Tom Renney Sure Quotations

We really felt the last 20 minutes, and how we chose to approach that, could set the stage for the rest of the series. We wanted to make sure we continued to play hard and honest and not compromise ourselves. We gave our opponents something to think about going into Madison Square Garden. Our objective was to be every bit as intense as we had up to that point and execute the best we could. We tried to send a message.

We've earned the privilege of feeling good about what we've done. But we have won nothing. We know we need our A-plus game in the playoffs, and now is the time that you make sure you're there when the time comes.

We sure hope that we've identified with one thing and that is stability, and the level of, I guess, confidence that goes along with that so you can even push the envelope further and squeeze the cloth a little bit more to bring even more out of people.

We lost our composure, we had some selfish hockey, some undisciplined play, and we had guys that chose to think of themselves ahead of their teammates. One thing we know for sure is we're not going to beat the New Jersey Devils from the penalty box.

There are teams in the league and teams I've coached in the past for which the puck is inconsequential - we're not really built that way. We want the puck as much as we can. We want to make sure we are the ones taking care of it, not Pittsburgh.

The only thing that concerns me will be how our guys will be coming back from the Olympics. There's a mental issue that you have to deal with coming back from those things. These guys expend so much of themselves at this event. It's such a pinnacle at two-thirds of the way through the season. I don't know how that magnitude of an event is going to affect them. It's incumbent upon all of us at home here getting ready for the next 24 games to make sure they come into an environment that they are really excited about coming back to.

It is important to experience everything that you might see in the playoffs. But having said that, we have to make sure that we don't assume anything...And if we play the way we did tonight, it's going to be a tougher road ahead of us than we think.

I think he'd be able to play there under the old rules too. I'm not sure he'd last through 60 minutes. But he's got more guts than a slaughterhouse.

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 wanted to make sure we could at least show New .Jersey that we had some depth on our PK. You roll the dice in those kinds of situations. He went beyond what I expected, but it shows he's a competitive person. I have no regrets on it. It's a decision I'll live with, though.

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.

We're going to be really very, very careful here and make sure that we give him a chance to assess where he is, both psychologically and physically, before we even contemplate putting him back in.

They all felt that they've been well prepared, well organized and that the game plan was appropriate and that they needed to check in mentally and emotionally to go and execute. I'm not sure where that leaves you at the end of the day as a coach. You're still sort of picking straws.

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.

As long as we're working hard and playing within our system we should be able to get scoring chances with him out there at less than 100 percent. But we're going to be really very, very careful here and make sure that we give him a chance to assess where he is, both psychologically and physically, before we even contemplate putting him back in.

They are going to come out harder (Saturday). I'm sure of it. They could've won tonight. The difference was our specialty teams.

It's a special year for those reasons. Jaromir has just had a tremendous year and has helped us all grow and mature as a team, naturally. And then to get to a 100 points, I'm not sure we predicted that in September.

You try to generate some things that might be able to give you a push, I'm not sure we got it to the degree that we hoped to. Then again, we lost, so I guess that speaks volumes.

I'm not so sure we pushed the envelope, quite honestly. When you don't make it tough for the opponent, it's not real tough to defend. We didn't have a lot of net drive. We didn't have a lot of rebound opportunities.

I'm leaving that open. I want to make sure I make an informed decision.

I'm not sure that we competed hard enough for the first 40 minutes, and the third period was just basically a penalty-kill period. There's not a lot to like about the game, quite honestly. But we'll go to school and correct ourselves.

I'm not sure we got caught tired. I think we just got caught flat-footed.

I'm not sure we competed as hard as we needed to for the first 40 minutes. Then the third period was all a penalty kill. There's not a lot to like about the game, honestly.

I'm not sure they wait for him to do magical things but they are sort of watching history here, too.