Simon Gagne Quotations

We're still in first. We lost a couple games recently and they won their games so they got closer to us. It's going to be a big game. We want to stay at the top.

We did our job by winning our game. What are you going to do? They fought back. They're the hottest team in the league and they showed they could fight to the end. They deserve it and now we've got to focus on Buffalo.

Some nights it's like that. Some nights it's mental. If a couple guys aren't ready, that makes a big difference. In hockey, you need all 20 guys.

Peter is very helpful when he is on the ice with me. Right now, he is not here, and I need to give a little bit more if I want a chance to score. Hopefully, he will be back here soon.

I don't know what reason there is so early in the season to have that kind of break.

He does a great job guarding low. We have to bring it up on him.

He sees me pretty well on the ice. He's amazing. He finds me everywhere. He's fun to play with.

He was pretty good. We all felt bad -- but we need to be positive.

I talked to the doctor (Saturday) and it's (more) positive that I originally thought.

I think we were close before the lockout, and now, even though we have a bunch of new guys, we?re still close, if not closer to being a championship team.

I think it was our worst game defensively,

Some of the other guys have to step up. I'm one of them.

I think it would be surprising if my name was on it. It?s always the same guys. A guy on the third line who plays against the best lines every night. It?s tough to tell.

I'm starting to feel better. ... I have to say, I think the three of us are starting to feel a little more energy.

I'm shocked. This is not the way we wanted to finish the season. You don't want to lose like that in front of your fans.

That was not our team on the ice.

I would love to come back as early as possible.

We dominated the game in Buffalo because of the start. The start of the game is very important for us, especially with the type of team we have.

You always want to do something special when you're coming back.

We have not had one game where the entire team has been healthy. This is a chance to get some guys rest and get a few guys back after the break.

We were all aware of that but we came flat with no energy.

The rebound came right onto my stick. All I had to do was put it over Marty.

When you have everybody, it brings some confidence for the other lines. We had success with that (line) at the start of the year and hopefully it can help us win games the rest of the way.

Without saying what adjustments that we made, we played a lot harder than we did in the second game. I don't want to say we're back in the series, but we're close.

When we try to chase them that's what they want. They want us to open that (four-man) box.

We wanted to get back on track. You go two games without scoring a goal and it gets in your mind a bit.

We need to get back to what we were doing good. We need to figure out what we're doing wrong.

We need to get as close as possible as soon as possible. That's the challenge in front of us.

We all know that sometimes when you play, you feel like you're slow and you get a slow start and that's something that we can't do in Toronto,

We all know it was bad. That was not a good effort.

This was the kind of game that you look back at the end of the season and the two points would have really helped in the standings. We had a great chance to get into first place. This is not acceptable.

We tried to start better and score a couple of quick goals, and it was a big plus when we did that. Overall, I think we played pretty well defensively.

You get a great feeling when you make a nice hit, or a nice play or a nice pass. But when you're the guy who puts the puck past that red line -- it's pretty much the best feeling you can have.

There's nothing I can do right now but get healthy as soon as possible.

It would be an honor to be a captain in the future for this organization, but when you look around, there are different people having more experience than I do and have been there before. I had two persons in front of me. One was (Eric Desjardins) and the other was (Hatcher). Those were the two people in my mind that were the best people to have that job. That was one reason I was not comfortable with it.

I've always believed that when you play here, the best thing to do is be honest and up front. You'll never see me sneaking out the back door.

Sometimes you have that little hole for that little puck to go through.

Sometimes the energy drops after that. A lot of teams are tired now, a lot of games in a short period of time, and we just need to battle and fight through it.

Right now we don't have it. We need to find a way to get that back.

Practice was more relaxed. We need to be more relaxed. Last week was too intense. (Tuesday) we were relaxed and had more fun on the ice laughing and all that. Sometimes in hockey if you play too intense or too tight you don't play your best game. (Monday and Tuesday) were more relaxing days and I think that's going to show in our game (tonight).

Sometimes, if we have a slow start, we panic a little bit. A lot of bad plays happen after that.

A win on the road like this, we know it's never easy, especially here in Carolina. Both teams were tired after traveling. But I feel very good at the end when you finally get the two points.

That's what we said after the game. It was important to get that win. It doesn't matter how we did it. We could have played better than we did, but you know what. We'll take it and we'll build on it.

You need to get a couple moves in your head. The move I did was the first move in my mind. I haven't had much success in shootouts this year and I was a little nervous on this one. Maybe this takes off some pressure and the next one will be sweeter.

This is a sport we love. We play this game for a reason: it's fun. We have our backs to the wall right now, but we don't want to stop here. We want to keep going. It's pressure, yes, but I like it. We'll see what kind of character we have.

This game is a crucial one if we want to try to finish first. We have it in our hands. We have a chance to start at home. We have to show them we're ready. We're having a lot of success on the road against them. We're relaxed there. Maybe we need to bring some of that here.

They surprised us. It was a special game for them, and they played that way.

A lot of the guys were going to bed early because there were guys who had slept on the plane and guys who hadn't. I talked to a lot of guys (yesterday) who were able to sleep until 9 a.m. Hopefully, the adjustment isn't going to be that difficult and we're able to get the rest we need as we go forward for the rest of the tournament.

A lot of players have different opinions about the way we've played, so sometimes you need to maybe bring what you think and take the best of it. That's something we had to do and I think there are a lot positives from what we talked about and we should see a difference on the ice tomorrow.

They are playing very well right now, and we had a couple good challenges against Detroit and Colorado and this one is just as tough. They are a surprising team this year and they are winning hockey games. We want to show them what we can do and get back to first place in the conference.

You don?t want to think about it, but it?s in the back of your mind. In the last two games I had some great chances. It was good to get this one tonight and now I can turn the page. It will be a lot easier to focus now.

It's a tough way to lose a game. We had a lot of chances, but you're not going to score with only one shot in the third period.

It's a tough time right now we're going through. We look like a tired team, but it's not an excuse. We need to play through it.

It's a little surprising, but it's early in the season. Hopefully that puck will still go in every night. I'm sure it's going to be tough to do it.

It (Olympics) is definitely a step up from the NHL regular season play.

It's tough news to take right now, especially with the start I have had and everything was going well. Right now, we're going through so many injuries and my turn came.

It's not supposed to be like that. But I think everybody knows that this game was maybe looking a little bit easier than Ottawa, New York and New Jersey. This may have been our toughest game this week. That's not right when you come in like that. It doesn't give respect to the other team and maybe that's what we did (Tuesday).

It?s not the way you want to come out here in front of your fans. It?s not the way you want to lose. It?s a tough night.

It's the kind of game you look at at the end of the season and that may be two points we could have had in the standings. All the work we did the last few games was great, but to play the way we played tonight and not put the effort into at least getting the chance to get those two points is not the right way to do it.

It's always fun when you got those lucky goals on your side.

It looks like every night it is tougher and tougher to score goals, and you face the best line on the road.

It's going to be the biggest game of the year. The backs are to the wall right now, and if you're not ready for this one you're never going to be ready.

It?s going to be like that all season and we need to get used to it. Something that was natural to do before, I can?t do now.

It's fun what's going on right now. The puck keeps going in.

It's easy to play with him. I read him pretty good. I just need to get open and he's going to find me. That's a feeling you have to have to be successful.

It's been a long stretch and lots of games, but we pulled it together and got some big wins.

It's pretty frustrating. That was a big point for us.

That's a big number. It was good to get this one. I don't want to say I was not focusing on the game, but it will be a lot easier to focus.

It's something you don't like to see. Hopefully the league is going to take care of it.

It's been great. It's been a while since we had a chance to do this stuff. The last time was at the start of the year in Montreal. A couple days away, putting our minds on the side and not thinking about hockey a little bit may be enough to help us rest mentally and it's something we needed right now.

It was a great effort by our team, ... We had the lead in Carolina and we found a way to lose that game a couple of nights ago. We were in the same situation tonight and I think we played a pretty strong game for 60 minutes. It was a huge win for us here in Ottawa.

It was a great effort by our team, ... I think we played a pretty strong game for 60 minutes. It was a huge win for us here in Ottawa.

I've known him since 2002, so I might get a call later tonight after the game.

It was a great win for us against one of the best teams right now. We need these points. Winning at home is huge for us. We haven't really had a good stretch at home the last few games.

It was a great win for us against one of the best teams right now.

After they scored, we decided to play. It's playoff time. It's not acceptable for a team not to be ready to play. We need to find a way to get momentum right away.

It's really tough to know when you're ready to go back with those kinds of injuries. They're so deep inside. You feel good, but sometimes you need to make sure it's healed and it's ready to go.

That second goal was a great play by Simmer.

I'm enjoying playing the game again. I'm having fun, getting chances every night and it's certainly fun playing next to a player like Peter.

I had no idea the puck was in. But when I went to talk to the referee, he said the puck was in. He said they called that one in from Toronto. I don?t know if that?s a new thing in the NHL, but it?s always fun when you?ve got those kinds of goals on your side.

I like the way the team's playing right now. It's tough, you go on the road and the games are tight, especially against New York, and we found a way to win a game on the road in overtime again. It shows the character the team has.

I haven't had much success with shootouts so I was a little nervous. Maybe next time will be a little smoother.

I haven't thought about it really. I was looking to have a good year and that's still my goal. Right now, it's a little bit higher than I expected.

In the second and third periods, we didn't compete. It was pretty much one of the worst games we played this year.

He's the best player in the world. He's amazing one-on-one. I just try to get open. I know at some point he will find me.

He's looking for me all the time, even when I'm not open. I told him on the bench to think about himself sometimes and just shoot it. It's amazing what Peter can do with the puck.

He's one of the best guys I knew.

He played very well. He made some big saves, especially in the second period. I don't want to say we took the game over, but we played better in the second. We had a couple of great chances and he made big saves.

You can say that. They're built for the new NHL. They're not big, but they have a lot of speed. We have some speed, but we're more physical. We need to play the same way every game. They can be a physical team, too. The longer the series will go, the better chance we will have.