HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK
On Andersen’s steady presence to start the game: Any time you come on the road you know you’re going to have to try and weather the first ten and do good things. I thought we did a good job of that and got through that. We got playing pretty good when we went ahead 2-0 and then we got carried away turning the puck over a number of times. Then giving them a goal there and they got some momentum. I thought we got ourselves reset in between the second and third and came out and played well.
On how the power play is coming together early in the season: Obviously you want it to be real dangerous. We have good people on it and a good scheme. I thought Little John did a great job tonight, taking away the goalies eyes which really helped on two of the goals. One wasn’t a power play but two goals. That’s a big part of it but obviously you want success on your special teams.
On what he thought of the fourth line, drawing a penalty and the sequence that led to the Ceci goal: Yeah we had [Kefoot’s] line out there and then Spezza’s line got out there and their centre was out there for a minute and thirty. It was kind of back-to-back-to-back there which was a real good job. I thought Spezza was real good. I thought he was real happy to be doing what he’s doing. He was great on the bench, he was great on the ice and he was good in the room. I thought he did a good job for us so good for him. Now we’re going to go right back the way we were tomorrow and give those guys another opportunity and then we’ll come back again the following game.
On if Spezza’s job on the penalty kill is to win the faceoff and get to the bench: That’s his job basically and we do the same with [Gauthier] on the other side at the start and then we play him later in the penalty kill. We’ve got some real good penalty killers, Mikheyev’s going to be a real good one and then when you put in the guys like [Marner], [Moore] and [Kapanen], those are good guys and we want them out there first but we need someone to get the draw. I thought he did a good job of that. He got caught the one time but I actually put him out on the end which probably screwed him a bit. He was breathing out his eye lids when he got back to the bench. I asked him if he could take the faceoff and he said for sure and didn’t and they seamed him. Got running around a little bit but that’s part of it. I was impressed with him tonight and he was happy to do what we needed him to do.
CODY CECI (1 GOAL)
On if it feels good to score his first goal of the season: Yeah for sure. First game was a little overwhelming with playing the old team and everything but tonight felt a little better. It was nice to get that first one out of the way and help the team win.
On the importance of getting traffic in front of the net: It was all [Johnsson], he was in front of the net all night. He made it possible for us to get them through. To have that screen is huge, especially in this league. Goalies are going to stop you if you’re 1-on-1 but having the screen helps a lot.
On Matthew’s shot: It’s just amazing. You see it day after day is pretty amazing. Usually you see it on SportsCentre but now I get to see it every single day. It’s pretty cool, cool to watch and nice to see how fast he can get it off.
MARNER (2 GOALS, 1 ASSIST)
On what went well tonight for the team: I thought our puck moving was good. I thought in certain breakouts we didn’t rush it, we took our time, we stopped and came back as a group. I thought when they had their rushes we came back as a unit and stopped them. That’s what we need to do more this season, coming back as a five-man unit and stopping those rushes. Like I said, I thought our puck moving was good, a lot of guys shooting it and getting second opportunities from it.
On Andreas Johnsson tenacity in front of the net: You saw that last year and the year before. He’s a guy that isn’t overly big but not afraid to get to that net. That’s something you love on your team and love to have. He’s been a lot of fun to watch and his skill set around the net but also when he has the puck is spectacular. He’s been a big part of this team and will be going forward.
ANDERSEN (28 SAVES)
On the importance of weathering the storm early: Yeah of course on the road you want to start playing simple and obviously don’t turn it over too many times but I thought we did a good job of sustaining the pressure and getting on with the game.
On Matthew’s shot in the third period: That was very accurate. That was crazy. His shot is second to none and also I thought [Johnsson] in front did a hell of a job and also on Mitch’s goal. He’s done that a few times now and that’s equally as important. I don’t know if the goalie would have stopped it anyway but a presence in front of the net like that is really important.
The view from left field 