BOSTON BRUINS POSTGAME QUOTES BOSTON BRUINS VS Tuesday, February 13, 2018

BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH BRUCE CASSIDY POSTGAME On if the emphasis was on scoring the first goal… Well, the emphasis is, you know, winning the first period in terms of the play. Sometimes it results in a lead, but just, you know, to make sure we set the tempo. So, it looked that way for 30 seconds, and then it kind of went the other way. I thought they were better than us, overall, in the first period, but we corrected it, and clearly I thought we were the better team for the last 40.

On his decision to swap David Pastrnak and David Backes… Stroke of genius, huh? What did I think of it? Well, it worked, so I thought we got them away from [Johnny] Gaudreau. I went with [Sean] Kuraly. It was just a gut instinct. Their line plays hard; they play honest, play straight lines. I thought, well if they’re going to beat us, they’re going to go 200 feet. I thought they got an easy goal against us, too easy for how good they are and how good we want to be defensively. Then, Backes would see the [Matthew] Tkachuk on the left wing, who is an ornery guy. So, it’s just a bit of a matchup to keep everything honest in our building, give us a little more push back, and then Pasta would slide down with [Riley] Nash and [Danton] Heinen, which is still a very effective line. So, you know, just a little tweak and a little different matchup worked tonight, and we’ll see going forward. I’m sure Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] will get his lion’s share of the top lines.

On Patrice Bergeron’s clutch moments… He’s been doing it for years, so there’s no surprise there. Good timing this year. Bergy is hot. He’s a shooter this year, and it’s finding the back of the net, so good for him. The power-play goal is something we saw in the first period on the entries; they were jamming us at the blue line, so we made a little adjustment, thought we could sneak behind them, and [Torey] Krug executed a great pass and perfect timing. So, we got in behind them and, we were able to capitalize. Like I said, Bergy, from that area of the ice, he’s lights out this year and getting rewarded for hitting the net, first of all, and putting it in a tough spot for the goalie to handle.

On Charlie McAvoy… You know, the play he made was – that’s just composure, smarts and then the ability to see the ice once you get over the blue line and force their D to commit away from the net, and all of a sudden, we finished. Well, too, obviously, [Tim] Schaller making the play to Nash. Then, moving pucks up ice, and he had to be hard against good players again tonight, too. That’s essentially what we asked our group to be after the first period; let’s just play hard, get back to competing harder, winning pucks, getting there first. If you’re not getting their first, arrive ornery, and I thought we did a good job with that.

On the penalty kill… Solid again. The first period, I think we made a little adjustment where they were getting that shot D-to-D from the right point a little too much room, so we tried to put a little more pressure. Having said that, you want to chase the puck out of Gaudreau’s hands as much as possible, so you’ve got to give up something, so not to let him be the other PP. All year, it’s been good, and tonight was no exception. We were buzzing up the ice too on those shorties, trying to put a little stress on them, as well.

On Marchand’s unsportsmanlike penalty… Well, those are the ones you want to kill for your teammates, and you also want to grab your teammate and say, let’s not take those penalties, but we took a couple tonight. That’s the type of game it was. It was physical. You could see them getting – I don’t know up where you guys are – but at ice level, I think there was frustration on both sides for parts of the game, and to me, that’s because it was a hard hockey game, and both teams are playing well and expecting to win. They’re all important, but it was great to get that one done.

On the Bruins getting back to their desired style of play… Well, we made it a lot more difficult for them to get to the front of the net. They got some looks from – they’ve got good offensive D-men. They get pucks through, and they’re heavy in front of the net, but we didn’t give them odd-man rushes. Everything they got, they earned. I thought we did a better job being a little more, sort of, belligerent, in the scoring area, getting to the for some second chances, some activity there. And managing the puck; we got it behind their D a lot better, forced some turnovers on the forecheck. So, played much more to our style of play, how we want to wear teams down and eventually get our looks.

On Riley Nash… Another solid game. He is finishing in tight. Earlier in the year, some of those weren’t going in around the top of the crease. He’s doing a real good job, quietly, doing a nice job for us, killing penalties. He was playing with Backes and Heinen, then we put him with Pasta after, so he’s always got his defensive responsibilities, and he’s always been with one young player, so we like what Riley has given us down the middle this year. He’s quietly gone about his business, become a real good third-line center. We used him as a fourth line last year, so we’ve asked a little more of him, and he’s delivered.

On if he was trying to get Pastrnak’s attention with the lineup change… I was trying to say that politely, all kidding aside. You know, because I don’t like to do it through – David and I always talk. So yeah, to a certain extent. Try to get a lot of the guy’s attention, but he’s one that – you’re going to have tough matchups come April and May. If we’re fortunate enough to be playing well and playing at that time of the year, that’s what he is going to see, and he is going to have to grow from the experience he got last year. So, there was a little bit of that, for sure. I love David’s passion for the game, his willingness to compete. We just have to remind him every once in a while how to compete and how to manage the puck, and how to best help the team.

On Pastrnak’s response to his penalty… I thought he was great. He knew he took a bad penalty. He came out of the box ready to go in the second period. He was physical; he was winning pucks. Nice play, Heinen found him, got his shot on net. He wanted to give back. Like I said, he knew he messed up, and that’s the growth you like to see. You don’t want to see a guy go pout and sit at the end of the bench and not respond. So, that’s maturity, and he responded the right way, played hard and helped us win a hockey game.

BOSTON BRUINS CENTER PATRICE BERGERON On blocking a shot and then scoring on the other end... Yeah I mean it was one of those plays where I’m just trying to make myself big and you always try to take care of the d-zone first and then you can think offense so that was my first instinct on that was try to defend the slot and the shot and get it away from danger and after that I realized that we had an odd-man rush and obviously after that we were able to sustain some pressure and eventually get the goal so that was great.

On his team bouncing back from a slow start… Yeah it was good. I thought the last 40 minutes were the way that we want to play and we got back to that obviously. We’re playing some good teams, teams are ready to play us. That’s a heavy team that’s got a lot of skills and it’s going to happen. You’re not going to dominate and be at your best all the time but you still got to make sure that you do the right thing. In the first we had a few breakdowns again but we showed good character to come back and be a lot better.

On whether there’s a correlation between his uptick in shooting and scoring more clutch goals… I don’t know, yeah I’m trying to shoot more. I’m trying to put the puck on net. Obviously when you’re in a tight game you’re trying to make a difference and trying to find a way and our line tried to make something happen. That’s what we’re on the ice for and we were fortunate enough to get the fourth one and the power play we always talk about doing the job – that was a great pass from Torey.

On whether he feels he’s on one of those runs where everything goes in the net… I’m trying not to think about it. I’m trying just to go out there play and stay focused, push myself to be better from one night to another and learn and watch video. Whenever it’s on the power play [studying] my positioning and trying to find openings and things like that. To be honest with you I’m trying to stay focused and be in the moment.

On whether he believes he’s having the best season of his career… I don’t know. It’s hard to really compare from one year to another I think. I’m going out there and I’m trying to help my team every night and trying to push myself like I mentioned and be better. I think my line mates and my teammates are pushing me to do that and I need to carry that on I guess.

On whether he’s interested in adding a Hart Trophy to his trophy cabinet… No [laughs]. It’s not something – it’s really something that I feel we’re in a team game and that’s all I’m worried about right now. It’s about staying focused, stay in the moment, it’s all about keep pushing ourselves to be a better team and nothing about the other stuff.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD DAVID PASTRNAK On embracing the chippiness in tonight’s game… Yeah, I mean, you know they have a good team, so obviously they are a very heavy team – like every other team from the West – and having said that, we won and that’s the most important thing.

On the team’s response in the second and third period… I mean, I don’t know. I think we had a really good second period and I think we were the better team in the second and that kind of lift us and we got the important goals by a couple of the guys and they helped us.

On turning this game around versus the recent game against Anaheim… I mean, you know how I said those west coast teams are always tough and they can be pretty heavy, but I don’t know, you know, we want to be better at the start but obviously we can’t be the better team every game. The first, I would say, important for us is that we had a really good 40 minutes and today was enough, but we need to focus for 60.

On how he interprets the line change in tonight’s game… I don’t know, you know, to be honest, don’t really think about it. How I said, I don’t mind playing with anyone, you know. I think I’m the kind of player, you know, I can – I don’t know the word – I can find myself to find chemistry with someone. I don’t know, I guess to be honest I don’t know. Try, want to be better, and we’ll see. I was trying to get better, you guys just want to talk to me, so.

On the uptick in intensity in the recent games… No, I mean, I don’t know. I just try to play the same like I did a week ago and trying to get better from the game side and play really well. So, I don’t really focus who am I against. Obviously, playing against the best D from the team always, but how I said, I don’t think it’s something I should focus on that, you know, I need to kind of get better and think what I will do and what will be the best for the team.

On focusing on his game rather than the opponent… Yeah, I mean like, we have a really good team I think – a good group of guys – and we kind of figured out that if we play our best game, our 60 minutes, we end up being the better team. So, I think we need to focus on ourselves, play our game, and obviously the system we are playing, it’s working, so we need to have that focus on doing that and at the end I think we are going to be winning.

BOSTON BRUINS GOALTENDER TUUKKA RASK On if this game felt like a playoff atmosphere in terms of physicality… Not really – in that way I guess, there was some scruffs in front of the net. Yeah, maybe that way.

On it feeling like a regular season game… Yeah, I don’t think the pace was that, you know, close to playoff. But, you know, whenever you got some scrums in front of the net it gives you that feeling.

On what Patrice Bergeron means to the team… Well, he’s been important for how many years he’s been here – 15 years or so. He’s a great leader, a great player. When the game’s tied, he seems to be the guy who breaks the tie and great job again.

On the penalty kill tonight… Yeah, we did a great job. We kept him in the outside, not a whole lot of rebounds there, they got a couple tips, but you know, we did a really good job on the PK. I think that’s one of the biggest reasons that we got the win today. That gave us some momentum, big kill in the second there at the end and you know, great start of the third.

BOSTON BRUINS DEFENSEMAN ZDENO CHARA On the teams getting chippy in tonight’s game… No, it was just a physical game. Obviously at this time of year, you’re going to see that more often and probably almost every game. It’s a fight; it’s a fight for every point, it’s a fight for better positions going into the playoffs. Teams playing really desperate hockey and the closer you get to the playoffs, that’s what you’re going to see probably from every team – playing very tight, checking, physical game, and yeah that’s the way it is.

On what it’s been like playing with Charlie McAvoy this season… It’s been great, you know, Charlie and I play most of the time together and anytime one of us do well, we are happy for each other, and that’s what teammates do. It’s a special bond, you know, it’s been fun and we really enjoy playing together and making each other better and it’s just great to have – not just obviously with Charlie – but the feeling we have right now on this team and in the locker room, it’s a lot of fun and it’s a great group of guys and we’re playing as a team.

On Charlie McAvoy supporting him in the defensive system… Well, that’s the system. Obviously sometimes those pucks do get through – either it’s a bouncing puck, or opposite players make some good play – but most of the time we try to obviously stop those plays before they get to that point. But, it works both ways, you know, sometimes the way we play, we try to close up the plays early, have a good gap, and sometimes the pucks get through. When they do, it’s the job of your partner or the first guy back to recover those pucks and make sure we have always guys on top of their one always.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD RILEY NASH On his increased scoring during the season… I’ve been getting to the top of the crease, I haven’t scored that many goals from there this year. The one in New York was there, just stopping in front, [David] Backes made a good play. Then tonight was one where [David] Backes made another good play and the second one was Timmy [Schaller] found a nice seam and I just had to get a stick on it and redirect it. Trying to go to the net more and more and just get greasy goals.

On playing with two linemates from competing colleges… You know we’re all loyal to our own fan bases and I got to say that Cornell was number one, they got beat the first week they were number one so hopefully they can rebound. I know Denver is good this year and I’m not sure about Minnesota State. So that will be fun come March Madness time, we’ll maybe have a couple of bucks on the line between our teams.

On if the way the game is taught in college makes some guys more prepared for the NHL… I don’t know if we’re more advanced. I mean obviously the CHL has produced some pretty good players over the years, you can’t really argue with that. I think each individual case is different, you kind of have to look at yourself and what kind of works best for your future and what you think your development will be. I think for me it was college, I was a smaller guy so I wanted a little bit more time to develop and get a little bit stronger. I think the toll that it takes on your body is a little bit less than Juniors early on so you might see guys come out of college a little bit fresher. Obviously you can’t really argue either way, there is some pretty good talent coming out of both leagues.

On scoring two more goals tonight and how comfortable he feels offensively… I don’t know, I think the last two games before this I kind of struggled for four or five periods, I think as a group we struggled in here against Buffalo so we were trying to reestablish our identity and I thought we did that in the third period against New Jersey and then we came out a little slow again tonight. But as the game went on, I thought we started to get better and better and started to impose our will on them in front of a home crowd and that’s what you want to do.

BOSTON BRUINS DEFENSEMAN CHARLIE MCAVOY On his game tonight… I think tonight I was really trying to focus on just breaking pucks out well and I wasn’t perfect by any means. They were a good forechecking team, they established their forecheck. They did a good job but I think overall there was definitely some good. The offensive stuff was something I try to do every game. I try to have good wherewithal to know when not to, when to, not to force it – that kind of fell in to my lap today. Kind of just really tried to read the play and I get that puck and wait for those guys to get onside and try to play it. It feels good to have that go my way, but like I said there is good and bad just like every game, no one is perfect. So just continue to keep taking positives and try to get better every day.

On if there was more rust than expected after coming back from surgery… It’s kind of tough because you get the rest so you feel good in that regard but – I don’t want to say you lose a step, but whenever you’re not playing and you come back you kind of have to readjust yourself so you can get to where you feel like you left off. Especially when you leave off on a good note and you come back and right away you want to pick up where you left off and it’s easier said than done. Guys comes back from injuries every day in this league and, you know, it’s definitely hard to get back in to that game pace. So I’m continuing to feel better, starting to feel good. Just going to continue to ride it, keep getting better every day, keep staying up, staying energized and just keep playing good.

On if today felt like a playoff game in regards to the physicality… They’re definitely a physical team and they established that pretty early so it kind of kept us on our toes, honestly. Coming at us hard with some hits and we sat in our locker room, ‘hey our physical guys, let’s get going here. We’re in our own rink here, let’s not get shoved around’ and kind of take more pride in that side of the game to get a response to that because that can really shift the momentum when you’re you know, playing physical and just outworking teams. So we felt the need to get that side of the game going. It did feel like a little bit of a playoff atmosphere when it’s that emotional, that high pace, back and forth, up and down chances, both sides. It felt good – it feels good to come out on top of a game like that. I’m sure as we keep going the games are going to feel more and more like that.

CALGARY FLAMES HEAD COACH GLEN GULUTZAN POSTGAME On his overall thoughts… You know, I thought we had a pretty good first [period]. I thought it was a pretty decent first, and then, you know, I thought through the next two they were better. They just had more jump, they won more battles, and, you know, for me, I thought they just played a better game through two, and if you look at it, I think the better team won.

On the power play… Well, they get one there, and then we don’t, so we had chances to go up 3-1 with the special teams. They tied it, obviously, 2-2, and then they get one on the specialty teams, so we just weren't quite good enough in both those areas tonight, and I didn't think we were getting enough five-on-five after the first.

On if he pulled goaltender David Rittich too early… No, 4-2, we didn't generate a chance in the third. Not one chance, so, 4-2, 5-2, I mean, we weren’t generating a thing. We generated nine chances on the evening, so I didn't think I pulled Ritty too early.

On the performance of his first line… You know what, I thought this was a game where your top guys had to come and play, and I thought theirs were a little bit better than ours tonight.

On if the game showed him areas where his team needs to improve… Yeah, we needed to be better. Tonight, I thought they were quicker most of the night, you know, after the first, but we always have room to grow.

On the performance of David Rittich… Yeah, I was fine with his game. He made some big saves for us. It could've got ugly. I mean, I think they had nine chances in the second period to our two, so I thought he kept us in there.

On the physical aspect of the game… I thought we were physical enough. I thought Dougie Hamilton was really physical. I thought that first goal, Hath [Garnet Hathaway] was being physical. I think we outhit them tonight. That’s probably the only thing we did.

CALGARY FLAMES DEFENSEMAN On his overall thoughts… They’re a good team, you know. The game was 2-2 going into the third, and we go either way at that point, just, I don't know. They got that one there at the start of the third period, and we just couldn't get back into it after that.

On if the team remained confident throughout the game… Yeah, I mean, I think you’re always in it. It was only 3-1, and we were trying to push, and, you know, they’re a good team, and there was some stuff — not that that’s an excuse by any means — but, you know, they’ve obviously been the best team in the league for the past two or three months, or whatever it is, for a reason, and, you know [Brad] Marchand throws that one on net, and I think it hits [Patrice] Bergeron or someone or something goes in. Those things are going to happen. You’ve got to work for your breaks, and they did, and we just kind of came up [short].

On how the team will move forward… I think that’s it. You know, it’s a long road trip for us. You know, we’ve played some good games, and we’ve played a couple games where we feel that certainly weren't up to our standards, so we’ve got to try and finish off strong. It’s obviously a tough building, conference rival for us in Nashville, and we’ve got to be ready to go.

CALGARY FLAMES DEFENSEMAN MARK GIORDANO On the biggest factor of tonight’s game… Yeah, they’re a good team. Pretty good game for us up until…a bit of a set play, and a little bit of bad luck there. They snuck behind us and we just got to be better, obviously. Special teams, we had our looks; on the power play, we had some good kills early, but at the end of the day, not good enough.

On not generating enough in the third period to counteract… You know what, they’re a good team. Their top guys are good two-way guys. I thought that we could definitely sharpen up in a lot of areas, but there were a lot of good things about tonight. We got to move on now. This is another tough loss, to be honest. Couple games now, the two that we’ve lost in a row, we feel like we could’ve gotten some points.

On why the last couple games have been tough… Tough because of the breakdown. I think 2-2 in the third, yeah, it’s a tough play. I could’ve done a way better job at reading, but at the end of the day, they made things happen. It just felt like we were going to get points and for whatever reason we didn’t.

CALGARY FLAMES GOALIE DAVID RITTICH On what you thought about tonight’s game… It’s tough to say something. I mean we played a very good game, but we didn’t do good for points. They had a couple of good chances, but I don’t know, it’s tough to say something because we lost. You know, we need every single point for the playoffs.

On how you played… I thought the first two periods were okay. In the third, bad third goal. The third period was a little bit weird.

On focusing on Nashville… I think we could think about this game until midnight and then tomorrow is a new day, a new game. We need to be prepared for that, and we need to be a little bit better in the Nashville game.

CALGARY FLAMES HEAD COACH GLEN GULUTZAN PREGAME On Mike Smith’s status… We had an MRI yesterday, and we got some really good news, actually. It’s not going to be as long or as bad as we thought. The update is, he is not going to play tonight. He wasn’t scheduled to play tonight. He is not going to play the next game in Nashville, but he is day-to-day after that. So, we got some good news here.

On David Rittich… Yeah, like I said, we kind of had this game marked as Ritty’s game on this road trip. He’s played well for us, so it’s a good chance for him tonight again, like he’s done seven, eight games for us. But, we know who we’re playing. This is the best team in the league over the last couple months, for sure, and we feel this is a real opportunity for us, and we’re going to have to be at our best tonight.

On the timing of Smith’s injury… You know what, the news comes at a good time that it’s not as serious. This game wasn’t really on his path, so he’s going to miss one in Nashville, obviously, but then day-to-day after that. Maybe, sometimes that mental rest is good, too, along with the physical stuff that he is going to heal up. Yeah, he is a workhorse, but we’re just happy with the news.

On if Smith is frustrated… No. I think everybody is pretty relieved that it wasn’t more serious.

On their preparation for tonight’s game… I sense some excitement tonight. You know what, I told them here that we have to be good in a lot of areas, right? So, usually we give the guys kind of three keys that they have to be good at in any game – the keys to success and kind of narrow things down, not make it too broad. But, today it was a broad focus. We have to be good in a lot of areas. This is a complete team, and we’ve got to play a complete game. I like our mindset right now. I like the energy; I like where they’re at. They know that they’re in for a good game tonight.

On if there are any lineup changes… Nope. No lineup changes.

#02/13/18#