Gerard Gallant met with the media following the win over Edmonton and said (MSG):
- What did you say after the first period, “not much, we had to play a lot better. I thought we played a good first period, they had two PP goals and I thought we had great chances and Campbell was outstanding in the first. It could have been a 4-4 hockey game after one, but I liked the way we played and we are down 4-1. We said that the game is far from over, you got 40 minutes, it’s the new NHL, it’s not like the game is going to be over, but we battled hard and found a way.”
- On Kreider’s shorthanded goal, “that was big, Kreids and Mika going down the ice. That made it 4-2, it was definitely a huge turning factor in the game, for sure.”
- Did you consider taking Igor out after the first, “No, I really believed…4-1, the way we played in the first, I felt good about our team. I was going to see what happened in the second period and if the first ten went well then he’s going to battle back and he’s a star goalie and he’s got a lot of pride in there. If they would have made it 5 or 6 then definitely, but he played hard and battled and made one huge save when it was 4-2 early in the second and from that point on he played great.”
- How does it feel to win after what happened in November, “Exactly, you don’t forget those scores when you are winning 3-0 and lose 4-3 to them in our building. We played a good game, it was a good hockey game, exciting game, lots of offense from both teams, OT was incredible, good to watch, and good for us to get two points.”
- On Lafreniere, “Great for Laff, his shootout goal was a real nice move and a great play and he scored the big goal, the third goal I think it was. They played really well and worked hard.”
- On coming back against a team like the Oilers, “It’s a good team we are playing. We are finding ways to win hockey games and that is key for our group. There was no quit, after the first period we were disappointed, but there was no quit and then when we got the second goal I felt really good about our chances.”
- On limiting them defensively after the first period, “The difference between the first and second and third was we were a lot closer to them. Like we talked about in our d-zone, we gave them too much time and space to make those plays and in the second and third period we were a lot closer to them, they didn’t have those one-time plays and open chances and it was a lot better d-zone coverage, obviously.”
- On how Shesterkin battled back, “Igor was never going to quit, the first one went in and he looked hard. Honestly, watching him the last 4 or 5, you felt they weren’t going to score.”