POSTGAME QUOTES BOSTON BRUINS VS Saturday, December 8, 2018

BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH BRUCE CASSIDY On the team’s performance from top to bottom… I thought it was very good, goaltending good and early. We didn’t play as well as we wanted to coming out of the gate, gave up some good chances, which Toronto is going to get, but we got through it and got going. Our best players were very good, helped out offensively. Our power play chipped in. I thought our d-core was very efficient with the puck, a little bit, I guess the last 7-8 minutes we got on our heels a little bit too much, but for the most part it was one of our most complete games.

On the hit on Charlie McAvoy… I thought it was late. I thought it was unnecessary. If the league takes a look at it – I don’t know if they will or not, usually they do if there’s a major involved. But again, it’s one of those things where you’re at a point in the game, hasn’t been a lot of body checking from the other team and all of a sudden there’s a late unsuspecting one, and it annoys you. Especially when it’s Charlie [McAvoy] who just came back, so you’re wondering are they targeting him or not? You don’t know that. I’d like to think it was just a guy playing hard and got there late and didn’t pull up, but our guys responded well. I thought [Chris] Wagner delivered a good check to [Morgan] Rielly, open ice. He was clean with his shoulder. They want to play hard to the final whistle then we’ll certainly go right along with them.

On fighting in response to the hit on McAvoy… Well, listen, they’re real good buddies, and it just seems like every time one of those hits happen it’s our smallest guy that’s the closest guy in the vicinity, but they always go and show up, so you have to give them credit for that. I think the response from those hits come, and we’ve talked to our team about that. Listen, you just have to be hard on their skill. Not dirty, but hard, and Chris Wagner I thought had a great response. You hit a guy in open ice with his shoulder, had his head down. That usually takes a little bit of wind out of the sails if that’s how you want to finish a hockey game.

On Charlie McAvoy’s condition… I don’t know if he played, but he came back. That was the league-mandated protocol. He went and got through it. I suppose, until tomorrow comes and he wakes up, we’re all going to be a little bit on pins and needles, but he was cleared to come back

On if he left because of the NHL spotter… Yep. Yup.

On if he’d consider leaving McAvoy out of the lineup tomorrow for precautionary reasons… That’d be more Charlie’s call. He’ll wake up and determine how he’s feeling. I think we were going to do that after the Tampa game anyway to make sure everything’s good. Hopefully he wakes up feeling great and knows well, hey, I’m kind of back to myself. That would be best case scenario for us.

On David Krejci being on the first line… Yeah, he was good. I mean, obviously those are two world-class wingers. He’s a world-class center. We kind of put our eggs in one basket offensively tonight and asked some guys to check harder against certain players and put a young line together that got us a four-on-four . That helped too, JFK [Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson], good for his confidence, good when we get secondary scoring like that. That top line was terrific. Pasta [David Pastrnak] seems to get revved up against Toronto. For some reason the puck follows him, and it did again tonight.

On Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson’s hustle on the play before he scored to ultimately then get the goal… Well, we’ve asked him to use his feet to his advantage. He’s a real good skater. He’s not like blinding speed, but he gets around the ice pretty good, and he can sneak up on people. That’s it, separate, use it to close in the d-zone, separate in the neutral zone, and find some open ice in the o-zone. So, good for him. He bought in.

On Krejci passing Cam Neely on the all-time Bruins most points list tonight… I’m proud of him. I feel bad for my boss, Cam [Neely], but that’s how it goes. Lists are made to be broken, people are made to be passed, so good for Krech [David Krejci]. Who’s next? Terry O’Reilly? I bet you didn’t think I knew that, did you? He’s what 13 behind, maybe, him? Anyway, I digress. I’m happy for Krech. He’s been a great Bruin for a long time, and he keeps right on trucking.

On getting the power play goal at the point of the game that it happened… That’s how we did it up there against them. I think if you can recover pucks, they’ll get a little bit out of sorts. They kill a little bit differently with forwards being closer to the net at times and playing way out away from the net if you have movements, so we try to move around as much as possible to make them make decisions, and I think eventually Backs [David Backes] found himself open a couple of times in the high slot, and this time he had time to collect it and bury it. I’m happy for him. Listen, he’s been winning draws for us, he’s been recovering pucks on the power play. He’s done a nice job. I don’t think anybody can just go in there and replace Bergy [Patrice Bergeron], but he’s doing some of the things Bergy was doing, which was starting with the puck more. He’s occupying space in there and finding the open ice. So, like I said, I’m happy he got rewarded.

On why he kept Danton Heinen in the lineup despite his slump… It’s probably a number of things. First of all, he can always help you defensively. In that regard, as a coach, you always feel that if he’s on the ice and you have the lead you can trust him to do the right thing. Where we lost a bit with Danton this year is that when we’re behind in the past he was able to generate more, so maybe it’ll start clicking with him. That’s probably the biggest reason, and then sometimes you just look at who’s coming in. How does it affect the rest of the lineup? So, that’s part of it as well. The fact is that we want to help these younger guys get through these tougher spots. He was a good player for us last year, so we want to make sure we give him every opportunity. Will there come a time, would there have, will there be down the road? Yeah, we’ll look at it, but right now we’re trying to stick with it.

BOSTON BRUINS DEFENSEMAN MATT GRZELCYK On Charlie McAvoy being hit during the game… I actually didn’t see it at the time. Just saw it after the game, so it’s obviously something you don’t like to see especially when you kind of have a lead like that. So, just trying to stick up for my teammate there.

On how nice it was to see the offense come through the way it did and put up a lot of goals that have recently been hard to come by… Yeah, it’s obviously, you know, been pretty frustrating. I’ve played pretty well defensively for the most part over the last month but it’s no secret the offense hasn’t really come and it’s a team that we’ve played well against especially in our own building and [it] gave us a little bit of confidence going into the game, and I thought we started pretty well and we were able to get better as the game went on, so that was huge for us and hopefully we can keep that going tomorrow and future games next week.

On if there’s a need for criticism about an unprepared team to be addressed right away… No, I mean, I think we try not to listen to that too much. I think we have kind of a lot of guys who are willing to do that in the locker room. I think that’s really a secret for us, and you know, it might be certain people most nights, but you know, I think we have a really tight group. That’s why we had so much success last year and I think that’s going to carry us a long way, so we definitely need to have more of that going forward.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD DAVID BACKES On the hit on Charlie… Obviously, we took exception to it. I find that we’re at a state of kind of flux with no instigator, the tough guys kind of being out of the game. I think there’s typically a tough guy on each team that kind of plays their own team even more than other teams because if shenanigans go down now he’s got to face…or a tough guy goes after the offender. You know, Griz [Matt Grzelcyk] stands up for our teammate and rightfully so and does a heck of a job. Tip your cap to him. But, you know, hopefully Charlie is okay. And there are exceptions like that, in a game solely in hand, you need to stick up for your guys and I think we made a little bit of a statement after that. But, in the old days, they made you yearn for you a bit at least from my perspective on the bench.

On other teams taking liberties on the Bruins given the number of injuries… I think that’s more a league-wide type of epidemic of what’s your penitence for that…supplemental discipline perfect on those types of…you know, cracking down and getting all of the guys that are taking liberties. You know, if it’s late and it’s high, if it’s an injury-cause, suspension, suspension, suspension. Maybe that tones it down a bit, but maybe the benefit outweighs the drawback of…you know, gets a suspension when Charlie McAvoy was terribly injured on the play. I mean that’s a good trade for them in the long run, I don’t know. But you know, we need to protect our guys and I think we did a decent job and sent a physical message back.

On an overall lack of respect from their players… Yeah, I think that’s part of it. I mean even Kadri today, who I’ve had an exception with in the past. He had a chance to hit me hard. He hit me through the body and it stopped me from where I needed to go and we both moved on with our lives. I don’t know that he’s like that every time, but I thought it was a respectful hit and we both move on and he accomplished his task and I was stopped on the play. And I think you can play hard without taking guys’ heads off and that’s where we need to get back to. We’re in a place, we’re in an environment where supplemental discipline is daddy-cop around here. You get your licks at times and you get the right match up to get your ounce of blood back, but that’s not always the case and so we live with it.

On your goal… Yeah, it was maybe redemption for the one before that we’ve been working on where I pop out into Bergy’s [Patrice Bergeron] spot and get a good shot off, and it’s the one you’re looking for all week and all of a sudden it’s right there and you get a little anxious and you shoot too quick, get off the toe and it was a pop up to the short stop and he was picking cherries on that one. Tried to redeem myself not too long after coming out of the other side after a ton of scrambles…I don’t know how we didn’t score before off some of those shots and then got a look and then got the pass and shoot as quick as you can and find a hole. You know, you got guys like Pastrnak who causes havoc. Not necessarily his MO, but for him doing that, he needs some credit.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD DANTON HEINEN On how it felt to score the last goal of the game… It was nice. You know, Donny [Ryan Donato] made a good play on the wall there and I was lucky enough to get through and it was nice to see that.

On how it felt to be on the same line as Ryan Donato and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson… It’s nice, there are a lot of young guys and you want to be guys that are trusted on by the coach and they had a lot of good lines over there too, so you’re getting a tough match up with either line, and I think that’s what you want, you want to be playing against good players. I thought we were alright tonight and I think we can build on it.

On if his shot hitting the post early in the game got him down… I’d be lying if I didn’t think that. So, I mean as long as you’re getting looks, you’re going to the net, and I kind of knew it would eventually come so it was nice.

BOSTON BRUINS DEFENSEMAN TOREY KRUG On what the team is feeling after tonight’s game coming off a three-game losing streak… I think it’s a game we’re obviously really excited about. It’s a Saturday night in our building against a division rival, a team that we know we can skate with and play well, do a good job against their skills. So I think coming away with a win it’s exciting to see the way the guys responded after three games not playing exactly the way we wanted, but I think we’ve played two decent periods in Tampa and we kind of carried that over and we did a good job. Especially when guys are sticking up for each other you get excited about that, but it’s one of those wins that can bring a group together.

On the hit on Charlie McAvoy… I didn’t see it. I haven’t seen it yet. I didn’t see it live. I haven’t seen it replayed, so I just know our bench was not really happy about it, so we’ll see I guess.

On Toronto going after a player who just came back from a concussion… Yeah, I mean that… I think [Zach] Hyman was playing tough on him all night. I noticed a couple plays, you know, behind the play there was a couple moments where maybe getting up a little bit high on him, but that’s part of the game. Charlie’s a big boy and he’s going to make his plays, and obviously when he has a chance to finish on them he’s going to do that as well, so I thought we did a good job of responding after that, you know, going hard against their skill. Obviously, Wags [Chris Wagner] came through, and you know, hits their top moving defenseman as well, so you know, it’s a tough part about the game. You know, especially going back on pucks, trying to break pucks out as a defenseman you never want to take an ugly hit, but obviously, you know, hope Charlie is okay.

On how nice it was to get contributions from different parts of the lineup… Yeah, it’s important. You know, it’s been the same old story for a long time that, you know, certain guys are carrying the weight offensively and carrying the team, so you know, to get it from other guys is nice to see and nice to see them get rewarded because we’ve been battling for a while now and talking about getting on the inside of the opposition and we were able to capitalize tonight.

On timing and whether he feels they have that now… A little bit, yeah. It’s been a work in progress. Still trying to continue to make sure I was on my game, especially that all-around game, and you know, at times, feel really good about it. Play, you know, probably 50 minutes, 55 minutes of good hockey. You know, for me personally probably playing 23 minutes. I play 21, 22 minutes of really good hockey and then I slip up and all of a sudden there’s a puck in the back of my net, so you know, I’ve got to do a good job of making sure I’m contributing the whole 60 minutes, and every shift I’m on the ice against good players, so it’s starting to come around. It’s still not there yet. You’re always trying to be perfect knowing that you’re never going to get there we’re going to continue to work towards that perfection and we’ll see where it goes.

On whether he feels they ramped up the physicality today… Yeah, that’s how we were going to win tonight. If we didn’t have that edge I don’t think, you know, their skill starts to feel a little bit more comfortable out there on the ice. More time and more space and they’re making plays, so we had that edge and I think it brought a lot to the table, and you know, you look at our lineup and that’s what we’re doing right now, so a lot of guys in there that bring that component to the game. If they’re not doing that then I don’t know what else they’re doing, so you know, we’re bringing it to the table and we need that to win.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD DAVID KREJCI On his thoughts on the production from everyone throughout the lineup… Yeah it was a great effort by everyone, we knew we had a tough road trip in Florida. We lost back-to-back games, it’s never fun. We responded really well. We talked about lots of things this morning. We played how we drew it up today.

On centering David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand… It’s obviously fun, those guys are two of the best players in the league. I was just trying to keep up.

On playing with those guys for a full game rather than for bits-and-pieces… It is a little bit different when you get thrown out there in the middle of second or third but start on that line, you kind of prepare yourself to play with those two. I thought we had a pretty decent game. We will enjoy the win, get some rest tonight, tomorrow morning and we’ll get back there tomorrow.

On Toronto’s struggles in Boston… We also have a tough time in their building, it is one of those things. We made sure that we weren’t going to lose another game—especially after this road trip—everyone played well, everyone contributed in their own way. Fights, blocking shots, making good plays, good breakouts, contributing defensively—good effort by everyone tonight. And good saves too. BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD BRAD MARCHAND On the hit on Charlie McAvoy… Yeah tough to see a hit like that on him. I didn’t see it, I didn’t even see a replay of it. From what I heard it was a tough hit and we were just getting Chuckie [McAvoy] back, he’s such a good player for our team luckily, he’s feeling alright I think.

On how important it is for the best players to be their best players with all the injuries… You have to win by committee and that’s what we did tonight. It was great to see JFK [Jakub Forsbacka Karlsson] get one early and get us going. Heino [Danton Heinen] had a great game tonight, had a phenomenal goal. We need everyone to produce at different times, so yeah it was a fun night.

On playing with David Krejci and whether it helped to start with him rather than later in the game… Yeah it helped, even having a practice with him this morning. We weren’t very good but it’s good to get a little bit of chemistry, at least read off each other a little bit. I thought we had some good shifts and we had some others where you could tell we hadn’t played together a ton. It’s something we’ll continue to work on, but it worked well tonight.

On putting a big number up on the scoreboard… It’s been frustrating because we’ve been playing pretty good hockey and we’ve been getting a lot of opportunities but just a lot of posts or just an inch to the left an inch to the right. It kind of seemed like everything was bouncing our way last year and early on here we haven’t had the best of puck luck. So, this is sometimes what you need to find that offensive game, but it still felt good to get one and now we’ve got to try to follow it up.

On the team showing toughness tonight… Yeah, again, when you’re going to go after one of our star players in a game like that 6-1, he was pissed off because Chucky [Charlie McAvoy] hit [Mitchell] Marner early in the game and he was trying to get a little retribution, but we’re a family here and we stick up for one another. Grizzy [Matt Grzelcyk] did a great job jumping in there and Wags [Chris Wagner] did a phenomenal job stepping up and following up the next shift, so it could have gone a lot worse out there than it was.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD CHRIS WAGNER On his hit on Morgan Reilly in the third period… He was the one with the puck so you can’t really cheap-shot someone, I thought it was a pretty clean hit for the most part, stayed on my feet. When something like that happens to Charlie [McAvoy] you want to respond in the correct way.

On the bench’s reaction to the hit on Charlie McAvoy… It was pretty late, I didn’t see it personally. I don’t think a lot of guys saw it. I think we saw the replay and I don’t think we liked it too much. It is a part of the game, it’s going to happen, especially in a rivalry like that. Stuff happens.

On whether he’s going to need a new nose by the end of the year… I’m like 3-for-3 in my last three home games with stitches. I don’t know what’s going on [laughs].

On the game and the intensity they competed with… They come out strong most of the time, I think we kind of were sitting back on our heels in the first five and we kind of took over from there and started making better decisions with the puck and it paid off in the end.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS HEAD COACH MIKE BABCOCK On recent performance… I actually thought we started really good here tonight. We came out, we were on top of them, gave up a four on four goal, I didn’t think we were very good or competitive in the second period and obviously the second period did us in. It’s disappointing, I thought we were going to come in here and play real well especially after the night at home. We are going to have to get ourselves regrouped, we just had a real good run where we got five wins. Now we got to regroup, every once in a while, you get fed your lunch and today was one of those days. Get yourself regrouped and get back at her we got a day off tomorrow, good practice day and play Carolina.

On regrouping… You would like to win every game on the schedule, but you and I both know we’ve been around long enough, you don’t do that. You want your ups to be longer than your downs and sometimes we don’t play as good, it’s a good message- team, you got to be a lot better. I think we got to be a lot more competitive than we were in the last two nights. It’s great that we had a good little run there and now we got to regroup and have another one.

On performance as a team… Just what I talked about, I think you can look at our whole group- I didn’t think we were good enough. The thing about hockey, you’re all in it together and some nights lines pick you up and other guys may not have as good a night. Tonight, we didn’t have anyone else to pick us up.

On Nazem Kadri’s fight… Well I mean obviously there was some hits in tonight’s game that could have been called. I thought our guys stood up well for themselves and obviously we get these guys a couple more times this year if I’m not mistaken so it should be fun.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS FORWARD JOHN TAVARES On if the team just has to learn and move on… Yeah, I mean, it’s got to piss you off. Definitely not a fun one to be a part of and we didn’t get the result we needed in a big divisional game. So, you know, definitely learn from it and obviously we have to add a little more bite to our game, a little better execution, and you know, it should like I said, piss us off and get ready for next week.

On if it’s frustrating when teams are limiting time and space… Yeah, sometimes you just have to be patient and you know, good teams with good structure won’t give you the middle of the ice very much and they clog up the neutral zone and you know, have a good counter zone. You just have to be patient and play them hard and give them any easy odd man rushes or any time and space, especially with some of the weapons that they have. We just didn’t do a good enough job of that.

On why they’re not looking themselves lately… You know, sometimes the game doesn’t come as easy as it does or some little details just have to be a little bit sharper. I think it’s just understanding and doing a lot of the little things and being in the right spot and making the game easier for each other so we’re playing together as a five-man unit. Good puck support, we’re getting pucks to the net, drawing penalties, playing in the right zone and generating momentum that way. At times I think we just have to execute a little better and like I said, just be patient, we can’t force plays or try to win the game early or in a couple shifts. It’s a 60-minute game and we’re playing a lot of good hockey teams – they’re going to find ways to make some plays and try to generate some momentum so we have to defend well and get our game going.

On having 11 goals against in the last two games… You know, I mean, we talk about obviously the importance of defending. Especially against a team like Boston, they have the weapons that they have. I think it’s just going out there and executing. We’re obviously playing against some good hockey players, some good lines, some good teams and you know, it’s difficult doing it over 82 games. You know, there is adversity you face and at times when your game doesn’t feel as sharp or you don’t feel as sharp, you have to find a way to overcome that, build some momentum and dig in and do what we need to get a result or you know, obviously play a good hockey game. So, I think we know, obviously, the ability that we have to make plays and put the puck in the net and it’s just important that we don’t forget why we get those chances – from doing the right things and working hard and playing our system and as a team.

On if he felt it would be an intense game right from the beginning… It’s obviously a really good rivalry and it’s had a lot of history lately. It’s also my first year obviously being a part of it so you know, it’s fun to be a part of those games. There were some questionable things out there, it is what it is, we just move on and be ready for next week.

On how important this divisional road trip is… It’s crucial. You know, it’s a long season, there’s a lot of hockey left, but they’re all just as valuable, no matter when they come at any point in the season. So, you know, we just have to find a way to get back on track and get back to work and I know we’ll get a lot better.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS FORWARD AUSTON MATTHEWS On how well Boston played tonight… Yeah, early on they did a good job. I think we kind of weathered the storm, you go in to the second period one-zero on the road, it’s not the worst position to be in and then we just started taking penalties. They started out-working us big time, we weren’t able to climb out of a hole that we dug ourselves.

On if it’s frustrating playing in a game that physical… Yeah, I mean that’s hockey and it’s our job to respond to that. You know, obviously they made a push back and we didn’t respond. When it’s 6-1, I mean, it’s a tough hole to climb out of when it’s in the third period, so, I thought the way we kind of did battle back in the third, at that point it’s too late.

On if he was surprised to see three fights on behalf of Toronto… Not really, I mean it’s a rivalry game, it’s good to be physical. I thought it was a good fight by Naz (Nazem Kadri) to kind of give us a wake-up call on the bench and get everybody going. Like I said, we dug ourselves a hole that we couldn’t climb out of.

On goalie Frederick Anderson being only human… Yeah, we can’t count on him every game. He’s been the MVP of this team all year so you’re going to have your off night every once in a while, and for him that was obviously tonight. But we got to do a better job for him too. So I’m sure there are a couple goals that he wants back but at the same time, I mean, we’re giving up three-on-ones and two-on-ones. These – they’re getting around our net and getting free whacks at him, that’s on us too.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS FORWARD NAZEM KADRI On physicality during game… I don’t feel at all as if we got pushed around or anything. They just capitalized on their opportunities and we fell behind early. Obviously that second period was a little tough just with all the kill sorts, kind of threw the rhythm off a little bit with the line changes. There’s not much you can do.

On questionable hits… It looked that way from the bench especially on that last hit. That’s the video they show us at the beginning of the year of what not to do in my opinion. It’s in the leagues hands now and I’m sure they are going to look at it.

On playing against the Bruins… I think they just come out hard and this is a tough building to win in, let alone come from behind by a couple goals. They take advantage of the atmosphere playing at home. Certainly, got the better of us tonight.

On rhythm… Obviously for guys that don’t kill penalties they’re kind of sitting on the bench for a little while. I just felt like I took a cross check right before that incident, I took a couple before and I just had enough. Tried to generate a spark to get the guys going, all in all I think it was a good fight.

On offensive struggles… Coming from behind the eight ball is always tough to do especially on the road, we got to take advantage of our chances. Hopefully get that first goal- I think that’s really important just being on our toes, we’ve been prepared to start games we just for some reason haven’t been able to capitalize so were going to look for that next game.

#12/08/18#