Tom Renney Ourselves Quotations

We want him to stay out of the penalty box. At the same time, it's a fine line, because you don't want him to change his game. He can certainly influence a game, and I thought he did. I thought we created a bit of an advantage for ourselves by the way he came out to play, and maybe he took New Jersey off their game, at least initially.

We're giving ourselves the chance to ride the hot guy.

Maybe we got too full of ourselves after the last game, figuring we'd arrived. It's not about arriving. It's about working to get somewhere. And we didn't work tonight - not nearly as hard as we have to.

Maybe we got too full of ourselves after the last game and figured we had arrived. I'm not going to blow a gasket, but I'm angry that we didn't respond to a really terrific challenge for us.

Obviously the penalty parade would suggest I'm not completely happy at all, nor should (the players) be. There's no benefit of the doubt in the playoffs. You're in the big parade now and you've got to participate. It becomes obviously clear we're incapable of dealing with the pressure of these types of situations well enough to stay out of the penalty box and give ourselves a chance.

If we give ourselves a chance 5-on-5, we'll get that win we're looking for. If we don't, it's short.

If we're going to win this series anyway, with or without Jagr, we have to have all hands on deck. If we give ourselves a chance 5-on-5, we'll get exactly what we're looking for. If we don't, it's short.

I don't think you ever hang that responsibility on a rookie. He's one of the ways by which we can get ourselves going.

Kevin was fine. I thought it was more an opportunity to wake up 18 guys and get ourselves back in the hockey game by doing what we have to do in terms of managing the puck, and maybe give yourself to play 5-on-5 hockey or better.

We humiliated ourselves here today. We embarrassed ourselves. That's probably the bottom line, I don't think I have to say that much about it.

We have to stay out of the penalty box to give ourselves a chance. The one thing I know for sure is that we are not going to beat the New Jersey Devils from the penalty box.

We have to play fundamental, sound hockey, with him in or out of the lineup, quite frankly. And if we give ourselves a chance with whomever wears the colors to play five-on-five or better, we have a decent chance to win the game. Basically, we beat ourselves (in Game 1).

What I'm surprised at is that we choose to let ourselves get down a goal or two before we ignite ourselves in the way we need to play. And that's a heavy consequence when you're playing teams that really know how to play within their structure. I'll be surprised if it continues.

We really can't afford to look past the next 20 minutes of hockey. There are some neat things building between the Devils and ourselves and we're happy about that for everybody concerned.

We almost showed them too much respect. We were awful in the first, better in the second and did everything we could in the third to try and get ourselves a win.

Two different teams. I'm sure if everyone would be honest with you, they'd say they did their best to get ourselves excited and ready to play. But in the backs of their mind, they probably were thinking we should get this one tonight, all things being equal.

There's no benefit-of-a-doubt stuff in the playoffs. You're in the big parade now and you have to participate. If we give ourselves a chance to play five-on-five hockey, then who knows?

It was time to circle the wagons and clearly explain to the guys that we need to be better and we've got to commit ourselves to what we have been about in the past if we want to do anything with the future. And I'm talking about (tomorrow). We want to make sure we win that game, and to do it, we have to be a much better hockey club than we were tonight.

Some teams aren't sure they can win. Some teams hope they can win, and some teams know, not just that they can win, but that they're going to win. I'm not sure we're there yet, but we really believe that every night we do give ourselves a real good shot at winning the game. That's part of the evolution. I'd like to get to the point where we know we can win.

You're in the 'big parade' now, and you have to participate. If we give ourselves the chance to play five-on-five hockey, then who knows? This is something that's been in our game early in the season, late in the season, and it's obvious that we are incapable of dealing with these types of situations. We have to stay out of the penalty box to give ourselves a chance.

It's a team that lost their poise and their composure, simple as that. ... We humiliated ourselves here today and we embarrassed ourselves.

It's a team that lost its poise and it's composure, simple as that. We clearly talked about what needed to be done in the second period and if we would have given ourselves a fighting chance by playing even-up hockey, there's a good chance we win the hockey game. We lost our composure, saw some selfish hockey, some undisciplined players and some guys who chose to think of themselves before their teammates.

It's a reference point, that's probably the biggest advantage we created for ourselves out of tonight. We did come from behind to beat a real good hockey team and we have to use that for what it's worth.

It's a judgment day for our team. This season could be recognized one way or the other by how we choose to perform on Saturday. We want the outcome to obviously be in our favor. We have to play a good, strong, playoff hockey game and if we do that, we'll put ourselves in a position to win it anyway.

In the nature of the game, things have a way of balancing out. We've got some pretty good shooters, we've got guys who can score in the shootouts. That's just the way it goes. I think we have to be real careful we don't analyze ourselves to a standstill.

I didn't think we were real sharp, real crisp (early in the game), and if we weren't careful, we might have beaten ourselves tonight. But we did hang in there and we did pay attention to details that can win you games and ultimately got ourselves a nice lead.