Gerard Gallant met with the media following the Rangers win over Vancouver and said (NYR, MSG):

• On the game, “it wasn’t a perfect game, a bit of a sloppy game, but we had some real nice goals, made some good plays and I think we were in control of the game most of the night, so felt good about that, but we can be better. You come out here and sit for four days before you play another game, there’s a little rust and I don’t think the guys were sharp tonight.”

• On Panarin, “he’s jumping, he’s really jumping and making some great plays. When you get six goals it’s great, but we can’t be giving up four goals and some of the chances we gave up.”
• How important is it just to get the two points, “They’re huge, the points are huge. You look at the standings everyday and our division there are really good teams that are trying to catch up to everybody and we just gotta keep battling. We’re looking up at a couple of teams in front of us and trying to catch them. Points are important every game, but this time of the season they get more important.”
• On six in a row, “we’ve been playing real good hockey and find ways to win hockey games, I like our group, like our team and like I said, the 3-4 days off were good, but it showed tonight.”
• On Vancouver’s pressure in the third period, “they come, they work hard and compete hard and got embarrassed the other night against Detroit, so you knew they were gonna work hard and compete hard and they played really well tonight.”
• Are you okay with what you are giving up as long as you win, “We had four days off and weren’t great tonight. Defensively we gave up some chances we shouldn’t give up. Some play we didn’t play as sound as we usually play, but we scored six goals, made some really good plays and we were in control of the game most of the night.”
• What does it do when Panarin and Zibanejad are going like they are, “It just gives you confidence. When top players are scoring goals and making plays every night…they played excellent again tonight. It carried our team a little bit for sure.”
• On Kreider passing Messier for goals by a Ranger, “it’s awesome. Kreids is a big player for us and another goal tonight. Good for him, Mark Messier is a Hall of Famer and one of the great players of all time, so good for Kreids.”
• On Shesterkin needing to play more to regain his sharpness, “definitely, we had the All-Star break and a lot of time off and goalies like to stay in their rhythm….and it wasn’t him, he no doubt wasn’t happy with his game, but the whole team wasn’t as sharp as we usually are. The four days off, some time off. We were going really good and four games in six nights and you get that break.”