BRUINS POSTGAME QUOTES VS Thursday, April 8, 2017

BOSTON BRUINS INTERIM BRUCE CASSIDY POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE On Brandon Carlo’s status… He’s upper body. Obviously we’ll get it evaluated and see where he’s at. Didn’t look good when it happened, but I don’t know how he’ll be, but it’s upper body.

On what he thought of the hit on Brandon Carlo… Oh I didn’t like it. I mean he, I thought – I don’t think it was intentional, you know, to hit a guy from behind. It looked like he held up but he still grabbed him and he was in a vulnerable spot and he went head first into the glass and generally there’s a call on that. Sometimes two, sometimes five, but to have no call at all I thought was wrong, incorrect. But I don’t think there was an intent to injure, the way I saw it.

On his assessment of the team’s performance overall today… I didn’t feel we were invested enough in most areas of the game to beat the first-place team in the . Probably that simple to me. They’re a good hockey club; they don’t have a lot of weaknesses and you’ve got to be on your A-game and we didn’t have our A- game. I don’t know if we were looking ahead or it was just the opponent or one of those days, but we needed to be better if we expected to beat them, so.

On Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson’s first game… Yeah, it’s not ideal no matter when, coming in this time of year in meaningful games. You know, if you’re eliminated or in those situations and there are teaching moments. I mean, there are teaching moments no matter what, but that’s kind of where we’re at and it’s a good thing. But, only he can answer the comparables versus college hockey versus the NHL and how he felt. But, really the only thing we talked to him about was, ‘Listen, you’re playing against men. They’re going to be hard on pucks, hard around the pucks, so that will be the biggest difference maker for you.” So, and I think he probably found that out today because, you know, he was positionally solid and he didn’t hurt us. He’s just going to be harder around the battles and every young player learns that and the quicker you can adapt to that, probably the better, the easier the transition is going to be for you.

On if there was an adjustment period in Ryan Spooner’s game tonight on the wing… Well there probably is. You’re always, you know, you’re back into more confined areas along the boards; you’re defensive zone coverage assignments are different. But, he’s played it so I thought he was okay there. I mean, we had a breakdown on a where he over-backchecked to be honest, but that’s an effort play to a certain extent, you know, they beat us with a D coming late which they do well. But other than that, I thought in terms of making an adjustment to the wing he was okay.

On Colin Miller’s game tonight and how he expects it to transition to the playoffs…

Well, he did – Colin always does some good things. He has the attributes to play – physical attributes – he’s a good skater, he’s willing to battle, can shoot, pass. It’s just a matter of calming his game down in those other situations when it’s time to make reads, defend and, you know, if a puck doesn’t cooperate with him just to have the composure to settle it down, get it out of trouble, and live to fight another day. Again, those are young – some young players go through that. Then going in the playoffs, I don’t want to speculate on who will be dressed, but that will be the same as the regular season, what we’ll expect, because it will be an even bigger stage so you just have to kind of enjoy the moment and not – be in the moment, but not get too caught up in the moment – and I think that will be the test for him.

On Tim Schaller’s play in his first game back… Timmy was Timmy. He plays the north-south game; he gets it behind their D, forechecks, protects it, was good on the kill. You know, when we got behind it probably limited what we were going to see out of him, because he’s a player that will probably play more when we’re ahead. He fits that category, more protecting leads then trying to play catch-up. But, no ill effects from his injury, at least not right now. He was ready to go, so that’s a positive.

On switching up the lines in the first period… Well, like most nights you’re still feeling out – you’ve got Schaller back in who hasn’t played in a while, JFK who’s a new player, Frankie [Frank Vatrano] is just returned from injury. So again, we’re trying to kind of find – [Ryan] Spooner on the wing – we’re just trying to maybe get back to [Drew] Stafford with [David] Krejci and Pasta [David Pastrnak], you know, put a solid to get top two lines together and see what worked in the last two. That’s all. We gave up that early goal and if we hadn’t have done that we would have stuck it out a little longer, but with Washington you’re not – you’ve got to be careful; you can’t get too far behind or, when it was one-nothing we probably needed the next goal legitimately to give yourself the best chance to win.

On if he would rather face Ottawa or Washington in the first round of the playoffs… I don’t like to go down that road. We’re going to be confident no matter who we play. In a nutshell, Washington is the better team, I would say that, go on record saying that. Ottawa is playing very good hockey right now; we’ve had a tough time with them. So, they both present their challenges. Staying in probably the [Atlantic Division], people have said is probably the easier path. So in that regard you don’t want to be the wildcard, but we’re going to end up now – it’s out of our hands. So, we get what we get.

On the first goal against and if Frank Vatrano came off the ice too early… I don’t know if too early is the right word, but just awareness on your change. There’s nothing wrong with changing, it’s just where’s the puck, is there danger coming, and I think he missed that read, that they had possession of the puck and they were coming at us and our other two forwards were trapped. So that’s when he has to stay. He has to stay and buy time and then get a change a little later. But he turned his back to the play unfortunately and, listen – we don’t mind making changes in the offensive zone because if you stay out too long, you’re tired in the D zone. But the timing of it wasn’t great, that’s for sure.

On if he sensed that might not have been at 100 percent…

No, I did not. We were under the impression that he was fine going into the game, so that’s something that happened in-game or maybe he wasn’t feeling perfect and didn’t let on. So, we were all caught off-guard a little bit on that one, but at the end of the day if he’s not able to play, Tuukka [Rask] had to go in. That’s just the way it is.

On how he will use the next few days to prepare for the first round… Well, tomorrow is a day off. Guys will get away from the rink and Sunday night we’ll know our opponent and we’ll start – we’ve started preparation for who we might play – and then we’ll incorporate that in practice Monday. It will be a fairly quick turnaround from what I understand, no matter who we play and we’ll just work on our game, the things we need to get better at, plus how does that translate to the opponent we’re playing. Now it gets a little more specific, obviously. During the year, you’re just practicing to stay sharp, correct, but I still think there’s some D-zone coverage stuff that we corrected as the game went on, protecting the slot, that no matter who we play we’ll need to be better at. So that will be one of the areas we’ll look at. So, that will be principally it. Now, there will be some special teams obviously, you know, you get specific to your opponent as well – how we’re going to, our entries, et cetera, and we’ll get on the road.

BOSTON BRUINS DEFENSEMAN ZDENO CHARA On how he would summarize the team’s readiness for the playoffs… I think that everybody’s obviously excited to be back in the playoffs. I think that excitement and energy will ball up more towards next week. I think this team’s been through obviously some up and downs throughout the whole season and that we showed that we created some identity and built some resiliency. It’s exciting for most of the guys in the room it’s going to be the first experience of NHL Playoffs but at the same time, everybody had to go through it for first time. Yeah it’s going to be good.

On whether the team needs to play well to go far in the playoffs… Everybody has to do well, everybody has to do their best. No matter who it is and who you play, if you want to succeed you have to be at your best. You have to do whatever it takes and that’s the bottom line. It’s going to be a battle and that’s why it’s best of seven.

On whether the above quote is his message to the team in the locker room… Well yeah, I’m sure we’re going to have some meetings and we’re going to get ready. I think that everybody has to get ready themselves. They have to realize what they have to do to be in the zone for the playoffs and it’s not necessarily that you have to have one-on-one meetings or kind of special meetings for that. You just need to know that it’s important part of the year.

On what he likes about this team going into the playoffs… I like how we bounce back through some adversity. I liked how our power play picked up from how it was beginning of the year. I really like how we take a lot of pride in killing penalties – there are a lot of things I like. We just got to put all those things together and bring them to the playoffs.

BOSTON BRUINS DEFENSEMAN COLIN MILLER On his goal…

Yeah I just tried to step up and have a good gap, then it just really – the puck kind of found me when I was going to the net. I had a wide open net and got the goal.

On never having played in the playoffs and his expectations… Yeah, obviously everyone watches the playoffs and has been a part of a playoffs before – I know I have. I don’t think there is anything you do different, there’s just that awareness that kind of accountability and stuff like that you need to bring every game and every shift.

On whether there is no way to experience a Stanley Cup Playoff until you experience it… I guess not. I played a lot in the American League so you can use that I guess or whatever. It’s hockey right? You’re not changing the game. You’re going to go out and approach it the same way.

On how he thinks his game will translate to the postseason… Good [chuckles]. I don’t know, I don’t think it’s going to be a lot different, I just think it’s going to be more intense, that’s what playoffs are. Like I said, we’ve all seen it, we’ve all been a part of it at some level. It’s more intense, it’s more heightened, but those are the games you want to play in – those are the exciting ones.

On his composure with the puck and the speed the game is played at in the playoffs… I think you just play, I mean to be honest if you’re going to go out there and change stuff or approach it differently you’re just going to psych yourself out. I mean I’m not going to approach it any different, I’m just going to play my game and I’m sure everyone else will too.

On his give-and-take with Tom Wilson… I don’t know, that’s just the game right? That’s what happens during every game. Stuff like that, so whatever, it happens.

On whether he’s made all the strides he’s wanted to this season… I don’t know, I think there’s definitely some things I’d like to change but I mean I’m not really at a point to assess that. I think we’ll assess that when the season is completely over. The playoff is what were focused on. We can end this chapter and focus on the next.

On being down a couple defenseman going into the playoffs… I think you just got to step up. We have Joe [Morrow] there he’s been practicing all season and he’s been ready a long time. He’s ready to step into the lineup and hopefully he gets the opportunity.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD JAKOB FORSBACKA KARLSSON On getting a bit of an education making his NHL debut tonight… Yeah, it’s a little faster out there, and it’s nice to get out there and get the first game out of the way.

On how he feels about the way he played today… I felt better and better as the game went on. Obviously, it’s a little bit of an adjustment, but like I said, you know, once you warm up a little bit it feels better.

On what adjustments he had to make playing against NHL players… Yeah, they’re bigger, they’re stronger, they make better decisions, go faster. You have less time with the puck, so you know, it’s everything like that.

On getting ice time with different linemates… Well you know, it’s going to be like that when you play sometimes, so you’ve just got to adjust.

On how valuable today’s game was as experience if they face Washington in the playoffs… Well you know, it’s always nice to play a team to get to know them a little bit, so I think, yeah, it’s a valuable experience.

On what the biggest change was making the jump from college to the NHL… It’s a lot faster. You have less time with the puck. Guys are stronger, faster. It’s a little bit of an adjustment.

On if he had a chance to soak everything in during his first NHL game… There’s moments where you kind of realize that, but it still hasn’t really sunk in yet.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD TIM SCHALLER On how tough it was coming back from his injury… Yeah, it was tough to be out. It takes time to get back and you just have to have patience, but it was a pretty tough time to be hurt there when we’re pushing for a playoff spot. But I was playing well when it happened and I thought I played all right tonight, so hopefully I can fight for a job in the playoffs here.

On how much he’s looking forward to playoffs… Yeah, it’s going to be awesome. The energy level is going to be high, adrenaline is going to be pumping, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.

On college playoffs… I played in my first year in Rochester, yeah, we lost in the first round, but, you know, we’re not even in the playoffs…we’re not there yet and the buzz is already, you know, 10 times as much.

On the difference in the AHL regarding intensity levels… Yeah, I mean the step from regular season to playoffs is huge. I think the past few games here you could tell that there was playoff mentality with the speed and everything, and it’s only going to go up from there.

On what he thinks kept him from going back and forth from the minors to the NHL this season… Um, you know, I just played my game and at the end of the day the least I can do is work as hard as I can and whatever skill and talent I have it will just take over at that point. So I just make sure to, you know, every practice, every game, um, I know when I pass it, it could be the last game of the season for you, so I just worked hard every practice, every game.

On the difference in his game now compared to the last two years…

A lot smarter, you know, I think my skating has gotten a lot stronger and a lot better.

On if his hard work put into skating paid off this season… Yeah, absolutely. It’s pretty fast out here nowadays so if I can keep up and even be that much faster than some guys then that will help.

On how it felt playing in his first entire year in the NHL… Well, I think playing for the Bruins was obviously a dream come true, but put that aside, full NHL season was what I wanted to do coming in the year, so that’s one achievement. But, I had other goals that I set and whether I hit them or not, you know, I think it was a pretty good year for me. But what’s good is I know I can do a lot more in the league so I hope I can stay for a long time.

On how he reacts to Bruce Cassidy saying he’s a good player to have on the ice when the team is behind… Well, I like to always be moving my feet, keep pressure on the D man, and finish my hits and more or less be kind of a pest I guess there.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD DAVID BACKES On if they’ll turn the page and try to get ready for the playoffs… Yeah, I think in retrospect, we’re through it and it’s over. We’ve done what we could through 82 games. You can’t change anything now. We’ve got a couple teams that are trying to catch us with a couple games left and we’ll know who we’re playing by tomorrow night and when we’re playing and we can move forward. It wasn’t ideal by any stretch. There were points where we were playing in their zone and a couple shifts where we put the pressure on them. Other times, we were real stubborn in the neutral zone, not putting pucks behind them. With their skill, ability, and transition, the first goal is a great example of how they can make you pay if they get odd-man rushes. The faceoff goal they get for the third one, a coverage issue. They duplicate, then they make a couple seam passes and put one under the bar. The other ones, defenseman coming in and another missed coverage and they make a play through a seam and put it in the back of our net. So, we’ve done a good job eliminating the quality of those chances for the most part for our goalies and they’ve made the saves when they can do that. Tonight, I think just too good of quality with a good team that we’re playing against and we were only able to get one on the other side and the result is no points for us. Now, we’re scoreboard watching. That’s all we can do and see who our opponent is for the first round and get geared up and get back to playing our good games when we were all invested and putting the work and effort and sacrifice into winning hockey games. That’s what we can do now.

On if he has a preference of playing the Capitals or Senators in the first round of the playoffs… No, we’re not going to get to choose regardless. So, we can kind of sit back and we’ve got our 82 in before anybody else. So, we’re able to sit back and watch a little bit and tally them up at the end, against, with maybe a day and a half of rest on whomever we’re playing. Use that to our advantage so we can come out flying with full energy when we do start.

On how much they noticed the absences of and …

They’re two pretty good players that are out, no question. Marchy’s [Brad Marchand] suspension is up so he’s out of jail and maybe it benefits him having three or four days of rest. But, Kruger day-to-day – hopefully he’s back sooner than later. Whether you get those guys back – or you get Kruger back for game one with whoever we’re playing or not – that’s part of the beautiful thing about playoffs is you’re going to need extra bodies and when you get different guys filling in, they’ll need to bring their A-game. But, you need everyone else to shoulder a little bit more of the road and just bind together and show that over 82 games and 190 days, you’ve built great bonds and are willing to sacrifice for each other and do all the little things to win games, no matter if it’s the greatest game everyone’s every seen, 1-0, 4-3, 5-6, whatever it is – I think we know what kind of game benefits us when we’re playing it and if we can do that, giving ourselves a chance every night, taking it one at a time, and again, they’ll tell us when we’re playing a new team, they’ll tell us when our season is over. But, we’re going to play every game like it’s our last.

On how daunting of a task it would be to play Washington in the playoffs… Well, they’re Presidents’ Trophy winners. They’ve had the best regular season now, two years in a row. They’ve earned it. But, you erase all of the regular season statistics and stats and all of that and you’ve got to win four before the other team does. That needs to be our mentality whether we’re in Washington or Ottawa – I believe that’s our only two choices. So, whoever it is, we need to erase our minds and get a game plan in there that’s going to work against whoever we’re playing and then go execute it and just play harder than the guy across from you. The way this team has played down the stretch here and had to work our butts off to get in, I love our group and we’re going to have a few days here to prep and get it together and then go out there and play.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS HEAD COACH On his overall thoughts… Well, I think we just managed the game pretty well. I liked our, you know, we tried to stay with good structure and pretty good detail. I thought we managed the puck pretty well, we had a couple times that, during the game, we got away from that a little bit, but I thought we stayed composed, and I thought we managed the third period and got the lead, so lot of good things. We weren’t trying to match up or anything, and I think everybody was just doing the right thing. We weren’t playing too loose, we were playing, you know, fairly smart, so that’s, for the most part, a real good sign.

On whether this game was a statement win heading into the postseason… Yeah, I think so, I think there’s a lot of good things, a lot of positives off of that. You know, obviously we’re not playing for any position or anything. We’re just trying to play the right way, so, you know, I think we’ve had good success against these guys, you know, this year, in terms of managing when we had to, so I just thought we were real professional today with our approach.

On bouncing back after the goal was waved off… Yeah, we talked about it. You know, no matter whatever they decide, we’ve got to stay right in the moment, and we got it right back. They scored the first goal against us, you know, we responded really quickly. I just thought it was real good responses.

On staying motivated for the upcoming game against Florida… Well, I don’t think that—I think that we’ve got a good culture. We’re at home, we don’t want to disappoint our fans, we just want to take the same approach we had today. We just want to play with, you know, the right response in terms of, “Let’s play hard, let’s play fast, let’s manage the puck, let’s have some detail,” and, you know, we just go from there. I don’t see any issues with our guys, they’re very locked into playing the right way, especially in front of our fans. They deserve that.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS DEFENSEMAN KEVIN SHATTENKIRK On winning four in a row heading into playoffs… Yeah I know I think these games can be tough and we still have one more to go we are focused on that but you know we knew they had something at stake tonight too and we just made sure we came out and continued what we are doing I think that’s the most important thing. I thought we played a pretty complete game all around. They can frustrate you with their system in the neutral zone but I think we did a good job of finally getting past that and putting pucks behind them and in the second period we wore them down.

On the approach to tomorrow’s game against a team that has nothing to play for… Well I think we do, we have a game later on in the week that we have to get ready for. So we don’t want to have any sort of bad feeling in our locker room going into our first playoff game and so we want to make sure we are approaching that like it’s a meaningful game like there’s something at stake. It can be hard at times for sure but we don’t expect those guys to just roll over and give us a win.

On if it was important to make a statement against a possible first-round matchup team… Yeah it was important you know these guys are a very good hockey team. They have guys who have been there before and won it and we want to make sure any sort of you know tone that we can set in our favor and we did that today and we did a good job of it. You know they had a couple of guys out for sure that are game changers and can make a big difference but we felt like we did what we needed to do today.

On poise, confidence and goal after overturned goal…. Well we have that ability, I think that is the most important thing. We have the ability to score goals quickly and I think you know we just approached it like the call just didn’t go our way. That’s important because that’s going to happen in the playoffs. We just have to roll with the punches, and you know I think the next line was just ready to go out there and do the same thing and we did just that.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS FORWARD MARCUS JOHANSSON On his goal in first period.… You know what I barely remember it. I think we just won the puck down low in our own end and somehow we end up getting a three on two. I don’t know what happened there but we ended up getting a 3-on-2 all the way from our own end and got it off the stick and he gave me a nice pass back and that was about it.

On playing the right way against a team who needed the points… Yeah, I think we came out with the right mentality right off the bat and we really didn’t give them much. I think it was probably a pretty frustrating game for them, they didn’t get too much. They had power plays and good looks on there but I thought we played well all over the ice for the most part of the game. There were a couple minutes there that were a little sloppy but they’re a good hockey team so it’s not going to be easy to come in here and get two points but I think we played the right way and we played for each other and I think we kept working on trying to build our game for the playoffs.

On how they will play against Florida Panthers tomorrow… I think the same way. We have to keep thinking about ourselves and get ready for the playoffs. I think we need to keep improving in some areas and we have another game tomorrow to do that and then it’s go time. So, you know, work on our game and trying to improve I think that’s the biggest part.

On scoring goal in 500th game against team he scored his first ever goal against…. Yeah it might be. That was nice, it’s always fun to score early on in the game and on the 500th well I guess it was a little nicer too, so that was fun.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS FORWARD JUSTIN WILLIAMS On whether it was important to beat a team that could be potential playoff matchup… I guess you can say that. At the same time, I don’t think your intensity you have is going to be there, as it is going to be next week. Sometimes, these are tough games to play, both games in a playoff spot, but at the same time, all these games are good to prepare yourself for next week, for the fun times, for the good times, the times we’ll enjoy when it happens. So, important win, yes, regardless of when it is.

On the interference call after his goal… I don’t know, I was in the crease a little bit, I know that. I haven’t seen a replay yet. It’s the way it is nowadays. You have a replay, you get a second look at it, and sometimes it gets overturned, so it was a good response from us, first of all, after their goal, and then after our goal.

On his reaction to laugh after the interference call… It just seems like I’m kind of in the middle of all those goalie interference calls quite a bit in the last couple years, so, I’m not going to change my game. I’m always going to try and go there, sometimes it counts, sometimes they don’t.

On whether the team was frustrated after the call… Yeah, I mean, you can’t. It was a great response from us, after their goal and after our disallowed goal, both important times of the game, and times that we’re showing a little bit of resilience and a little bit of veteran.

On affecting Boston’s playoff situation… I don’t know. As I’ve said, these games—we’ve worked hard all season. We got to where we wanted to get to this point. You want to play them well, and we’re professional, and we’re going to want to win, absolutely.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS PHILIPP GRUBAUER On his overall thoughts… Pretty good. The guys did an amazing job again today. I think we gave up too many scoring chances, a couple in the first, but other than that, the points, they don’t matter as much as it does for turning our game towards the playoffs, and I think we did an amazing job. We’ve got to finish it up tomorrow at home, and it was an 82, 81-game preseason, now the real season starts next week.

On bouncing back after adversity during the game… Yeah, we need that, especially in the playoffs. If they score, push back right away, score right away, so we put the foot down, and we don’t let teams score back into the game.

On potential opponents in the first round of the playoffs… I don’t think it matters to the guys. Everybody is focused on the game tomorrow, we’re worried about our game tomorrow, and after the game, we’ll see who we face, and either one of those couple of teams, we’ll be ready to get down there.

On his own performance… Obviously, there’s room for improvement, looking back it was a good season, but there’s always something you can do a little bit better, especially a couple games where I gave up too many goals. I think if you eliminate that and help the team out a little bit more, we’d be a little bit better, but overall, I’m happy, but also there are things that still need some work.

BOSTON BRUINS INTERIM HEAD COACH BRUCE CASSIDY PREGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY On if Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson will be making his NHL debut… Yeah, he’ll be in. He’ll play center with [Matt] Beleskey and [Drew] Stafford to start.

On why they activated him today… We wanted to see what he brings, first and foremost. As you know, our lineup is not set going into the playoffs; all 12 forward positions. I mean, it’s close, but we’re going to see if he can help us and I think the best way to do that is to get him in a game and find out.

On if Ryan Spooner is out of the lineup… No, he’ll play. He’ll play the wing with [Patrice] Bergeron and [David] Backes. [Sean] Kuraly will be out.

On if he’s moving Frank Vatrano to David Krejci and David Pastrnak’s line… He’ll start there as well. Then, it’s [Dominic] Moore, [Tim] Schaller, and [Riley] Nash. There’s some familiarity there so Schalls [Tim Schaller] is back in as well. He’s another guy – see where he’s at after missing some time with an injury, so – there’s a few people we’re looking at to see where they’re at for next week.

On if Colin Miller will be back in the lineup… Colin goes in for Torey [Krug]. He’ll play with Kevan Miller.

On if John-Michael Liles will play with Adam McQuaid… Johnny [John-Michael Liles] with [Adam] McQuaid, and then Zee [Zdeno Chara] and [Brandon] Carlo. Anton [Khudobin] in net. I think we’ve got it all now. Tuukka [Rask] is backing up. I think that’s it.

On his thoughts going into the game with a chance to secure their playoff position in the Atlantic… Yeah, we want to play well. It’s a team we may face. That’s still a possibility. We also want to move up in the standings and get the best, I guess, position possible. We want to play good hockey, it’s all those things. And win. We want to win. We’ve done a lot of that lately. We like that feeling and we want to keep that going. We still have a chance for home ice, that’s important. So, all those things go into it.

On if he’s heard anything more on Torey Krug or Noel Acciari… No, they’re out today and we’ll go from there and see where they’re at tomorrow.

On who decided to play Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson today… Well, the process first has nothing to do with me – his decision once he comes here. Then, once his immigration was cleared, basically, Don [Sweeney] said, he’s part of your roster, use him accordingly. So, that’s what we’re going to do. We want to find out what he’s got. So, it’s kind of a – I guess, a management decision first. Then, once he becomes a player on the roster, generally then it becomes the coaches’ decision with input from management. Me and Donny [] talk about our roster all the time, no matter what player it is.

On if the entry-level contract for Forsbacka Karlsson becomes a two-year contract when he plays today… Again, those are things that you would have to talk to Donny about how his contract is structured. I don’t know if his contract starts whether he plays or not, to be honest with you. It might be ticking right now whether we use him or not. So, at the end of the day, from my perspective, he’s a player on our roster that I don’t know a lot about. If he can help us going forward, I’d like to find out. Today’s a good time to find out with the [Brad] Marchand [suspension], there is a spot from a regular player, with the [Noel] Acciari injury, there’s a spot. So, now obviously, Brad will be back next week so it’s not a great comparison, but there’s an opening today in an important game, but still a game that we could get him in, and it’s a good fit.

On if there is a future in the playoffs for Ryan Spooner on the wing… It’s more out of necessity today because Forsbacka – maybe he could go to the wing, but he’s played center his whole life. So, this is his first pro game. You might as well get him in a spot he’s comfortable with. And then we’ll reassess next week. So, to answer your question, I guess there could be with Ryan. He has played the wing. I prefer him at center. I think he’s done a good job there. But, if the lineup next week gives us the best chance to win and Ryan’s on the left wing, then we’ll look at it.

#04/08/17#