Brian Gionta Quotations

What he brings is that threat. The other team needs to back off a little because they need to respect him. That sets everything else up for the rest of us.

We knew what was going on. Down 3-1 going into the third and with a chance for a division title, we had to throw everything on the line.

We know we need to start scoring. We just have to stick with it. We know we're doing the right things.

We're staying patient. We're staying on an even keel and waiting for our chances.

Whenever there's a ceremony like that, if you're home or away, you always have to be careful not to get too stale. But it sparked a lot of emotion, and that kept us going. It felt like a playoff atmosphere out there.

We might as well make it interesting. We've made it interesting all year.

No, not at all. That's where you need to keep your focus. You try not to give them anything to go on.

Obviously he's a huge part of this team and he's going to add a lot to it, but with or without him, we need to change things and play differently. We're making too many of the same mistakes and that's what hurting us. For a guy to come back and correct all that, that's not going to happen.

Right now it's in our hands. It's in our control.

We're playing well. We'd like to go out on high note and come back feeling good about ourselves.

He's been around a lot longer, so he knows more than I would.

He was playing above the crease. I faked a shot to freeze him and then made my move.

He carries the play. He makes things happen and obviously when he's at the top of his game, the whole team's going.

He kept us in the game. Obviously Marty is Marty, he always keeps us in the game. There's not much else you can say about him, we're just lucky to have him back there.

Our main concern was winning games and trying to get as high as we could. Obviously, we've been taking care of our own business and we can do that again. We have one game left in Montreal and if we win that, we'll just see what happens from there.

We dominated. The number of chances we had didn't show in the goals.

We don't start the same way against those bottom teams. Against these top teams, we're playing them desperate right from the drop of the puck. We're playing down to other levels. We start out slow and let them take the game to us.

We got away from (playing our style) the previous two games. We just have to worry about ourselves right now.

Three one-goal losses are tough to swallow. We need to erase that. It's single-elimination now. It doesn't matter what our records are.

Yeah, we had to do it but that stuff was taken care of before we were over here. I've only played in a couple of world championships and world juniors. He's been around a lot longer, so he knows more than I would.

Yeah, we had to do it. But that stuff was all taken care of before we got over here. Our families were pretty much set, the plans were set when we got over here. So I don't know about that.

We needed the two points regardless if we gave one away. I guess that is the team to do it (against), they're at the top, and not to a team that is chasing you. We got the two points that we needed tonight.

We'll go to the drawing board and tighten things up. I thought we dominated two periods and everyone was great for them. We learned a lot. We got here, and we learned something - learned that we have to be smarter in how we play.

To be up there with him is an honor.

We played a little desperate in the third period. We didn't play with that desperation in the first and second period.

We knew we had a great team. It was a matter of being consistent. We're not letting down. We're staying focused.

We were shocked, obviously. But we knew what we did wrong. We made some mistakes and that was the reason why we didn't come out on top.

We really didn't play the second period. At one point, they probably had four 2-on-1s in three minutes.

The reason you come here is for a medal.

We just have to stick with it and know that we are doing the right things. We can't press too hard because you get too far away from your game.

We've just got to keep plugging away. We're trying to be too fancy at times, passing up some shots that we should be taking.

With only two games before the Olympic break, we want to get all the points we can get. The key for me is to refocus every game and not relax or back off what is making me so successful.

We've been playing well as of late but it's basically a playoff game against them and we came out and played well.

Tonight, when it really mattered, we couldn't get it done.

We had a good road trip there a couple weeks back. But that next trip was not what we wanted.

We focused in and wanted to finish strong in the last 10, 11 games. We'll see what happens. Things still have to happen for us to get the title. We just need to take care of what we need to take care of.

We just keep the same routine, the same mind-set. The reason why we were doing well is because we were doing the small things out there. That's what we need to get back to ? taking care of those details.

You have to think there are guys that do it, but I don't think it's a problem with the sport by any means. I don't know the situation, but there's obviously more to the supplement than you know about. It's an unfortunate situation and that's why you have to so careful nowadays.

You grew up watching Team USA and you always wanted to be out there.

There's no real panic. It's just trying to understand what we weren't doing right the last couple of games. Any time you lose two in a row in that fashion, there's got to be some concern, but we know what we need to do. It's not like the beginning of the year when we were searching.

There's no shortage of effort. We just need to get the puck in the net.

It would be nice to get a win and start rolling and feel good about ourselves.

It was all Sergei. Instead of throwing it away, he carried it behind the net and bought some time. I was able to get back to the net. Off the initial rush, I kind of swung away and came back and he found me.

Once we got up early on them with those three goals, we just stuck with what we were doing.

That's his move. He doesn't move the puck. he just lets it go.

You see what he does in certain situations and try to react off that. I tried a couple of things the other night and this time I tried something else.

Absolutely that's a huge lift. You get that little advantage and it's like a home-ice advantage.

It's nothing I was chasing from the start, but it was an honor to be considered among the great players (in this organization).

It's always good playing here. My brother is here watching the game and some buddies I went to college with were at the game, so it's always nice to catch up with old friends and come back to a place that was real important in my career.

It's always nice. It's an honor to be considered as one of those guys and be up there on the list with them. Considering how many great guys have come through the organization, it's an honor for sure.

It's frustrating because we're playing well, we just need a couple bounces.

You thought they were down and out, for sure. But they stuck with it and got some confidence. Once you win the first one, you never know.

It's nice obviously getting it out of the way. The main thing was getting the two points tonight. That's why I was frustrated about having all those chances. It would have made things a lot easier on us.

It's definitely going to be a playoff atmosphere.

It's an extra little thing to come back.

It's disappointing, obviously, because we came here for the gold medal, a medal.

It was kind of a weird game from start to finish. It wasn't as sharp as we have been playing lately, but it's still two points.

They cracked down so much the first month that it was hard to know what you could get away with. Now you can battle for the puck.

I want to take care of our own destiny. We don't want to back into it.

I just worry about the wins right now.

I'm not sure why we came out flat.

If you're afraid of it, then you're going to fail.

In the last few games. we've done a good job of playing with intensity, and playing desperate. That's what we need to do for the next nine games. When we sit back and let other teams take it to us, that's when we get in trouble.

I don't know if we were nervous, but we came out flat.

He played great. We shot some at him but he did give up only one. We had some momentum and we had some good chances.

A legend like that knows a lot about the game. It's nice to know he's around.

You want to take that (home ice) and use it to your advantage. You know how important it is in the playoffs.