Gerard Gallant met with the media following the win over Vegas and said (MSG/NYR):

• On the game, “It was a real good game, I thought we played great hockey until we took those two penalties and gave them some momentum there. I thought we played as solid a game as we played all year, for sure.”

• Does seeing Panarin come back on D and block shots show that everyone is on the same page, “that’s exactly. You get some urgency from our guys, and, again, you’ve got a team coming back off a road trip, but we played hard, we played our game to a T and did a lot of good things in the o-zone.”
• Do you like the changes to the top-six, “yea, they’ve been good, real good. Thought they competed well and not just offensively, but defensively as well. I’m real happy with the lines so far, hopefully they can keep going.”
• On Kakko, Lafreniere and Chytil all getting 5-on-5 goals, “it’s big, we’ve had trouble all year scoring a 5-on- and I thought the last two games has really helped.”
• Does it look like Kakko and Lafreniere are invigorated playing next to Zibanejad, “I sure think so, yea. I don’t know why they wouldn’t be, a young kid playing with a top-center like that. They’ve played well.”
• On Shesterkin, “Igor was excellent, he’s always strong for us and he had a real good, solid game when he had to, but I thought it was a team win tonight, everybody came ready to play from the fourth line to our last defenseman. It was a good team game.”
• Did you think you would break out in the third, “I thought we played real well, but Thompson made some real key saves and our PP got us going in the third. I think it was a good, solid game right through, but those games, when you play well, sometimes you lose them and that is always in the back of your mind, too.”
• Are you happy to beat Vegas, “It’s a big win for our team. Obviously I’m happy to beat Vegas for the first time, it was more than that, it was a big win for our group. We needed a win right now and it was a huge game for us.”