Ken Hitchcock Game Quotations

We're starting to gain an identity and a lot of confidence. The game (Sunday) against Ottawa has really moved our game up a notch... You can hear things on the bench, the bantering between players, which is excellent. You can hear the locker room has a lot more life. Our team is starting to gel.

We're starting to gain an identity and a lot of confidence, ... The game (Sunday) against Ottawa has really moved our game up a notch... You can hear things on the bench, the bantering between players, which is excellent. You can hear the locker room has a lot more life. Our team is starting to gel.

We know how important Game 3 is and know we're down 2-0. It was a frustrating loss for everybody. And we acted emotionally, me included.

We were banging around it so hard in the second that I felt, even though we were down 4-1, that if we made it 4-2 early (in the third), which we did, if we kept going we could still tie up the hockey game and maybe win it. We had a lot of good chances, but we didn't finish and then they scored the fifth goal.

We did our job at home, we have to win in their building. We have to find a way to win a game in their building.

Let's see how he looks when he comes back over here. This is a different game over here. Angles are different and there's a tremendous amount of activity around the goal here; a lot more than there is in the Olympics. The shot totals are a lot higher here and the quality of shots is a lot higher in the NHL. Let's see how he plays when he comes back here and let's see how his energy is.

But the game is still played on the ice. Having been in the same shoes as Tampa once before (winning a Cup in Dallas in 1999), you don't want to disrespect somebody who has won a championship. And they earned it and deserved it. They're the ones with the knowledge right now. We're all searching for that.

I find the entertainment value of the playoffs is out the door. It's all about competition. This, to me, brings it back to grassroots where it's one team playing another team and it doesn't matter who's covering the game or who's watching.

I don't think we need a division title game to motivate us right now. I think what we need is better play for 60 minutes.

For us right now, getting home-ice advantage in the playoffs is absolutely critical. We want to get as high up the ladder as we can because of how competitive it is right now. Every home game we get as an advantage is important.

For whatever reason we waded into the series. We almost got away with one in Game 1, but we're locked in now. Hopefully, we can make it really interesting, but emotionally we're locked in.

For whatever reason, this team just seems to wade into things. We waded into this series. We almost got away with one in Game 1. We didn't get away with it in Game 2. We're locked in now.

When he's healthy, the way this game is played now, it's built for him. He's quick. He's smart. He's hard to get a handle on physically. He's a huge asset. It's not just him as a player, but he makes people around him better. He's a good teammate.

He was really good. He was outstanding and gave us a chance to win and it was good stuff. We had a really good start to the game and then we were killing penalties in the first period and that?s when we really needed him. ..In the end, we needed him again. It?s good for him to make him feel part of the group again.

I thought we went in fits and starts. We went in peaks and valleys during the game and we made good plays and we made soft plays, and I think that over time we are going to have to get firmer in those areas.

I thought as the game wore on we were out-competed. This was like a playoff game. For a game where you're going to checked this hard, I thought we had too many people below the bar today. Way too many people.

I think the biggest difference for us was that we got the lead. We weren't chasing the game. We had the lead the whole game. It allowed us to play our game a little bit better. I think that was the biggest difference.

I thought we got better as the game wore on. When you're killing back-to-back-to-back penalties, it's hard to get momentum. That's living dangerously. You can't expect a team at home to go 0-for-9 again.

I thought we got better as the game wore on. I think the concern is you don't want to waste a great performance by a goalie. You need your goalie to win those games.

Over all, this was the best game they've played in the series. They were very tenacious and they caused us to make soft plays with the puck at inopportune times.

Our whole game was solid today. This is now the fourth game in a row where we had almost the same lineup. We haven?t been able to do that for four months. Now we are starting to have lines stay together for more than one game and some continuity is coming onto out hockey club.

Who knows what happens if we've got the seventh game rather than Tampa.

We had to respond after what happened in Game 2 in Buffalo. We have to play to win. We have a tendency to make things interesting in the end but we did some good things tonight.

We had to respond after what happened in Game 2 in Buffalo and we did.

We got the lead and weren't chasing the game. It allowed us to play our game a little bit better.

When we protect a lead, what we still have to learn to do better is checking for 60 minutes. Sometimes we let up and we need to learn how to shut a game down.

When you're starting to play catch-up, you have to open up the game and sometimes you come back and sometimes you give up more.

We played a heck of a hockey game. It could have gone either way. I thought we got better and better as the game went on. We did a lot of gritty, good things in the third period. We deserved at least a point, and maybe two.

We didn't protect the puck when the game was on the line, and that's disappointing.

Touch wood we?re in pretty good shape. We have six guys who are playing pretty good as a group for the most part and we have a seventh guy (Jones) who is playing 30 minutes a game with the Phantoms who was here with us before getting ready to join us in the playoffs. So we have seven. It?s a good mix.

We just saw Jon Sim in one game and it was excellent, so we know that has potential, and that's a place where Sharp may play some minutes.

We weren't prepared to pay the price to win the hockey game at the start and when you give a team like Toronto a sniff, they're going to make you pay a price.

We had the wrong attitude to start the game. They play a heavy game, they play an old NHL game and we wanted to play around the game instead of plow through it. When you give a team that's in a desperate state like Toronto some hope, they're going to follow through.

We're disappointed. We played a great game. We deserved a better fate. It's the best game we've played in a month.

As the game wore on, we were out-competed,

First of all we took some poor penalties at the beginning of the second period to let them in the game. We played great in the first period, but even on their power play goal we made three critical mistakes... There are two things that really concern me right now. Against the good teams we lose the special teams game and when you can't kill a penalty, that's a big concern.

There's no better feeling in the world than having Game 7 in your building. We'll continue to push to get the higher seed.

That's who he is. That's the way he plays. He's got a really big heart, good skill level, but it's his heart and his competitiveness that he carries with him. What's interesting for me is, the game was on the line and he was the best player on the ice. That speaks volumes for a 20-year-old player.

They were just flying. A game like this suits them well. The (Olympic) break did them a world of good. They have a ton of confidence and they put a lot of pressure on people.

This is the state were in right now. We played great yesterday and didn't get rewarded. We had a flat start to this game. Montreal took advantage and scored 5-on-3. They took advantage of our mistakes. We have to regroup. We have to get some healthy guys back in our lineup. We didn't play our best game today. We have some things we have to talk about in the next 48 hours.

They?re similar players. Simon probably shoots the puck off the rush a little bit better, but they?re both determined players. It?s a great feeling when you go out for a game and you never have to worry about whether a player is going to be a committed player. I never worried about that once.

For a game when you know you?re going to get checked this hard, we had too many people below the bar. Way too many people.

You throw all of that out the window. The fans know this isn't the regular season, our fans especially. I've seen our fans just will us in a playoff series. It's really difficult when you're constantly having to win on the road. Having a Game 7 in your building, to me, there is no better feeling in the world.

You think you're snake bit and there's a lot of doubt in your game and, when you don't score for an extended period of time, doubt creeps in. Then you get the one off their skate and it kind of sets the wheel in motion and now everybody thinks they can score.

It's still not good enough. We know the rules and we took two penalties in the third period that we can't take, not when the game is on the line. You're just dealing with an unbelievable level of fire when you're giving a team like that six, seven or eight penalties.

It's something we'll have to deal with. Yeah, we wanted (home ice). Hopefully, it won't become a factor. We know we have to win at least one game in Buffalo and probably more.

It took us almost a period and a half to get up to the pace of the game and then we were fine. We were much better in the second half of the game and the overtime than we were at the start. I thought we were a little behind the pace at the start and then really got going.

Once they got the lead, they were able to sit on it. I don't think we played with the emotional level that we have at times. A lot of that is New Jersey. They play a very methodical game and they take the emotion out of it.

Chasing the game takes so much energy out of you.

He put a lot of pressure on himself last year when Carolina started making those changes. He just kept adding to the pile there and he put too much pressure on himself to try to do everything. He came here and after awhile he just played his game and was very, very effective for us.

You know that if you just stay with the program, the home team is going to be the one that presses. We've caught people pressing hard when the game is on the line, and we've caught them on some odd-man rush situations. And we've won a lot of points late.

The difference was we had a great start to the game and played very well, but when they got their power plays, it shifted the momentum back their way. We did a lot of things really well today. Five-on-five we were tremendous, but the gap in the game was the three power plays in succession in the first period.

The game is on the line and we took two poor penalties in the third period. You can't do those things. It's unnecessary. That's the hockey game. We had tremendous effort by people, but we took two poor penalties.

The game is on the line, and we took two poor penalties in the third period. We competed at a high level, we just got beat.