Gerard Gallant met with the media following the loss to Tampa and said (NYR, MSG):

• On the game, “I thought a great hockey game, obviously the goaltending, two world class goalies, the two best in the world probably and they were outstanding, it was a good hockey game, lots of generated both ways. Tough to lose in the shootout like that, but I thought we played great.”

• On being ready, “we were disappointed with our last game, obviously and tonight they came out and this was our second best game of the year. We played these guys twice, the first game of the year, and I thought both games were excellent and we got a great effort from everbody tonight.”
• It seemed like there was a playoff snarl, “it’s funny, my wife just texted me the same thing (laugh). She said that it felt like a playoff game and I agree 100%.”
• On the effort tonight, “It’s huge, we knew we’d bounce back, but like I said, it was a game that could have gone either way, two teams that played real good hockey and the goaltending was outstanding at both ends.”
• On building from this game, “we’ve played good hockey the last number of games, you get by the last one, we talked about it, forgot about it and move on. Keep playing good hockey and you are going to get points. It would have been nice to get two points tonight, but we’ll take the one that we got and move on to get ready for a good Florida team.”