Gerard Gallant met with the media following the loss to the Devils and said (MSG/NYR):
- On the game“It’s like we talked about before the game started. They are a quick team, fast team, put pressure on you. They made us make a few turnovers and they capitalized on those. 2-0, I thought we played real well the first six, obviously, let down a little bit and they came at us, that is how they play, the put a lot of offense at you, play fast and they showed their game tonight.”
- On the level of frustration, “it’s a game that we lost that we would have loved to have won. We are playing against a team that was 18-4 before the game started. We played well, we had some chances and opportunities, but it’s not good enough. We gotta be better and like I said, they are coming into our building, they have a good record, they played well and it’s not good enough for us.”
- On Shesterkin taking the blame for the loss, “the team is the problem, the whole group of us. Coaches, the whole group, we gotta turn it around. Tonight was a good night to try and turn it around with the team we were playing. They are a young team, but they play hard, play fast. I wouldn’t say they are the surprise team of the year, but they look really good and played hard and Lindy’s done a good job with that team, they have a lot of confidence and play the right way.”
- Does it seem like the division will be tight all season, “I hope it is the way we started. It’s going to be battle and I think I said that earlier in the year. There are no bad teams in the NHL, especially in our division, real good teams and you gotta be ready to play every night. We are 10-9-4, we gotta be better.”
- Do you see guys getting down or second guessing themselves, “I see it once and a while on the PP when they don’t get done what they want to accomplish. I don’t see any second guessing, no one is yelling at each other, it’s not at that point…honestly, I don’t, maybe after the games they are a little disappointed in themselves, but I haven’t seen that.”
- Are you surprised at how tough being consistent has been, “I thought we deserved to win more games, to be honest with you, but we haven’t. Last year we won a lot of those games that we probably we shouldn’t have won and this year we are just not finding a way. Again, they are good teams and teams are getting ready for us from what we done last year. Tonight they were the better team and won the game and I think we are better than that and we gotta get better. I thought we played better than, obviously, than we did the other night against Edmonton, but it still wasn’t good enough to win.”
- Why do you think it takes so long to reverse a big drop in play, “I didn’t see the big drop off tonight. I think Shesterkin said what he said, a couple of goals he’d like to have back, so I don’t see it the same way you are seeing it or saying it, I really don’t.”
- What did you think of the Chytil/Panarin line, “I gotta watch it. I thought they were pretty solid, but we’ll watch it and see.”