HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK
On penalty trouble making it hard to create an ice time rhythm tonight:
Well, obviously some guys are freezing and some guys are going to get killed. I thought tonight, like you said, we started good, I thought we were set up good, I thought we were playing well. We had a couple of sort out problems at the start of the second period, we took penalties, we knocked the one over the glass and then we spent the rest of the night chasing the game. I thought we tried to crawl our way back into the game. I overplayed guys in the third; you’re chasing the game and, in the end, you didn’t have enough to get it done. It’s disappointing because we felt we were set up pretty good, but the bottom line is we’ve got to find a way to play better in these back-to-backs.
On evaluating a goaltending performance with those breakdowns in mind:
I haven’t had a chance to go through the whole thing. We’ll look at it closely on the flight. The bottom line is we’ve got to do a better job of keeping it out of our net. A couple of the sort outs in our own D-zone – I mean, it’s one thing if they’ve made a play that’s unbelievable but if you’re not standing next to the guy, that’s on you. I thought we had done a real good job tonight on the penalty kill, to tell you the truth. I thought our penalty kill was really good – we gave up the one 5-on-3. It’s not good enough. You’ve got to find a way each and every night and you need different people to do it each and every night and you can’t give up as many goals on the back-to-back. That’s 10 goals in two games back-to-back. Can’t do it.
On how Mikheyev fared in an opportunity to play alongside Tavares:
I mean, obviously, we were trying to get that line to go, right? I’m moving guys around all the time; I don’t know how great that is either. I thought he had great legs and was flying. That line – the Kerfoot line – was never getting on the ice together because those two guys were penalty killing and then I’d come back and I’d get Matthews and Tavares going after the penalty kill. I just figured this was a better opportunity to get him more ice time.
On Kapanen’s performance tonight:
I thought Kappy was good, I thought that line was great. They just never got to play because of special teams. I thought Kappy skated real good. Obviously, the penalty kill goal was important for us – got momentum, got us rolling after that. He’s been good, positive for us.
On the opportunity to face Boston this weekend:
It’ll be fun for us. What’s interesting is in the League it doesn’t matter who you play every night, as you can see, there’s nothing to pick between the teams. Night after night you’re in a real grind. Obviously, we have a history with Boston, they’ve eliminated us from the playoffs two years in a row. That’ll be fun. Getting the day off tomorrow is important for our group too, but we’ve got to get back at ‘er. We think there’s a whole other level for our group and we’ve got to keep getting better.
On how challenging it is to have four back-to-backs in October:
If you just do the math in the League, you’ve got someone who can do that, you can figure out the winning percentage. It’s about 29 percent. So, it’s real, but it’s not as big as it is – it’s a bigger deal at the start than it is later if that makes any sense. When you get used to it, you get more in rhythm. We can’t worry about the schedule; we’ve got to worry about the game we’re playing and we’ve got to play right.
MICHAEL HUTCHINSON (28 SAVES)
On how close he came to stopping the Capitals’ first goal:
Yeah, I got a piece of it but not enough. He made a good play and I was a little bit late making the read. Carlson was kind of looking up the ice. I thought he was going to hit the trailer coming in so that was kind of my first read, and when he threw the puck across, I was a little bit late getting there. Got a piece of it but not enough. An unfortunate bounce in the game.
On the second period:
They had a good push at the start and I think we recovered well from it. We were able to stop them, and I thought the second half of the second period we took it to them. It’s one of those things when the other teams have offensive players, and you can bet those offensive players are going to push at some point in the game. It’s just unfortunate there that they buried their chances on their push.
On how he felt about his night:
You’re never happy when you lose a game or let in four goals, but they made some good plays and we had an unfortunate hitting-the-puck-over-the-glass penalty to give them a 5-on-3, which, when they have that firepower, you’re in for a challenge. On all four goals, as a goalie, there’s always something you’d like to do differently or something you’d like to have back. That’s just the nature of the position but I thought, for myself, after the fourth goal I really battled and tried to give the team a chance, I didn’t want to let in that fifth. With the offensive power we have on our team, if you can stop it and make some big saves and give the team a chance to keep it within two goals, we have a really good chance of coming back.
MORGAN RIELLY (27:44 TOI)
On tonight’s game:
I thought we started well. Obviously, that’s a position that we want to be in and I thought that, if you look back at the game, there’s a 10- or 12-minute span where we didn’t play our best and they capitalized, and that made a big difference.
On what changed in the second period:
I don’t know. I’ll have to go back and look at it. That’s obviously the period of time that I’m talking about. Obviously, took some penalties and they capitalized and they got some 5-on-5 too so there’s really no excuse. When you look back at what went wrong, that’ll be an area of focus.
On the team’s late comeback attempt:
I thought, all-in-all, there was periods of time where we played well. I thought the compete at the end there, to come within one, is good but obviously not the position we want to in. Like I said, a big portion of the game was decided during that 12 minutes where we didn’t play our best. They made the most of it.
JOHN TAVARES (1 GOAL)
On giving up three goals in 1:18 in the second period:
I think the first part of the second wasn’t great and the amount of times we were shorthanded doesn’t help against their shooters, especially on a 5-on-3. I thought it was tough giving up the goal, looking back on that first goal, we had an overall pretty good first period other than maybe just being a little careless at times, but we had some good zone time and got some good pucks on net, obviously built a good lead. Disappointing with the way we were able to jump out with that kind of start. I thought we stayed with it though, even after we got down. We just kept working and we had chances. I thought they blocked a lot of shots. We got a lot of decent looks, I thought, some good looks from the interior and they blocked a lot of shots. Only had the one powerplay. We had a chance at the end.
On the biggest difference in the second period:
It just seemed like it was a couple breakdowns. They executed on them, and then the powerplays. It was 5-1 tonight. That’s tough, especially on a back-to-back, having to use all that energy against a team like that, that’s really strong playing their game with the type of skill and shooters they have. LM[Draft]
The view from left field 