“I didn’t think we were competitive enough in the first period. I thought we were really competitive and got the game going in the second and we gave up the goals in the third. Any way you look at it we made mistakes and they just shot it in our net. We gifted them those three.” –MIKE BABCOCK.

HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK

On tonight’s game:

Yeah, I mean, I didn’t think we were competitive enough in the first period. I thought we were really competitive and got the game going in the second and we gave up the goals in the third. Any way you look at it we made mistakes and they just shot it in our net. We gifted them those three. It’s disappointing because we had crawled our way back and kind of set the tone. Unfortunate on the penalty kill one there, obviously. A faceoff at centre, we thought we were in good position to have the puck and have a clear and the next thing you know it’s in our net.

On if there’s a consistent theme in the losses on back-to-backs:

Well, I think they’re all different. The scariest thing about it – I think, I could be wrong – I think that three of them are right there going to the third period and we don’t get it done. So, you know, the bottom line is I think the first one is a little different than the rest of these. You know, we’ve played a lot of hockey and all that, but I don’t think you can talk about back-to-backs at this point of the season. I think the first weekend is a different thing, now you’ve got to find ways to win these games.

On Hutchinson giving the team an opportunity to win:

He kept us in the first period, big time in the first period and gave us chance. And, you know, the other thing is obviously he’s getting the starts in back-to-backs. I thought we were set up to get him a win here tonight and it’s unfortunate for him because I thought his effort warranted better from us.

MICHAEL HUTCHINSON (33 SAVES):

On tonight’s performance:

Yeah, you know, it’s unfortunate we weren’t unable to grind out the two points there. I thought we were very tough battling back in the second period. It’s just unfortunate that, you know, we weren’t able to bring that momentum from the second period into the third. On facing 19 shots in the first period: They just seemed to have a lot of zone time and they threw the puck in from everywhere. They had good sticks in close on some things that were going wide onto the net. So, as a goalie it’s not always the worst thing in the world to get engaged in the game early on. So, you know, I thought that goal at the end of the first period was huge for us going into the second period.

ANDREAS JOHNSSON (1 GOAL)

On tonight’s game:

I think we didn’t start as well as we wanted. In the second we crawl back into the game and play a good second and, you know, in the third they have a power play and they get a breakaway right away and score. So, that’s uphill right away and, you know, I think we were pretty good after that. And then an unlucky bounce and another breakaway and they score again. They’re a good team, you can’t give them two breakaways in the third period if you want to win.

On the challenge of back-to-backs:

I mean, it’s always tough. You see us play against San Jose yesterday and we feel we have more energy, but they played the day before and now we’re playing against Montreal and they didn’t play yesterday. Back-to-back is always tough. You’ve got to be pretty simple. You probably won’t have the same speed as the day before and, you know, I felt like in the first period we gave them too much. I still feel like we gave [ourselves] a chance to win but in the end it’s not good enough.

AUSTON MATTHEWS (1 ASSIST)

On the difference in tonight’s game:

I mean, I think just little things. I thought the second period we got playing a lot better and created opportunities. You’ve got to credit them, you’ve got to credit their goalie, he made some big saves. They were pretty good defensively and we just can’t give up two breakaways and a 2-on-1 with the game that close. They obviously capitalized on their opportunities so you’ve just got to find a way to not give those opportunities up. Then it’s not 4-2, maybe it’s a 3-2 or 2-2 game going into the third period.

On what led to the slow start tonight:

I mean, there’s really no reason for it. I think I don’t really have the answer for you. It’s been a bit of something we haven’t really done well – especially in these back-to-backs – and we have plenty of them. So, we’ve got to find a way to start better and start on time. But, once we got playing in the second period, got back in the game and I don’t think we necessarily let our foot off the gas but I think we just gave them little mental errors — a couple of breakaways, a couple of odd-man rushes and they capitalized on them. We just can’t do that.