Gerard Gallant met with the media on Friday after practice and said (NYR):

• Do you think that the ice time was more balanced last night, “Honestly, I never checked. I don’t worry about the ice time being balanced, I worry about the team…but when you look after the game. Some games I check it between every period and some games I don’t bother, it just depends what the score is and what we are going at because sometimes you want to balance ice time. I just go with the feel and that is the way it goes. I want to play Panarin 21-22 minutes a night some nights, but it’s the way the feel of the game is and the way you are coaching the game and worried about the score and trying to get the best guys on the ice at those times.”

• Was it intentionally balanced, “No…I mean, I like when you get your fourth line playing enough minutes. We only had one PP last night so the PK guys played a few more minutes than the other guys. It was a good, solid game and a big win for sure.”
• What was behind putting the second PP unit out, “A lot of times we look at it…for the most part I like our top guys when they go out there for 1:20, well, 1:20 turns into 1:50 very often because there are no whistles. There was a minute gone on the PP, why not give those guys a chance. I’d like to give them 45 seconds every time, but a lot of times you don’t get the chance to change because they are in the zone and making plays and they don’t come off. In a perfect world 1:15 would be good and :45 for the other guys would be perfect.”
• On how The Kid Line forechecks and plays, “it’s definitely a big part of it and you see, when they have trouble they are trying to make plays and turning pucks over. There are two sides of it, I want them to make plays, but 7 out of 10 times you can’t turn it over at the offensive blue line. I think they play their best hockey when the pucks are below the goal line, Kaapo uses his big body and skates out, beats some people like that. Low cycle plays, putting pucks back to the point and going to the net, I think that is their best hockey and, again, you want to make those plays, but they are dangerous plays and somtimes you turn it up and are trying that fancy little play in the middle and you know what happens then, we have three guys going that way and they got 3 on 2 going the other way. Just be responsible, we always talk about managing the puck.”
• On them being aggressive on the forecheck, “That is ideal for me and they have their best success doing that. We show them a lot of clips, trust me….don’t get me wrong, it’s not them alone, it’s just the way the game is today. Young kids want to make their plays and it’s like going to a Casino and you play the odds and when the odds are good they are usually good below the goal line, not so good when they got backcheckers coming back and sticks in the lanes and they go the other way.”
• Was sitting out a reset for Sammy Blais, “Sammy’s been fine, we wanted to get Kravy into a game and somebody’s got to come out. I think Sammy’s played fine, he’s frustrated, he’s got no goals, but over the last number of games I thought that lines been fine.”
• What did you think about Kravtsov, “he was fine. It was one of those games, a tight game, going back and forth. Sometimes I want to get him some shifts up with the top lines on the right side, but the way we were checking their top guys and the guys I have in those spots…I felt I was doing the right thing….we know where he fits, so we’ll see where it goes.”
• You could swap him and Goodrow for certain shifts, “definitely. Goodrow or Vesey or whoever, it doesn’t matter. We always pick on Goodrow and all he does is do a good job for me (laugh). And trust me, I know what he is, but he’s been a pretty good player for us the last year and a half.”
• Are you still figuring out the right mix at 5-on-5, “No, I wouldn’t go that far. I know what our perfect lines are. Are they there right today? Maybe not. They might get switched a little bit again, but right now, I’m happy with the way things are going with them. We’ve got new players added to our team. Trocheck, has it been a perfect mix with Panarin? No. Have Kreider and Mika been a perfect fit? Well, they’ve been together for a long time. You might get back to that, we’ll see, but I like the way things are going right now.”
• Do you see Kreider, Trocheck, Vesey as a checking line going forward, “I don’t want it to be a checking line, I want it to be a full, play both ways. There are too many good players there to be a checking line. I see them being responsible, yea, they can play a two-way game. Mika’s playing with Bread and Bread is not the most, biggest checker in the world, but I think he’s been working hard and playing harder.”
• Didn’t Panarin block a shot, “That was last week (laugh), that was in Vegas. We don’t want him blocking too many. Play good positioning and you don’t have to block them.”
• What did you see from Ben Harpur, “I thought he played pretty solid, a big man out there, he had a real good stick. Murph was happy with him this morning, how he played.”
• On Braden Schneider, “The kid grows every day, he keeps getting better and better and solid. Whats he got? 4 goals, scored some big goals. But he just looks confident, he does the right things every day, he’s a true pro at a young age. You always say, ‘I wish every kid was like that.’ You don’t want every kid the same, but he prepares himself. He comes to practice, he’s prepared for practice,  he comes early in the morning, he’s eating the right foods. He does all the right things, he’s in the weight room, does the right things. It probably came from when he was back home, his parents, the way they raised him and he does the right things all the time and it shows in his game. For a young player, to play the way he’s played. I can’t remember once this year I come after the game and said, ‘what was Schneids doing tonight?’ I don’t remember being upset with his play at any time this year or last year. He’s just consistent and he doesn’t try to do too much. He sees the opportunities and jumps in. Obviously, really like the kid a lot.”

The lines used today were (Stephenson):

• Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Barclay Goodrow
• Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko
• Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, Jimmy Vesey
• Sammy Blais, Vitali Kravtsov, Jonny Brodzinski, Julien Gauthier