Transcript
Postgame Quotes Minnesota Wild at Nashville Predators April 1, 2017 Predators Quotes Head Coach Peter Laviolette On the two quick goals in the second period… One of them was off of a face-off play. It was kind of quiet following their timeout so it wasn’t like there was something leading up to it. I do like the way we played the game. First period, I thought was a little bit tighter for us. We didn’t get much offensively as I would have liked, but that’s just the way the game played out. In the second period, I thought we got more looks and more chances. Kevin’s (Fiala) goal really put some energy on the bench. You don’t want to chase a game like that, you don’t want to be down 1-0 or 2-0. You want to get that first goal and get that lead in a game like this, I think it was really important. I think the guys were happy about that, but for Kevin to knock one in 10 seconds later was huge. On telling the players after the first period to be up 2-0 after two… I was painting a pretty picture. My point was that I thought both teams played really hard today. It was playoff hockey. It was fast and it was tight. Any team that didn’t play like that for 60 minutes, you probably weren’t going to win the game. If we could go out and press on like that in the second period, then we would come in up 2-0 and fighting in the third. My point was, after that happens, if we don’t play that way in the third then it’ll go the other way. I thought it was going to be a 60-minute grind today and it was because Minnesota played very well.
On having confidence in his team after today’s win… I think we’ve played pretty good hockey. If you want to talk about the way we’re playing, that’s eight really good periods in a row. I don’t like the score of the Toronto game, but I liked the way we played that night. I really like the way played the second and third period up in Boston. There are quite a good few periods in there that I like. On being one point away from a clinching a playoff berth… So it’s easy to see a back-to-back loss coming off that Long Island game. There were a lot things I liked from that game, if things were bad I would tell you it’s bad. Remember after the Winnipeg game a couple of weeks ago, I said that we were just not good enough defensively. Not doing the right things. I think we are playing the right way, so hopefully the results lead to something that you’re more happy with a win like today. It’s a good way to be playing right now.
Forward Filip Forsberg On how exciting a playoff series between Minnesota and Nashville would be… Playoff hockey feels the same whoever you play. It’s going to be one of those fast, physical series. I can’t really focus too much on that now.
On the first two goals of the game being scored 10 seconds apart… Obviously, it was too big goals at a good time. Fans got their Big Macs, and everyone is happy.
On feeling like a win was within reach if Nashville just kept pushing through… We knew they were a really good team. We’ve played them a couple of times, and we knew it was going to take a 60-minute effort. I’m really proud of everyone for what we did today, that’s for sure. On playing big games today and tomorrow… [Tomorrow] is probably the biggest game of the year so far, and it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be really fun to go in there and try to climb the standings as high as we can.
Captain Mike Fisher On Pekka’s game tonight… No goals. That was a great effort. He played really well and made some huge stops. Obviously, that one late – that was a great save.
On two goals in 10 seconds… It was huge to get that first one. It was pretty tight out there. Then Kevin (Fiala) came back and scored a nice one and the building got right back behind us. Goaltender Pekka Rinne On tonight’s game being good to build on heading into the playoffs… Anytime you have a good game it is nice, especially at the end of the season. A shutout is a bonus on top of that. Again, I thought it was a great game and the guys did a really good job in front of me. Even in the end there, they got a few chances, and I got lucky with that Granlund shot. That should have been a goal.
On seeing a potential playoff opponent… I think, as a team, you always have respect to the other team. Minnesota is a really good hockey team. I think we always play pretty entertaining games against them. It was a pretty big matchup, considering if [we] face them in the first round. These games matter.
Wild Quotes Head Coach Bruce Boudreau On assessing his team’s effort… The first 10 minutes were good. I think after that we lost battles. You don’t get power plays because you don’t make them pull you down or do anything wrong; those things are going to happen. I thought our goalie was really good today. I think he saved our bacon in the second period when it could’ve been probably a score of a little bit worse than it was. We’ve got to come to play every game; we can’t be satisfied with a 5-1 victory every once a week here. We’ll get back to the drawing board tomorrow and see where it goes.
On how displeased he was with being late to pucks and chances… They outworked us. In the second period you could tell that they were the hungrier team. That’s why we called the time out; to try and say okay listen let’s get out of this period, which was the goal 0-0, and hopefully in the third period I could say something in here that would light a fire under them. But obviously they scored five seconds after the timeout, and then they scored 10 seconds later.
Forward Zach Parise On today’s game being pretty even besides the 10-second stretch in the second period… It was, there were some good chances on both ends. They got those two (goals) in quick and that was it. On how frustrating it is not to be able to build off their last win… It’s very frustrating for us.
On if they fed off of the saves that Alex Stalock was making during the first period… He played well, he played well both games. He made some good saves again tonight. It wasn’t an issue of goaltending at all. On how his eye felt… It was fine. I didn’t feel any restrictions or anything, I felt okay.
