BOSTON BRUINS POSTGAME QUOTES BOSTON BRUINS VS FLORIDA PANTHERS Saturday, March 30, 2019

BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH BRUCE CASSIDY On how Noel Acciari’s goal was an example of the type of goal the team needs in the postseason… Well, I mean it’s a second-effort goal, right? It’s fairly simple: keep pucks alive, go to the net, get inside. Teams tend to defend harder in the postseason, so you need more of those second-effort, second-chance goals, however, you want to sum it up. We didn’t have a lot of that tonight. I mean, I thought we had – we didn’t have a lot of puck luck, clearly, around their net. It seemed like a few were destined to go in but didn’t. They got a fortunate bounce on the first one, but at the end of the day I don’t think we did enough to overcome our poor puck luck to win the game by getting inside and making sure that we finished some plays around the net. So, that was disappointing that we weren’t able to build off what Noel’s line did to get us kind of back in the game.

On Tuukka Rask’s game over the past few contests… I don’t want to go too far back. We addressed it in Tampa. We gave up some high-end chances. We needed one more save. Were they bad goals? Absolutely not. They were all good goals. Tonight, we didn’t generate enough anyways, so it may not have mattered, but again…the third goal we needed a save on to stay in the game. We battled back from 2-0, 2-1. You could tell we didn’t have our A-game. Our execution was off, so I don’t want to stick around your question. Yeah, we needed one more save, but this was a team loss, a total team loss today, in my estimation. We just were not crisp with the puck. Another day, if we had a little more puck luck, we might squeeze a point or two or get a win, but we certainly wouldn’t walk away and say ‘boy, this was one of our better ones’, no matter how this turned out today.

On Marcus Johansson finding his game… Listen, I have to find a place for him, but by the same token we’re here to win games and until we get locked in. I think I’ve coached that way since I got here. In game, we’re making adjustments to win that particular game. We still want to build for the future, don’t get me wrong, but we have four more games for that. Like I said, I do want to finish…what’s in front of us is second place. I’d like to get there, so we want to keep that in mind but also getting our chemistry down. But no matter what, Marcus missed time. He’s not going to have a ton of time to find a line, so one or two games, yes, could help him, but I have to do what’s right by the group, as well. So, I put Pasta [David Pastrnak] up there. Their line didn’t seem to have it, Krech [David Krejci], Pasta, [Jake] DeBrusk. Maybe it’d give the team a spark. It’s worked in the past, doesn’t always work, didn’t work tonight. Marcus, I do believe at some point I have to get him in a spot, but I mean that’s part of it for him too, to know he can move around. I think our players have gone through that. We’ve done it at every – well, not goaltender – but D-pairs have switched at times, and we’ve kind of dialed into those, and now the forward lines. He’s the one guy that’s moved around a little.

On Matt Grzelcyk’s play in his first game back from injury… Rusty, didn’t execute like he usually does, so he’ll have another opportunity tomorrow to find his game.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD CHRIS WAGNER On what being given the 7th Player award means to him... A lot. I watched Blaine Lacher get it back in, like ’94, it was one of the first games I remember. So, to get the fan support like that my first year home, it really means a lot to me.

On the team’s play in today’s game... Yeah, had a couple bad breaks early, couple posts and then I don’t know if we just got frustrated or just thought it was just going to start going in but it didn’t and kind of let the game get away from us. But, you know, at least we get to play tomorrow and correct some things.

On Roberto Luongo’s game... I thought he played great today. He made some big saves in the slot – that one on Zee [Zdeno Chara] was pretty nice. Couple others. You know, he has that many wins for a reason, so good for him.

BOSTON BRUINS CENTER NOEL ACCIARI On what the team’s goals are to prepare for the playoffs… I mean, it was a playoff hockey goal just getting pucks to the net and being strong around the net and just getting ready for playoffs in that aspect.

On how more comfortable he is in a playoff situation… I think my game is built for playoffs and my line is built for playoffs – we just get pucks in deep, be strong and find them to the net and just get guys there, and that’s how playoffs are going to be.

On the team’s pace going into the playoffs… Uh, we just want to tighten up our systems and continue to play good hockey. Unfortunately, we dropped this one tonight but we’ve got to bounce back quickly because we play tomorrow night and we just got to keep getting better.

On moving on quickly from the loss tonight… Like I said, we play tomorrow night. Quick turnaround. So, got to get rest tonight and continue with our type of play.

On if they’re a team that scoreboard watches… Not necessarily. I think we focus on our shift and what we can control and just play our type of game. And I think that’s a big thing we follow in this locker room is kind of control what we can and just, next shift.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD MARCUS JOHANSSON On if he’s still trying to find his footing after missing time with an injury… No, we just didn’t play as well as we wanted to today. I think it was hard to get anything going, but Florida did a good job. We have to be better.

On how he feels his game is right now… It’s been alright. It needs to be better. First game took a little bit to get into it, but there’s no excuses today. I think we all have to play better, especially me. I think I can always speak for myself. I need to play a little bit better, and we need to try and spend more time in the offensive zone.

On if it’s hard to keep switching lines… No. No, I mean, not on this team. I think we have… the depth we have on this team. It doesn’t matter who you play with. You just have to go out and do your thing and play hard and things will fall in place.

On if there’s a big difference on playing on Bergeron’s line versus Krejci’s line… No, like I said, they’re all such good players that it doesn’t really matter. You just go out and do your thing. We worked hard today, but it didn’t really go our way. We didn’t get any bounces, and that’s the way it goes sometimes. We just have to find a way to be better tomorrow.

On if he expected to be bouncing around between lines… No, I mean, you just go out and play. I think last game we didn’t start the way we wanted to, the whole team. We worked hard today we just couldn’t really get it going, but you just have to focus on tomorrow. Put that one behind us as a team and go on and play better. You know, that’s all I can do. Focus on tomorrow and keep trying to build your game. There are games where it’s not going to go your way, and it’s not going to be easy. Today was one of those games, and we just have to put it behind us and learn from it and move on.

On the personal satisfaction he gets from the team’s point streak… No, I don’t think of the streak too much. We’re in every game. Like I said, they’re grinds every night, and it’s our job to prepare- the players. I enjoy that part of the game, but yes, it’s nice to look at yourself and where you are in the standings and take a deep breath and not be that team like – you know, I’d much rather be us right now than those team that are seven, eight, nine. That are one point in one night and one point out the next night. That’s nerve racking, so for us, like I said, we’re paid to win, and we’re doing a lot of that lately, so that’s comforting. But now I’m worried about Sidney Crosby and [Evgeni] Malkin and the next challenge.

BOSTON BRUINS GOALTENDER TUUKKA RASK On the team’s play in today’s game... Yeah, I don’t think we were bad. It’s just, you know, well the puck wasn’t bouncing our way today, definitely. I mean, it’s that’s one of the things. But, you know, I mean, yeah, it’s a loss.

On if the loss was frustrating as the team looks to secure home ice... I mean, it’s always frustrating to lose, obviously. I mean, we’ll just go game by game and whatever happens, happens. I think we just, like, all year we try to worry about where our game is and how we want to play, you know. I mean, I think we played pretty tight defensively against today and just couldn’t – the puck wasn’t bouncing our way on the other end and then, it’s a 4-1 loss. But, hopefully we’ll make this a good road trip and have some clarity of if we got the home ice or not and then, you know, finish the season and start the playoffs.

On how he’s felt about his game personally over the past few games... Past few games? Good, good. Past few months? Feel good.

On Florida’s third goal... Yeah, I had a bad read because I thought the puck might – I might have had the chance to play it, you know, and then I was just way out of the net and it was a nice move. But that’s one of those things that, one of the shots that you would like to have saved, especially on a 2-1 game on a power play, but, you know, I didn’t and that’s it. Hopefully next time I will.

FLORIDA PANTHERS HEAD COACH BOB BOUGHNER On Riley Sheahan’s line… They were huge in Ottawa and they were also big tonight obviously, a momentum line that just is heavy to play against. They really controlled the play, obviously chipped in offensively. I think the key to the game though is what he [Riley Sheahan] did in the first period, we could’ve been down 2-0 and that’s the difference. We got some big saves at the right time and it gave us a chance to get settled in this game, you get down two three nothing against Boston chances are game over so Luongo was the best player on the ice.

On Troy Brouwer’s shorthanded goal… A big momentum goal for sure and Brouwer has played great as of late- he’s adding that physical element as well, scoring a big goal the other night in Ottawa, scoring a big goal here tonight, I love the way Dryden Hunt is playing on that line- he fits that mold the big, strong, heavy on pucks and it’s a nice line this time of year especially.

On Mike Matheson’s performance… I thought that he battled hard and a lot of the guys battled hard, we could talk about x’s and o’s all we want but it comes down to intensity and playing for each other and I thought they did that. He blocked some big shots tonight, he had a tough assignment against the top line and him and Aaron Ekblad got better as the game went on. I thought and he did a great job.

On Barkov line putting up five points… Amazing, again, it’s been the storyline the second half of the season. Since Vincent Trocheck came back three games before the All-Star break we are 18-11-4, it’s easy to forget that sometimes because we’ve had a couple miserable losses in the last week but these guys are fighting until the end and it’s no surprise. I thought they would, there’s a lot of character in that room and it’s nice to see them coming together. Barkov’s line is usually carrying us on the offensive side, but you have seen some different parts of our game in the last couple games, so contributions throughout the lineup and some great goaltending. When that all comes together it’s a pretty good team and again, we lost it there in December and January but they played pretty good in the second half.

FLORIDA PANTHERS GOALTENDER ROBERTO LUONGO On the good start to this game… Yeah, I think they were throwing everything at the net in the first period. We were able to get in the game pretty early so I felt pretty good. Guys scored two big goals in the first and a shorthanded one in the second.

On if the second period goal gave them the momentum… Yeah, I think they just cut the deficit to one goal and were on the power play. So, huge momentum in turn for our club to get one shorthanded and suddenly it is back to two goals. I really never looked back after that.

On the third period… Well I thought the third period we played hard in our zone. We didn’t give them much. We were making hard plays to get the puck out. We played well and protected the lead. Like I said, they didn’t have many chances in the third at all.

On if it’s sweet to beat a time in competition for home ice advantage in the playoffs… Well, every win feels nice. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean much this time of year but you know we are all professionals in here and we play to win hockey games and it doesn’t matter what is at stake. We always want to be on the winning side.

FLORIDA PANTHERS FORWARD ALEKSANDER BARKOV On if they put forth a defensive effort that they were looking for… Yeah, I think. [Roberto Luongo] was standing on his head for a while. They were getting really good chances. Luo helped us to win the game and, I mean, overall our defense was good. When they got their chances Luo was unreal.

On his line being red hot at the end of the season… Yeah of course it doesn’t matter if you score points or not. If you don’t make playoffs it is frustrating. Of course right now we are kind of hot right now but of course we would want to play in the playoffs but it’s not this year. We just need to finish the season strong and build up for the next season.

#3/30/19#