gallant met with the media following the Rangers loss in Game 4 and said (MSG, NYR):
- “they did a great job in the neutral zone. They collapsed pretty good in the d-zone, blocked a lot of shots. They did the right things to win a hockey game, they paid a price to win tonight.”
- Are you sensing that they are building their game, “I’m not worried about them building. I’m hoping it’s going to be a homer series. That is what it looks like so far, we were pretty good in our building, they were pretty good in their building. That is what I’ve seen so far.”
- It seems like the players are all calm, “they better be calm, but they better be ready to play harder. That is the bottom line, now it’s 2 out of 3 and we still got the home ice, but we gotta play better.”
- Are you saying that your team wasn’t willing to pay the price to win, “not enough. We didn’t block enough shots, we didn’t finish enough hits, the good things that make you win games. That is what we gotta do better.”
- Is there a desperation from Tampa you weren’t able to match, “No, not as much tonight as the first night. We just didn’t, I said the words, pay the price. We didn’t get inside enough, Vasilevskiy made some good saves, but he didn’t make enough good saves, not nearly as many as Shesterkin had to make. When you give him, I don’t know how many chances we had, quality chances, 5-6 probably. You gotta get a lot more than that in the hockey game.”
- On the injuries to the center depth, “you don’t make excuses because that is playoff hockey, but you definitely miss Strome tonight, obviously. He’s day-to-day and hopefully ready to go Thursday night and Fil left in the second period, I think. He should be fine, but we’ll have to wait and see again. It doesn’t help when you miss the centermen, but it’s part of the game.”
- Do you have to be cautious that the assumption is that things will get better at MSG, “We’re a good home team, what are we? 8-1 in the playoffs so far? We’ve done a good job at home and I think that if you look around the league, a lot of teams play a lot better in their home building. We expect to play well. I’m disappointed tonight, I’m sure they sare, but it’s best 2 out of 3 and we still have the home ice advantage. Gotta make sure we are ready for the next game, the next one is a real big one.”
- What are you looking for when you put Panarin and Zibanejad together, “I change them up all year, you’ve seen that. When things aren’t going the way I’d like them to go you hope to get a little spark sometimes. It didn’t work great tonight, but that is what a coach does. Sometimes it works real good, sometimes it’s fair and sometimes it doesn’t work at all. I tried something.”
- On the start of the game, “I don’t think it was an awful first period, I don’t think it was a good first period by no means. We are playing against a pretty good hockey team that was pretty desperate again tonight, they were down 2 games to 1 and you gotta give them some credit, too.”
- On 5-on-5 scoring, “I’m not a big stats guy, but I think we’ve done pretty well in the playoffs at 5-on-5, haven’t we? I think were 5-6 goals above. We’re a better team than they are 5-on-5 in the playoffs. What do you want me to say? I heard that all year long (laugh).”
- What can you tell Zibanejad about being more effective against Cirelli, “(laugh) I tell him that all the time, be more effective, Mika. Seriously, ask the question better than that, please. You don’t think I talk to our players, ‘what are you gonna do?’ Cirelli is going to work hard, they are going to try and shut them down as best they can. Everybody has a checking line, that is the way it goes. You gotta battle through stuff and that. Mika is a professional hockey league player and a real good one at that.”