Gerard Gallant met with the media following the Rangers win over the Flyers and said (MSG):
- On the game, “that was a good one, I thought we played great. I didn’t know we’d have legs after that tough travel and then just a day off, it usually hits you today. Guys played really well and really hard, but right up until the end the game was…they had a couple of real great chances at the end that would have been tough for us to lose that game. That is where it goes, the goaltending played outstanding, Shesterkin was real good at the end and it was a battle.”
- On hitting the post four times, “What was it, four? (Smile) Yea, but like I said, the chances were there and the guys played well, so they worked hard. Philly plays a good game, tough game, hard game. They give you the outside a lot and battle in net front. Their goalie made some great saves and I can’t say that we didn’t bury our chances, we hit the post, but they had some great chances. Anyway, at the end of the day it was a great win.”
- On not getting frustrated, “It got a little frustrating, of course, when you hit that many posts and have that many chances. You just gotta stick with it, that is the NHL today, sometimes you don’t play your best game and you win and sometimes you play your best game and you lose. Stick with it, stay with it and I thought we did a real good job of that.”
- On the physicality and sticking up for each other, “Yea, there was just the one incident at the end. That makes teams. In the NHL, when your teammates are getting punched you’re gonna stand up for them, that is the way it goes. I thought it was a good, pretty much clean hockey game tonight, just the one skirmish.”
- Do you feel the team is starting to come together, “yea, no, they are big wins. Like I said, you are playing well, working hard. I’m happy with the way our team is playing, even though we lost those two games prior to the three-game winning streak. I thought we played really well, that is where it starts. You gotta play well and you start getting results with points.”
- Was this Igor’s best game of the season, “No. Just at the end, he didn’t have a lot of work, but that is the toughest thing. Igor was solid. I think that if you ask him he’d say that he had a pretty easy night for the most part, but at the end I think he made two, maybe three great saves and that was huge.”
- On Kreider’s shootout winner, “It’s good to see. I actually looked away, a little superstition (laugh), so I don’t even know how it went in, to be honest with you. I’ll look later, watch it on TV tonight…. Honestly, I do that a lot in shootouts and actually, the first time, I looked when he had the breakout when we were shorthanded, so this time I just said that I was gonna look away. So if you see me look in the stands, that is why.”