Daniel Briere Quotations

We believe we have good enough speed to take advantage of teams with the new rules,

With the referees coming into the room before the game and explaining the rules,

Maybe we didn't deserve that win the other night, but we wanted to come back here and show them that we have the better team. We did that tonight.

My eyes were big when I was left alone. What a feeling it is to score a goal in overtime of a playoff game.

Maybe they still didn't know that we had four lines that can play like that. It doesn't matter who we have on the ice, we have a legitimate chance to score.

New guys coming back to the lineup will add new excitement to this team.

I guess if it's accidental there's a good chance you might get suspended. If it's on purpose then I guess it's OK. It makes me angry, but there's nothing we can do about it. The only positive thing is that Tucker is going to play golf, and we're going to the playoffs.

I expect (the same) kind of treatment in the playoffs. For the good of the game, (everybody) expects the penalties to be called the same way.

I don't think people realize how much Teppo's going to help our team. But everyone knows we need a little more help on defense. I know it's not from lack of trying.

For us, Ottawa has always been the team to beat. Not only in our division or in our conference, but in the entire NHL.

For us it wasn't so much about winning or losing. It's about showing up and proving to ourselves that we belong with the best team in the NHL. We show up with no effort by so many guys, that's just embarrassing. I don't know how to explain it, but there's definitely an issue here that we'll have to resolve before the playoffs start.

For us, it's the road to proving that we belong in the playoffs, that we can play with the best teams. We did really well the last time we played Ottawa, and now it's the next challenge. It's to prove that can play very well in Ottawa as well.

With Miro being a superstar, you need a player like that in your lineup to change the luck of your offense.

Having such a long losing streak, it made us take a look at everything and make sure we made the adjustments. Hopefully, we realize that. I really meant it when I said, 'This is going to make us a better team.

He's a little bit of a disturber out there. He's got that edge.

Hopefully this is a big confidence-builder and keeps us going in the right direction.

We have to believe in what the organization has planned. They believed in the players we have here. They had a plan the last few years with what they were building. Not too many people believed they were right, but it's paying off now. You have to believe in them that they're going to make the right call.

I thought we gained a lot of experience. I was surprised by how we kept our composure.

I think we're sitting in a good position. I don't think we have a team right now to win the Stanley Cup, to be honest with you, but we have a lot of room under the salary cap, and we can make some moves.

I saw Jochen coming down the side board, I was on the inside and I slid back door and realized nobody took me. When I saw he had the step on the guy, I was hoping he'd see me. When it (the pass) came my eyes were pretty big.

It fired up our will when we heard things like the more the series went on, the tougher it would go for us. Those were just motivation points for us.

It doesn't really bother us. They gotta give good reasons to their fans why they've been losing to us this year.

I think it went well. I saw the doctors again this morning and they both told me that it looked good. Right now it's a tough time, but at the same time I'm on the upswing. It's recovery time. And I'm happy we finally found out what was wrong and I can look forward to coming back on the ice.

I think maybe we looked too much for the tie. But give them credit, they bounced back. From being up two goals, then losing that lead and still finding a way to win.

I'm still far away from coming back. I can't really push off yet or take off in a hurry. Pivoting gives me a hard time still. But it's just fun to be back around the guys and having the chance to skate with them a little bit.

We'll know more when they open me up.

We don't have a problem with predictions that put us in the last three in the conference,

When you're so close to playing, it's going to be frustrating if I don't have time to get into a game before the break.

You lose a couple games and you think it's bad luck and it'll come back, but with such a long losing streak, it made us take a look at everything again and make sure we make the adjustments before the playoffs. I really meant it when I said this will make us a better team.

You look at the beginning of the year, everybody was thinking that we were a team that, if we were lucky, we would be battling for a playoff spot in the end. That wasn't good enough for us. We found a way to clinch early and only finished three points behind Ottawa. We showed we belonged with the best. It's the same attitude that we're going to bring to the playoffs.

We definitely feel like we let Brian and Scott down. We weren't sharp. The puck was bouncing. We were losing control. We weren't executing like we usually do.

We wanted to get it on our own, we wanted to clinch by winning.

We want to go in there and try to finish it off right away.

Throughout the season we were expecting the calls to go down, the referees to stop calling the new rules. They kept it going all year.

You have to give him credit. He's been known as a defensive coach pretty much his whole career.

We don't think it's going to be easy, and we don't think that we are too good. We are a team that relies on our work ethic to win games, and that's what we have to continue to do.

(Vanek) knows where to be. He knows how to score. He's a game-breaker. It's fun for me, having a chance to play with a guy like that.

To be honest with you, I just think it was time for Miro to move on. Miro's a great hockey player, but I don't think he had any chemistry with the players that we have here.

Both bring big and diverse strengths to the table, with each filling in key areas for the other. But the question you have to step back and ask is what would this mean to rival suppliers? And just how long would it take for a merged entity to be integrated from top to bottom and provide a true single face to service providers worldwide?

There's no doubt in my mind that we're going to get it turned around. We see the light at the end of the tunnel. ... There's no doubt in my mind that it's going to make us a better team and a stronger team.

It was tough. When something like that happens, you realize that hockey's a game, life is life, and that there are more important things in life than hockey.

Probably after the Olympics I should be close to returning.

That's why we're a good team. We keep finding ways to win and there's no doubt it doesn't matter who scores. ... The depth of our team is what makes the difference and it showed tonight.

That's huge mentally, not just the two points in the standings.

You see all those players moving around and, for the most part, we've kept the same team. It's going to be very different when we start playing all these other teams.

This could be a good thing for us.

They're tight games. I thought tonight we had the better chances.

They said they would let me know after the surgery, but we're looking at eight weeks at least.

They tell me I could rest two weeks and maybe play two, three, four games. And then I'd have to sit out another two weeks to let it heal. I can't afford to do that the rest of the year. I might as well get it fixed now and be ready for the playoff stretch.

All you try to do is get open. He's one of the few guys who will be able to find you anywhere.

It's just frustration. We don't know where to go anymore. We don't know what is a penalty, and what's not. We're trying to bang some rebounds in, just going to the net. I paid the price for trying to score a little too hard.

It's just the same. It's just not going away. It's not improving. It hasn't been worse than it was since the Pittsburgh game, but it's not getting better, either, so that's the frustrating side.

It seems like we're digging deeper and deeper into a hole. Maybe we don't feel the urgency to produce. It's not something we can let go anymore. You can lose two or three, but not four, five going into the playoffs.

It's a relief to know exactly what's going on.

It wasn't very hard. It was just to keep the timing and make sure we're ready to go.

It was definitely a big relief to get that lead again, to keep it and go all the way.

It says a lot about the players in this room, the organization. Going through all the injuries that we have this year, I don't think anybody could have predicted that we'd be here today at 104 points and 49 wins.

It's a win for us. That's what matters the most. Lately they've been tough to come by. Even though we blew the lead, the win feels good.

It's not something we look forward to, going down two goals, but that happened three times on the road the last couple of weeks. To win those games is pretty impressive.

For a game like this, there's no excuses. We seem to play well against the Senators when we play at home, but there's some guys that have to show up on the road. Yeah, they took control of the game, but we never got back.

It makes us angry but there's nothing we can do about it. The only positive is that Tucker is going to play golf and we're going to the playoffs.

It's really great to have Miro back in the lineup.

It's our next experience, exactly. One of our biggest goals this season was playing well on the road. We had the best road record in the East and now we want to show up on the road in the playoffs as well.

It's my first time walking normally. The first few days it was just kind of bent over, walking slowly.

It's not going to be easy, but it's great for the fans. We get to see the Leafs, Canadiens, Bruins and Senators more often. It's better for travelling as well. There's a lot of positives, but emotion will be a big factor.

It's definitely shocking what's been thrown out there. He was an example on and off the ice when I was there. I learned a lot from him how to handle myself around the dressing room and on the ice.

It went from being one of the loudest buildings to being very quiet.

It's not about one or two lines or one or two players on this team. There's something special here.

I knew at some point if they gave us a chance to stick together we were going to get going together.

I have no problem looking at the standings when we walk in the door. But before making comments like that you should look at yourself in the mirror and look where you're standing and why you're losing all those games.

I never saw him. It was careless on my part, but it wasn't on purpose. Sometimes that's going to happen.

I'm very excited to see him come back, but they made it perfectly clear to me, even though it's the same type of injury and the same type of surgery, that it wasn't the same thing.

Hopefully it will keep us going in the right direction.

He's a heart-and-soul player. He's the type of guy you want on your side because he's probably the hardest worker on our team and he's going to be the same way over there.

I don't want to get too excited but we're very happy with the win. The thing we're going to build off is that we came back from behind and never quit.

I don't want to get too excited but we're very happy with the win.

You can see it in his look and his preparations. He's not looking around for answers anymore. He just knows what he has to do. It comes from maturity, it comes from playing well lately. It's confidence.