Olli Jokinen Quotations

Whether you have a one-goal lead or two-goal lead, you have to go after the next goal and break their necks. That way you wouldn't be in situations where you have a one-goal lead with two minutes left.

We're fighting for our lives. The last two or three weeks we've been able to win some games. Every point is huge for us.

This will probably taste a little better in a few days but you win the bronze and the gold medals, you lose the silver.

The fact is we need to get a deal done before the deadline. There's a chance ... if I haven't been signed, obviously Florida's not going to take the risk of me going somewhere else in the summer. Hopefully we can work things out and I can sign before the trade deadline.

We've still got Krajicek and Bouwmeester as well. You definitely need four guys on the power play, maybe even three units during the year.

We're just trying to get as much of shots as possible,

When I came here this training camp, the only thing that was the same was the Panthers logo on your jersey. Everything else has been changed here. That's what we definitely needed, a fresh start for our hockey club.

Since the break we've been there every single game. Tonight we were able to fight back and get some points. We need to find a way to do this every single night. It was a little scary tonight, everything went our way.

Since (General Manager Mike) Keenan came in, I never had a feeling I wanted to go somewhere else,

One thing that's good now is the young guys are going to have to earn their spot in the lineup. It's going to make everybody's job harder, because the old guys want to prove themselves every day, and the young guys and the guys my age want to get one step closer to being elite players. That's a good mix.

Obviously it's going to be a dream final for both teams. For both countries.

I was surprised at the call on Lemieux, because the rules are if you touch Crosby or Lemieux you get a penalty.

I don't know what the problem is. If I knew the problem, we would fix it.

I don't think we played the same way we did last week.

If it was my call, there wouldn't be shootouts. It has more to do with pee-wee hockey; it's good for kids.

If it was a win and I didn't score any goals, I would be happy.

If it was up to me I'd sign myself here. But it's out of my hands.

If we were in the playoffs, I'd probably be taking some games (off) now to be ready. But I'm used to playing 82 games, so I just want to get through it.

He's been a hard-working guy, just a great person in the locker room. He's been so supportive for (Roberto Luongo) and for all the guys. Not many guys can do that, sit 20 games in a row and get a chance.

We lost to Toronto by something like 8-0 (it was 5-0) the next night and that was pretty much it. It all fell apart after that.

It is a dream final for us. There are five million at home, and everyone will watch this game.

It happened so quickly. I was able to get the puck toward the backdoor. But he robbed me and made a nice save. That's what winning goalies are able to do.

It happened so quickly. I was able to get the puck toward the back door. But he robbed me, and made a nice save. That's what winning goalies are able to do.

I was just trying to jam it in and he put his pad there and then I couldn't get it high enough.

Our lineup looked pretty good early in the year, but obviously we haven't played at the level we're capable of doing. The past few weeks we've been the team we should have been every single night.

It doesn't matter who scores the goals. As long as we win, that's the key. If you play power play and you're on the first or second line, you're going to get your points.

We need points right now, and we can't keep throwing them away.

We can't feel sorry about ourselves and take back what we did. We've just got to bounce back and win the next game.

We can't control how the other teams play. But it was a big two points.

We were able to do damage every time they turned over the puck.

We really need to play over.500 (on the five-game trip), but lately we've been playing close to.700 at home. So if we can go.500 on the road from here on out we'll be fine.

We got a two-goal lead and they got power play after power play. That's how they got back in the game - they scored pretty much every power play.

We can't watch how the other teams are playing. We can't expect to get any help from other teams because it's not just one team we're trying to catch. There are a couple of teams between us and the playoffs.

We played a solid 60 minutes. In the second we took over the game and gave up a freak goal but we played smart and held the lead.

We have to mentally ready to play every night, and tonight we weren't.

We have to learn how to play under the rules. We can't blame the refs all the time.

We have to learn from this. They showed why they were the Stanley Cup Champions two years ago. Good teams never quit.

We can't give him credit. He's probably happy he got his first shutout in the NHL, but we made him look good. We really didn't test that guy.

We needed two points. Otherwise this would be a wasted trip. If we didn't get the two points we'd feel even more guilty.

We haven't been able to get shots and second chances against this team. We did the little things right tonight.

We didn't play well tonight. (Goalie Roberto Luongo) had a good game, but overall, we were a little sloppy.

We didn't play well. This was our worst game in a couple weeks. But we found a way to win, and that's positive.

We'd like to have those two points now, but we won't look back. We've been finding a way to win lately and we've got another must-win game tonight. It's been the same story for the last two weeks.

We started turning the puck over in the second period and it cost us. We gave them three or four goals.

We showed a lot of character tonight. It was a big win for our team.

We really didn't test that guy. It was an easy night for him. We made him look good.

The past couple years my name has popped up at the trade deadline, (and) I've been traded a couple of times already. I don't think about that. I just hope we get an agreement, get a deal done, and I can stay here.

Without him (Luongo), we wouldn't have any points tonight.

Every winning team has experienced guys, and that's what we have now, ... It'll be interesting to see how the younger guys react with these older guys around.

Finally we were able to score the power-play goal and get a lead. Then, we played solid hockey for 60 minutes and shut them down.

Both sides are happy. I feel confident this franchise is going in the right direction, and we can build a playoff team with the coaching staff and all the pieces that we've got.

We've been building a fan base, so we definitely want to win games and at least be in that ninth place. That's still a possibility. The fans, and us as players, and the organization will have a better feeling going to the long summer.

We wanted to set the tone and go after those guys, but it was our first game in three or four days, maybe that was the case. We were able to get a two-goal lead.

We've got 5-6 million people in our country and I'll bet every single one will watch the game on TV.

This team is not going to quit. We are going to fight through and do everything possible to climb up.

This was the kind of game we used to lose. It feels good to pull it out.

We got a penalty every time we tried to take a puck off them. In the new NHL, special teams will win or lose you games. For a while it looked the other way around for us, but we bounced back.

We have to enjoy our time right now. The next Olympics are going to be 2010. We've got a few more games left, and it's a good feeling to be playing for a medal and be in the semifinals.

Both goalies seem to be in the right place at the right time. He played really well.

And there were a couple of guys that were smiling over there a little bit. But we're this far and we're enjoying our time right now. It's an unbelievable feeling being in the gold-medal game. I don't think there's been a single person outside our locker room who believed we could go this far.

Early in the year we find a way to lose those (one-goal) games. Lately, we've been able to get that extra point. Every point is huge for us. It was a big win.

I've been here six years and Roberto and I are the only two guys left. Scott Mellanby, Pavel Bure, older guys were here then. All gone. We're the older guys now. It's been a little tough. That's a lot of change over the years.

I've been playing with Gary the last 20 games and things have been clicking. Gratton has been there a few games and it's been working really well.

I understand his side, you want to see a commitment. Hopefully my signing will help his decision a little bit, too.

It was working pretty well with Marty and Stumpy. But obviously when you don't win some games, there are going to be some changes.

It was a huge goal by Horton, to get it back right away.

Sometimes against some teams you get wins no matter how you play.

Probably it's going to taste a little bit bitter in the next few days. You win the bronze, you win the gold, you lose the silver. As a hockey player you always want to win. It's disappointment right now.

A little bit of a lucky bounce, but I'll take it. Finally a puck bounces our way. But we played pretty well tonight.

They're thinking the same way. It's a big two games for them, too. There's four points available, and they're like four-point games. If we win both we'll be tied with them, and if it goes the other way they're eight points in front of us. Both teams are outside the playoffs now, so it's huge.

A lot of things came into play and I was looking at the big picture. The teammates I have here were a big part of it. Without my teammates, I would not have scored a single goal or registered a point. We made some really good signings in the summer and with the young guys we will keep improving. If you look at your lineup, there are guys that have won and again can win a Stanley Cup. It never crossed my mind to leave this team.

They outworked us. They didn't do anything fancy, but they were able to bear down and get goals when they needed them.

You don't want to let your teammates down. These are big games for our franchise. We definitely want to win games and at least be in that ninth place.

Absolutely nothing is happening, ... We're waiting to hear from them. I don't know what they're doing. We've heard nothing from them for probably close to a week now.

It's just so much a different feeling this year. We've become a good team as the season has gone along, and everybody believes we can still get to the playoffs. The guys really believe in each other.

It's a tough thing to see the process going so long.

It's a big difference from then to now.

It was a wake-up call for us tonight, definitely. We can't take nights off. We have to play hard every single night. And we didn't do it. We have a good record at home. But we have to be a lot better. I have to give them credit. They're a lot better club than their record.

It was a must-win for us, obviously. I guess we have to be satisfied - we played .500. But at this point in the year, it's not going to be enough for us.

It's a dream final. We've got five, six million people in our country, and I'll bet there's going to be every single one watching the game on TV. For our country, we've got a lot of bad memories playing against Sweden, but we're here to change that.

It's a disappointing way to lose. We played pretty solid, but mistakes cost us.

It's very disappointing. I think we played just a great tournament, so many big games, and I thought we deserve this.

It's no point to be frustrated. Obviously if you're going to play under the rules, you have to get used to the rules. Otherwise you're going to be in the penalty box.

It's a lot more fun to be in the playoff hunt than out of it. This time of year we've usually been 10-12 points out.

It's going to take some time, (but) we've been getting better every practice.

It's good to go home and play, ... because it's been a while since people in South Florida have seen hockey.

It's good to get the two points. We can't worry about other teams. There's 14 games left, and if we win all 14, who knows? Is it going to be enough? It's not up to us.

It's hard to put into words. It's pretty similar to when Canada and the Soviet Union played the Summit Series. It's like that every time for us against them.

It's been a rough month. You read every day in the newspaper and see the numbers to see what the losing streak is. It's over now. It's a good feeling.

It's been pretty tough the past two weeks, with everyone asking questions about what's going to happen and not knowing about the future. Now it's time to focus.

It's really tough mentally being out of the playoffs again. It's going to be a long summer again.

Everybody was focusing. It wasn't easy but we were able to do that. You can see there's a lot of character in that (dressing) room.

Everybody saw we were ready to play as soon as the puck dropped. Things just kept rolling in the second period. ... It was amazing. Everything went our way.

It's amazing how hard they work, every shift.

It's a must-win again. It's pretty much been the same story the past two weeks. I don't think it's going to change for the rest of the year.

It's always tough as a player. You never know where you're going to end up. I'm happy. For me, it felt like if I would be traded, it would be like I would just throw the towel on the floor, as well.

It's definitely the last thing I wanted to have now, four days before the season starts, ... It's nothing major. ... I'm pretty confident it'll only be a few days.

It was a big two points. You have to give credit to Washington. They played really hard. Somehow, we've been able to find a way in close games against them.

It was amazing. Everything went our way, but I think the main thing was the focus right there when the puck dropped, and we didn't change anything.

They were ready and we weren't. They were the better team and they deserved the two points. Tough loss for us.