Gerard Gallant Quotations

We started out pretty sluggish and they were a hungry hockey team and really put us down early. We showed a lot of character coming back.

We're a pretty good overtime team and we had a great chance. It was a point on the road. We would have liked to have had two. But St. Louis battled hard, too.

Luke asked to take the 'C' off. I said, 'As far as I'm concerned, you're our captain.' Luke said he'd thought about it and he believed he had good reasons for doing this. He just thought it was time.

Obviously, we were outmatched with the lineup of skill they had. We expected a better effort and we didn't see it.

Bryan?s moved on. It was a tough situation for the guy, but he?s put it behind him and kept himself ready to play.

For two periods we were right with them. If it wasn't for the penalties I thought it was an even hockey game. Everything just went against us.

He was cut and bleeding all over his face and I thought the rule was you can't come back on the ice if you're bleeding, you got to be patched up. And he goes out there and sets up basically the winning goal.

He was worth the admission tonight. He was real good.

He had a real tough year at the start with all of the injuries he had. I think he's rounding into top shape right now. It's nice to see his complete game.

He has been solid. He has a knack for scoring and has a quick shot. He is a smart player and doesn't cause any chances against.

He (Malhotra) put the puck on the net and we had traffic in front of the net. It was one of the few times that we had bodies in front of the net tonight. The guys worked hard for it.

We can look so good on two or three power plays a night. And then on the rest of them we looked like we?d never been on a power play in our lives.

He kept us in the game. With his play and had we made plays when we had to, we win the game.

I think we made a couple of dumb plays that cost us. We were within a goal twice and we gambled a couple of times on the blue line and it cost us big time.

It is huge for us. There are a lot of games where I say we played well but we get no points. Tonight we didn't play well and we got the points. I would rather take the two points.

I was excited after the first period, we came out and played very well. Then we got cute with the puck in the second and it went from 3-1 to 3-3 in a hurry. You have to play 60 minutes to win in this league.

I think they ran out of gas in the third period. They played back-to-back nights and we played really hard in the third period. We were really disappointed with our first two periods.

I?m sure both of those guys wish they were going to the playoffs and I?m sure they?re disappointed. But I think it?s great for our guys to see how they have handled this. There?s no quit in them. They still are working hard and competing hard, and I think that?s a big reason why we won those six in a row. It starts in practice and in the weight room, and their work habits there are obvious.

When something?s not working, you have to try different things. You can?t just stand pat.

We played awful hockey in the second and third periods. We were fortunate it was only 3-1.

We had a lot of good scoring chances in the first half. Then they went up 5-2 and it's pretty hard to come back against that team. I was looking for a great finish to the hockey game, but we got into trouble and they capitalized.

We had a lot of breakdowns and gave them a lot of scoring chances.

We made it 4-3 and unfortunately we got a couple of calls after that we didn't like and they scored on the power play. They got a pretty good power play.

We didn't show up to play for a period and a half and it cost us the hockey game. We played a great third period, but it's just one period -- we can't do it for 60 minutes. That's been our problem all season long.

We showed a lot of character coming back. We really competed hard and probably played the best 40 minutes of hockey this season.

To me, the biggest thing is we get a chance to clear the puck and we don?t clear the puck and we end up out on the ice for a long stretch of time. And the puck ends up in the net. Little things turn into big things.

We got into trouble with the penalties and lost a lot of momentum in the second.

(The playoffs are) not going to be something we?re going to shoot for. But we?re going to come out and try and play hard every game and win as many games as possible and get things going in the right direction.

When you get four goals from your checking line, it's huge. They worked so hard.

We were the better team tonight. We should have won the hockey game but we didn't. The guys played their tails off. I can't go in there (the dressing room) and tell them they didn't play well. They know they played well.

We wanted to break that streak. Hopefully, this will turn the corner for us.

To stop those three guys is a feat in itself.

We weren't playing great in the second period but we were playing okay. Then they come out and score three in the first five minutes of the third period. It takes a lot out of your team.

We showed our character coming back. I wish we'd won tonight to make it seven games, but we got the next best thing.

We showed character. I wish we?d won and pushed (the winning streak) to seven games. But we got the next best thing.

Vancouver came in here and they haven't been playing very well. They didn't play very well tonight either, but they played better than us.

To be honest, Chicago outplayed us in both games. They're going through a tough time, and the hockey gods have been with us.

This one didn't have much intensity. It was two teams playing back-to-back games against each other, and nobody wanted to get hurt. It might have been exciting for the fans, but not for the coaches.

Big difference from last night to tonight. We didn't seem to have the energy that we did last night.

Coming in here we didn't think we were going to get five goals on Luongo. I didn't expect a 5-4 game. I was thinking 3-2 or 2-1.

Coming in here and winning the sixth game is tough. We have had a bad record here this season.

It was a huge goal for us. We were down two goals at that point, and then Bryan scores and we?re right back in it. I think it gave everybody on the bench a lift, like, we could win this game.

Rupp is a good player when he?s moving his feet. Lately, he has been playing very well.

Adam is a tremendous leader, and he'll once again be an asset for that team. He takes a lot of pride in playing for his country.

Once we got through the first 10 minutes, I though we?d be OK. But then the second and third periods were just the high-risk, cute kind of game we haven?t played in a while.

They (the Minnesotans) ran out of gas. They were playing the second night of a back-to-back. We were disappointed with our second period, we got after it in the third and they ran out of gas.

They (the fans) are disappointed. I am disappointed and our players are disappointed.

They had every right to boo. It?s our fault. We need to give them something to cheer about.

This is the kind of season Nashville is having this year. They find a way to scratch out wins. We seem to find a way to lose this year. But we definitely had a chance to win.

They're playing as a team, that's why they're winning, that's why they're leading their division. They deserved the win, with a good goalie and good defense.

It was our third game in four nights, and (Detroit) had three days off. I don?t know if fatigue had anything to do with it, but it?s still disappointing. Because after 25 minutes, we were right there.

It was the longest three hours of my life, there's no doubt about that.

It was real tough. Marc played the last three games for us and played as good as he's played in his career for us. Pascal, unfortunately, got a bad neck injury and Marc had to come in. It's tough coming in against the Red Wings on a power play.

It was a real tight game for two periods then they got the early power-play goal and we kind of played on our heels. We had our chances though. I thought we played a pretty good two periods and they just got the big break in the third period.

It was an awful night. It was a long game and it was basically over five minutes into it when it was 3-0.

It?s about winning games right now. Marc Denis, the way he played (Wednesday), he makes it an easy decision right now.

I told our guys between periods that we're playing a team that's basically in the playoffs right now, and we look like it's an exhibition game. We needed to get our feet moving.

It?s great to see him get some scoring chances and make the most of him. He?s played hard, and you like to see guys get rewarded when they do that.

It?s probably a day-to-day thing, but it?s not good, I know that. He can put some pressure on it, but not a lot.

Danny has always been full of energy, and he has always worked hard. But I think he has become a smarter player, and he?s beginning to realize that he can play in the league.

It's nice, but we should have 40 or 45 wins. We're a better team than 29 wins. We're going to battle for a playoff spot soon.

It's nice breaking the record, but we're just trying to gain confidence for next year. We are a much better team than 72 points.

It's coming around. We have a pretty good team here when we're healthy.

It was a great hockey game, it was our most complete game of the season. We got out to an early 3-1 lead and held on after that. Our team played very well. Marc Denis made some key saves.

It took us a period to get our legs underneath us. I think playing back-to-back nights caught up to them (the Kings) later in the game.

It took us a period to get our legs underneath us.

This is definitely a big step. I knew our team was going to get better this year, with or without Adam Foote. Now, with the free-agent market, we get a guy like Adam. He will push our players to be better and they're going to compete hard every night.

Once it took that long, I thought it might be a goal. I thought it might be kind of funny where one team celebrates and then they're going to turn it over and we're going to win the hockey game.

I'm not going to lie to you, you hate going into the regular season losing like tonight's performance. We're making excuses, but we've got five pretty good regulars who weren't in the lineup tonight -- especially down the middle. We're real young down the middle.

I hope tonight was an off night. We've been playing well and a win over Detroit would have been huge.

I like our personnel, I really do. With the guys we have, we should be pretty good on both the power play and the (penalty) kill. We should be better, there?s no doubt.

I like how it?s gone. The two of them, Pascal and Marc, are feeding off each other, and it keeps both of them active and involved.

I like the way they played with a lot of character tonight. We really battled hard. We have 12 games left and I expect this kind of effort in every one of them.

In my mind, Calgary is the most physical team in the NHL. They play a playoff game every night.

I think (NHL officials) are going to look at it. I think he is going to be out for a while.

He's right there. He's played a long career and he's still playing well. He's had a great career. He's a great friend. It was Gretzky and Lemieux in my era and he's right there.

I didn't think anyone was going to score. Both goaltenders were fabulous. I thought it was going to go to a shootout.

Colorado played pretty well, and I thought it was a pretty even game. Pascal made three or four great saves. He kept us in the game and gave us a chance to get some points but we couldn't score.

Great goal. Great move. He did the stuff we talk about all the time. He came with speed and took it to the net.

The goaltending was fantastic. Both goalies were fabulous. The shootout went eight deep -- that will show you how good the goaltending was.

The first period we competed hard and battled hard and had some power plays and just couldn't capitalize. In the second they had some power plays and they took advantage. That was the difference in the game. After the first period they just took it to us.

The first period was a great period for us. We capitalized on our chances.