BOSTON BRUINS QUOTES Boston Bruins vs. Saturday, December 7, 2019

BOSTON BRUINS On how much of the win was on Colorado… It worked both ways here. I think Colorado is an excellent hockey team, full value for the win. Snapped pucks around, played to their strength, a lot of pace, their defense really move the puck well, they attack, work to get inside, really worked hard to keep the puck out of their net late in the game when it mattered. I think that’s where their growth of their team would be, I guess, now, where they’ve probably taken a step to the playoffs, understanding what it takes. I give them a lot of credit there. For us, lack of urgency. We talked about it the other night, again tonight, some of that definitely in our game early on. If we’re on our toes, I think we’re cleaner. I’m not going to say that we’re not going to execute from time to time, but it’s been an issue for us I think. Some of the unforced errors — I just look at the play, Grizz [Matt Grzelcyk] takes a hit, [Danton] Heinen goes back with the puck. If we’re playing the right way, we’re in and out of our end. We’re gone. We go back with it and all of a sudden, we win a faceoff to start a period, we ice it instead of making a play. Now we’re in our end and there’s just a lot of details that are working us against us now and we’ve just got to wake up, and start playing to our abilities in those situations. And live with the result. Doesn’t mean we’re going to win, but I think we’re leaving plays on the table because our lack of urgency or understanding that teams are coming after us. And they’re good teams. Now, we got away with it for a while here, good for us, right? It’s a results-oriented business. But against the better teams, I think at some point, they will close out games. Tonight, great example of that.

On if he was surprised by the lack of urgency… Yes, we kind of talked about it. Felt a little more excitement in the room tonight. I thought we’d be better. But it’s not a switch, I don’t care. We have one of the best records in the league, but I don’t care, it’s not a switch you can just turn on. There’s too much parity in this league, and you’re playing one of what I think is one of the elite teams out west as well. Especially now, they’re getting guys healthier on that top line. I thought we would come out a little cleaner than we did.

On the Sean Kuraly line being underwater against its competition… I don’t know if I agree with that. I mean, they scored a with them on the ice, right? I don’t look at the Corsi necessarily. What was underwater, sorry, I haven’t had a chance to look at it. I’m looking at, are they around our net, are they spending the whole time in our end, have they scored, have we not scored, is that on the D, is that on the forwards. I actually thought Kuraly’s line did a nice job. That’s as tough of an assignment as you’re going to get in this league, and we’re able to score a goal, go to the net, play in their end a little bit. I thought they did fine. Some it was their D joined the rush very well with them, and we didn’t hold the blue line, so some of that is a five-man group. I’ll look at closer; I don’t want to argue with you about it. I just thought, in my mind, the task they were handed tonight, I thought they were fine. Sometimes you go to the video and say, you know what, they were a little – too many opportunities, and they weren’t as good as you think, and sometimes it’s the opposite. You go through it and you think some of your offensive guys didn’t generate much, so you get out there and it’s like, wow they were around the net a lot there, just weren’t able to finish, so maybe that’s the case.

On how much of a factor Colorado’s speed played in the game… Well, early on it was. And we knew it, they’re good at that. They do this to a lot of different teams. They just went into Toronto, good offensive team, one goal against; Montreal, good offensive team, one goal against; the Bruins, a good offensive team, one goal against. This isn’t like dumb luck. They know what they’re doing, and some of it is the fact that they’re a good puck possession team. They can get in and out of their end, right? That’s one way to beat a good offensive team, is put them on their heels and force them to play defense. They did that to us very well.

COLORADO AVALANCHE HEAD COACH JARED BEDNAR On how Colorado delivered Boston their first regulation loss... I liked their game a lot tonight. I thought we were skating, forecheck was rolling early. It was a tight checking game, but it had a really good pace to it, I thought both teams were pretty disciplined. Then we ended up making a couple plays. We lost Grubauer shortly into the game, Frank [Francouz], who came in did a great job. We lost Makar for a while at the end of the game, so with a short bench there, I thought our D did a nice job. Lots of sacrifice too, especially at the end on the penalty kill on the 5-vs-6 and 4-vs-6. Guys getting in front of shots and blocking shots, real good commitment there.

On if this was Colorado’s best game of the year defensively... Yeah, I mean, it’s hard to just pick one or two out, but this is definitely... we played the right way tonight. We got guys above the puck all night, guys were skating and tracking. I thought for part of the Montreal game it looked very similar to that even though I didn’t like our third. It was a lot of good things, good habits, good details, especially on the defensive side of things for sure.

On Zadorov’s performance, tonight... Yeah, I thought he was outstanding tonight. He’s been really good now for a handful of games in a row, really taking a lot of pride in his assignment. You know, we played a game against our opponents best here recently, and he’s been doing a real nice job, physical but not taking any penalties. He’s a hard guy to beat when he can skate; he’s a big body. He’s been playing real well, as good as I’ve seen him play.

On an injury update on Makar and Grubauer… I don’t know yet. I’ll know more probably in a couple days.

On how intense it was going into a 6-vs-4 at a critical part of the game... It’s scary because you look at their power play and some of the weapons they have, and the patience and poise they have to move the puck. They’re really in sync with their special teams and power play especially. So, when you’re dropping down to four guys, and they’re getting six, it makes it even tougher. But like I said, the guys did a nice job of getting in some shooting range, we got saves when we needed to, we got lucky with a couple of this and that so a good all-around effort for sure.

On how important it is to win games when you’re down two of your best players... It’s important, we need everybody, and we’ve been like that all year. We get a lot of injuries and we’ve had other guys step up and elevate their games which you need.