They Said It…
Rod Brind’Amour summarizing the contest…
“Obviously, it was not our best. They made some nice plays. Give them credit. They finished. But I didn’t think we were very sharp, to put it bluntly. Our top guys had a tough night. That’s not going to work at this time of year. I think we just toss that game, to be honest. I hate that at this time of year, that’s what we’ve got to do, but there wasn’t much to really grab onto there. You get behind early like that, it’s tough. We clearly were not ready for that pace. I’m not going to use the layoff as the excuse, but we weren’t ready to play playoff hockey, and that caught us.”
Jordan Staal expressing his thoughts…
“We lost the game from the start, obviously giving them that many freebies. Any team’s going to make you pay, especially this time of year. There wasn’t enough respect for them. They played a great game. They were ready to roll, and we weren’t.”
Jordan Staal continuing on what wasn’t up to snuff…
“We just weren’t really aware of them, obviously sneaking behind us. It’s a different style and a different pace. Not necessarily the pace, more just awareness, really. I don’t know how many breakaways we gave up right off the bat. We’ve got to find ways to defend better, give them nothing, and be hard on them. Those are just freebies. They’ve got some talent, and they’re going to make you pay.”
Jaccob Slavin being self-critical of his night…
“I don’t think it was because of the break. We came out, and we were flying. Personally, I think I handed them the game. I’ve got to be better.”
Rod Brind’Amour talking about his team leaning on their experience as they move forward from tonight…
“I think we’ve been through this before. It’s a tough night. It’s tough at this time of year to have those. We don’t have a lot of those at all like that, and we’re going to have to bounce back, clearly. I have all the faith in the world that we will.”
