POSTGAME QUOTES BOSTON BRUINS VS Saturday, April 7, 2018

BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH BRUCE CASSIDY POSTGAME On when the Hurricanes scored in … No, me and Joe [Sacco] and Kevin [Dean] and Goalie Bob [Bob Essensa], we were in there watching. I think they had a breakaway right before that, [Jordan] Staal. Opportunity for us, hopefully we’re up to the task. I’m sure the guys will be excited tomorrow.

On if he would have thought the team would be in this situation… I would not have thought that. Let’s face it, we were trying to find our own game and get to where we thought we were at the start of the year, which was definitely a playoff team. We just didn’t know where we would fit, and the way Tampa got out of the gate, and Toronto for that matter, it was going to be an uphill battle, but here we are. We’re in a position to take it, and that’s a credit to the guys. We’ve worked hard to get here. This wasn’t by accident. We didn’t back in, I don’t think. Tampa, they beat us the other night in their building, and they deserved to win that game, and we thought, well it might be a little tougher, but here we are.

On which goalie will start tomorrow… Tuukka [Rask] goes tomorrow.

On if the power-play energized them… Yeah, and I think it got those guys going. They needed something good to happen; they were frustrated after the first period. When you’re a skill player and you don’t get on the sheet or you’re not getting on there regular, you get frustrated. That’s what all the good ones do. We’ve seen it from Sidney Crosby, Mario [Lemieux], Wayne Gretzky, you can go right down the list. So, it was good to get us going, and it was a nice goal, too, and a goal they’ve scored in the past. So, it was a credit to them to make a nice play, and after that, I thought that [Noel] Acciari line did a real good job. It was a good game for them. Right type of hockey for them to excel, and they did.

On if they had a conversation about urgency during the second intermission… No, I had a conversation with Bergy’s [] line just a bit about the way they were – their spacing was off. When they start supporting one another, those little quick passes and the cuts and the drops and the tight turns, and they’re all – they can dominate teams. So, they’ve been getting away from that a bit so. No, we didn’t talk about – just about playing the right way and getting out there and getting it done. We generally find our legs. That’s the good news. I didn’t like our start. We do have to work to correct that, but I think our group is confident to know they can overcome that, so that’s part of it.

On how important the fourth line will be in the playoffs… Well, I mean, I think every good team, that’s the story eventually. Yes, your best players need to be your best players; your goalie needs to do his thing. But, usually there’s a line out there that’s a gritty line, and we saw it last year for us. We used different guys because of injuries, but [Sean] Kuraly was a good story with [David] Backes and Acciari or sometimes it was [Riley] Nash there, [Tim] Schaller. We moved different people around, but, I mean, it matters in those games when the other team’s big line can’t, kind of, cancel out because every team has a top D pair, then you need it from somewhere. That’s secondary scoring. So, that was the conversation to the group between periods, to go back to your question. Not, about urgency, about secondary scoring, support scoring. Can’t be three, four guys every night or just the power play, and I think the guys took it to heart.

On the five-man attack… Well, I liked it. The goal we did give up, our D hung on to it and got caught a couple times tonight. So, there’s always going to be that balance you want to have, but I thought we were doing a better job of being part of it, getting up the ice then the offensive blue line, trying to keep pucks alive and making plays. That’s when we were the most dangerous earlier this year, and we’d like to get back to that. I know some of it – Charlie [McAvoy] was very good at it; he’s been out, and Zee’s [Zdeno Chara] got that from the , so he’s always been a contributor in that area. So, missing some pieces didn’t make it as easy, but hopefully they’ve developed that mindset tonight and got a little bit more confident in that part of it.

On Anton Khudobin’s big stops… He did. He really did the start of the second period. He’s getting beaten on that blocker side a little bit lately, so it was good to see him make a – power play, made a big save, the two on one. And listen, when goalies make saves, the crowd’s into it; it energizes everybody. Guys feel like, well, the goalie just picked me up, I’m going to go out there and score some goals for him, and that’s just how it works. I thought their guy was very good in the first period as well, and eventually we got to him. That’s what you need to win.

On how David Pastrnak has handled this season after signing a big contract… I think he’s handled it well. He’s thought of as a scorer, and if he hasn’t had a career year, he’s been very close. I think he’s much stronger on the puck, so the maturity part of his game is there. He doesn’t – I think his consistency from night in, night out has been better, not as streaky. His wall work has been better because he’s stronger. I think he’s handled it very well. He’s playing in a good spot; it’s a good line, but he’s done his part, so kudos to him.

On tomorrow’s game… Well, there’s pressure, obviously, to win. You want that number one seed, but when you have pressure, and you have expectation, what does that tell you? It means you’re good, so you’ve got to be able to handle it. That’s, I think, as a professional athlete, you want that, where there is an expectation. We’ve raised that throughout the year, going back to [the other] question. November, I don’t think it was there. It was like, let’s get in; let’s play well, see where we can go. Now, well what have we got here? Where we can have home ice throughout the whole playoffs; we’re a very good home team. However, it turns out tomorrow, there’s no easy team in the NHL playoffs, I don’t believe. Nashville proved that last year; Ottawa proved that. I mean, everybody that gets in is a good hockey club. So, it’s not about who you play, it’s just about the honor of being Eastern Conference champions and Atlantic Division champions and having that number one seed. I think it gives you some confidence.

On how gratifying it is seeing the plan of implementing rookies come to fruition… Well, it’s gratifying when we all went out there and said it. We lived by our words when it came to that. We left – I think, this summer, Donnie [Sweeney] signed some depth players, but we allowed competition and hoped it would bubble up and there would be some young players. We’ve seen it with [Jake] DeBrusk, [Danton] Heinen, [Anders] Bjork unfortunately got injured, Charlie I think we had a pretty good idea, but Grizz [Matt Grzelcyk] – we’ve allowed players to go out there. [Peter] Cehlarik was here. The competition, that’s the way, hopefully, it will be going forward. Now, I don’t think we can incorporate as many young guys as we did this year every year; it just wouldn’t work. But, this year was the year we decided that – especially the way last year finished, and there were some casualties. Frank Vatrano was a young guy, but some guys passed him, so that’s the way it works out. That’s what we’d like to have, and hopefully we’re better off for it next year. I think we’re better off for it this year, so, so far so good. But, let’s see how they do in the playoffs, too. That’s a different animal, and that’s right around the corner.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD DANTON HEINEN On how he feels about his game going into the playoffs… I haven’t felt bad. I think the last week or so, or couple of weeks, compared to a little bit before that, I felt a little bit better. There are definitely some areas I have to clean up. Tomorrow we are going to try to get the win and go for that top spot, but I think we will try to clean up everything. Personally, I think I have to stiffen things up on the walls and be strong on the puck. That’s kind of what I am focusing on.

On if he is preparing himself for the physicality of the playoffs… Yeah, I think so. It’s tough to fully prepare. Everyone says that you don’t know what it’s like until you do it. Looking to jump with both feet in there and I’m ready to get it going.

On how he prepares mentally for injuries… Injuries are a part of the game and you bounce back, get after that. We’ve seen it all year; guys going down and young guys and older guys stepping-up and filling-in roles. I think that it just comes with the game and you just have to try to push through that.

BOSTON BRUINS DEFENSEMAN ZDENO CHARA On the young players’ performance... I mean, it’s a process and you know, it’s something that we are very satisfied to have – the wave of a young generation coming in. We start implementing these young players last year and this season into the lineup and giving them the opportunities and chances to excel and make things happen and encourage them to play. It’s a great thing for this organization and obviously for the future of this team, so yeah, I mean it’s nice to see and obviously credit to the guys; they work really hard to get those chances and opportunities.

On knowing the team has something on the line in tomorrow’s game... We want to still improve on different things of the game. We know that we have obviously hard hockey in front of us. It’s playoff hockey; it’s a grind. It’s going to be tight. So, we want to continue to play well. It’s an important game just like any other game. We have to approach it that way no matter what the other situations around the league are and we’re going to have to focus on what we want to do and how we want to play.

On playing Game 82 with their fate in their own hands... Yeah, I mean, just like I say, there’s always to play for something. That’s what’s great about this game. No matter if it’s Game 1 or Game 82, you still have to prove yourself and to the team, to the fans. You want to continue to show that when you put the jersey on it’s game-time and it’s a lot of pride. You don’t want to make that last game something that just you want to go through without any emotions or the right approach. So, we know it’s a big game for us and I’m sure nobody is going to lay down in front of us.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD DAVID PASTRNAK On game 82 meaning something tomorrow night… Yeah you know it’s huge. It’s a good sign that it’s in our hands you know and we want to be first in our conference and it’s a big game for us. We’ve worked for it the whole season so I think it’s well deserved and it’s good that it’s in our hands.

On the Bruins playing either New Jersey or Toronto depending on how they finish… No we don’t care, we focus on ourselves. We’ve played both of those teams all season long so for us if we want to win, we need to go through everybody and for us we want to play our best and focus on ourselves.

On matching his career high in goals tonight… I don’t know what that means to me. Later I’ll probably think about it but right now it’s just another goal.

On the team needing a spark after the first period… Yeah you know I think it was a big game for us. We want to get a better feeling about ourselves after the last couple games where we didn’t play that well and it’s a good comeback and a big win for us and it’s great to have it in our hands.

On the power play being where he can energize the team… Yeah you know it’s a huge advantage, especially in these types of games where you need to score and you know obviously we can’t score every power play but when you don’t score I think you should at least create some momentum and that’s what we go and do with the power play.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD PATRICE BERGERON On whether he sets a goal of trying to win the conference… No I don’t really put any thoughts into that. It’s definitely great to see a great accomplishment by everyone. Hopefully there’s more to come.

On controlling their destiny for the top-seed in the Eastern Conference… Yeah that’s why you play the game, you want to play to win and to be at your best. We’re in a position to win our conference. It’s a big feat - obviously – home-ice we talk about how big it is. Why not? We’re right there and obviously I talked about how you finish going into the playoffs. It’s definitely all about tomorrow playing the right way and feeling good about our game.

On it being a wide-open game tonight and attempting to tighten the game… I think going back to playing the right way. First period was too many breakdowns for our liking, we weren’t really taking care of the puck offensively. We made some poor decisions with the puck, as soon as you go back to playing the right way and making the right read, the right decision, things started opening up. I think the other teams are backing off and that’s what we saw. From there we can start scoring some goals and play well offensively. I think that’s how I saw it – we started playing better.

On how power play success energizes the team and how it can help the team in the playoffs… You talk often about special teams that’s really important for us, for our team, it’s been good for a while now. It’s something important if we keep playing the right way. It’s about not forcing plays when we do that, we keep things simple, good things happen. On the kill it’s the same thing get the pucks out as much as possible and try to block as many shots as you can.

On the different ways his team has closed out games and how that can help them close out the season the right way… We’ve shown character all year and we’ve played the right way most of the year so I think that’s what you have to bring whether it’s tomorrow or next Thursday. That’s the approach that you need to have, that’s what winning hockey is all about and that’s what we are all about. Playing the right way throughout the game but also finishing well, finishing smart, taking care of the puck. Every time you have an opportunity to get it out especially the blue lines – or get it in – is something we’ve talked about many times

On whether he’d like to play Toronto or New Jersey in the playoffs… To be honest it was so wide-open for the last five, six games – we didn’t know even your saying Jersey it could’ve been so many other – now I guess it’s getting narrowed down, we were thinking about Philly it could’ve been many other teams so that being said we haven’t really put much thought into it. We’re trying to play the same way we’ve been playing which is worry about what we can bring, worrying about playing our game, our system. Monday we can start worrying about who we’re playing.

BOSTON BRUINS GOALTENDER ANTON KHUDOBIN On game 82 meaning something tomorrow night… That’s interesting you know. You’re pretty much battling the whole year to make the playoffs and game 82 that matters and it’s really interesting. Sometimes you’re making the playoffs like we did, a little bit early but at the same time it’s a really important game, that last game.

OTTAWA SENATORS HEAD COACH GUY BOUCHER On tonight’s performance… This is as tough as it gets to finish a year. Yesterday, we got at home and the game means everything. And as you know, we got a lot of young guys and some big names missing, and it could have been easy yesterday or today to come up with a poor effort or a lack of commitment, but it was the opposite. Today, we fought hard. If you look at the first period, in a game where it means everything to Boston, our guys gave everything they got. It’s a back-to-back too, and you could see that as the game went on, they were making some mental mistakes, but I think the effort was there from the beginning to the end. Again, another young guy made his mark tonight at home – Colin White, he got to assists and played very well…so, yeah a lot of good things from our young guys, but at the same time, let’s not kid ourselves, that was a lot for them to manage. You’ve got guys who are usually slotted at the fifth, sixth slot. Whether it’s [Alex] Burrows or [Fredrik] Classeon, you know, having to sleep on the ice, but they did everything they could, so real proud of them trying to be anchors for those other young guys. So, yeah, we had a terrific push from our guys and gave everything we got.

On this year compared to last year… Yeah, and that’s the NHL. We’re always two players away from going up and two players away from going down. Injuries, circumstances, all kinds of things, so that’s the NHL. You look at teams last year who were at the bottom, all of a sudden some of them are in the playoffs. And then there’s the opposite. Some of the teams who were at the top last year, are at the bottom this year. That’s what the NHL is and that’s what we mean by parity, is that it’s a league where everything’s got to go right and whenever it goes wrong, you got to value some of those moments because they mean a lot. It’s tough to be consistent, it’s tough to be good in the NHL, so that’s what we’re looking at for the future is try to bring in more youth, more speed, more drive and inject some of what we saw in this last portion of the year into our lineup to keep growing.

On the season’s end… Yeah, but I don’t think we lost, whether as a staff or as players. We didn’t change our approach. We tried to have the best practice possible, every game we pushed and whenever we didn’t like attitude or discipline, we took care of it the next day at practice, video and every individual meetings, and we didn’t stop that until the last second here. So, I think players, staff, anybody who saw anybody quitting or changing their ways just because…you know, half the league doesn’t make the playoffs, so that’s a lot of teams and I think our jobs as professionals is to give everything we got and sometimes, your efforts aren’t going to be rewarded now, they are going to be rewarded later because it’s part of the growth. But, definitely, everything matters and everything counts as your trying to grow. So, I think that’s the way we took it up until now.

OTTAWA SENATORS DEFENSEMAN MARK BOROWIECKI On this year… Yeah, it was a tough year. Individually as players, as a team and as an organization. Obviously, we had high expectations given our performance last year, and we fell short. Way short. I think it’s an opportunity for us to learn from some of this – the struggles, these down times and come out a little bit stronger on the backside hopefully.

On this group of guys… Yeah, I think you’d be kind of naïve to think that something’s not going to happen this summer. This is a results driven business and we did not get the results. And, we’re all professionals in here and that’s the nature of it. You know, it sucks because we do have a good, close group in here. We get along great, and anytime you see a guy, you know he’s not only a teammate, but a buddy too, leave, it stinks, but again, we understand.

On this season’s frustration… Absolutely, you know for a number of reasons. I think we know we’ve got more talent, and the ability to do better is in this room. And anytime you have that missed opportunity it stings a little bit more.

On next season… It starts the day you walk in that gym or on the ice in the summer. You know, you need to use it as a tool to push yourself. Hopefully, this is a kick in the butt for us as individuals and athletes, and to take our summer training seriously and really make sure we’re not complacent and just ready to come in and rock next year.

OTTAWA SENATORS HEAD COACH GUY BOUCHER PREGAME On the Humboldt Broncos tragedy… I think, in the hockey world, when you’ve been through junior years, you can relate to bus rides, and I’ve coached nine years in juniors, and we also came close, twice, to tragedy. So, you can relate, but I think, as a parent, that’s probably what comes to mind first for me. I can’t even imagine. It’s beyond words. So, obviously, I think everybody that’s in the hockey world is feeling for everybody down there, and I know I’ve got some guys from Saskatchewan here, and yeah, so that’s – I don’t have any words for something like that. That’s way beyond.

On how difficult it could be for the players to stay focused on the task at hand… Well, you know, it happened yesterday, so I think everybody was aware of it come plane time. So, I think in the plane, everybody was kind of walking around and trying to figure out if people had relatives or people that could be connected to the people down there. So, I think, right now, today, as we’re finding out more and more about the incident, it’s one of those days where it’s not just a normal game day, obviously, but, I think, come game time tonight, we’re going to have to get prepared for the game and make sure that our players are ready to give the effort they gave yesterday. I think the effort we had yesterday was great. They had a great push yesterday, their team, and I think we pushed right back. Outshooting them 35 to 23 said a lot about our players’ work ethic, but their high-end players found the back of the net on their opportunities, and we did not on ours, so hopefully we’re able to give ourselves a chance tonight. It is a back-to-back, but it is also the last game of the year, so there’s nothing to save it for, and I’m sure our players are going to give everything they’ve got against another team that’s looking at this game as a real important game for them, and it’s their last home game, just like it was Pittsburgh’s yesterday.

On if he will emphasize the word effort in his pregame speech tonight… Well, it always is, but I think, we, obviously, know about them; they know about us. Specifics, I think, are going to be clear for us, and it comes down to everybody’s got one more game to showcase and to stick together one last time with this particular group. But yeah, we’ve got a new player coming in [Andreas] Englund replacing [Ben] Harpur, so he gets an opportunity. It’s been a few months now when we’ve tried some young guys at different roles and positions, and you can see a lot of them are growing fast, and hopefully it’s one more game where we see that trend continue.

On if the growth of their young players will be the biggest positive from this season… I’ve been vocal about the fact that I think there’s some really good young talent coming, some that are here already, but some that are in junior, some that are coming out of college and so on, and I think that’s the exciting part. With a season like this, you’re able to accelerate some of those guys process, and I look forward to evaluating and projecting where those guys could fit in the near future. But, yeah, there will be changes; there will be all kinds of things that we have to reevaluate and make sure we make the right decisions on, but I think there’s some guys that are definitely showing us that they’ve grown enough for us to look at them and put their names on the wall here.

#04/07/18#