Notes and Quotes: Hurricanes 5, Islanders 4 (OT)

From the Coach

Bill Peters:

I thought it was a pretty good game.

(On Washington game coming up) It sets us up really well. Obviously we didn’t play well last time we were in that building, so we’ve got to have a better response, and we go to Dallas to finish off before the bye week.

We know what we have to do. We’ve divided what’s left into segments. We know how many points we have to get in each segment, and we’re on our way. Coming out of the all-star break, we know what we have to do.

We’ll take a day off tomorrow, re-charge, and get ready to play our next two games... one game at a time. We need contributions from everybody and we got that here this week.

(On going back to Ward) We put a lot of thought into it, and didn’t make the decision until today, to be honest with you. Earlier in the week, if you had asked me if Ward was going back to back, I would have said no. The more we talked about it, the more we wanted to see what happened against Edmonton, and we were able to do that and made the decision.

(On what went right tonight) Just the ability to generate and score on our chances. We did a good job finishing, we didn’t have a lot of chances... in the second half of the game, but we were able to convert on the limited chances that we did have.

I liked the composure on the game-winner, 3-on-3 with no stick, and they were able to isolate that.

From the Locker Room

Lee Stempniak:

We’ve done a lot better job of responding to any adversity or something like that. Goals against can happen sometimes, and it’s all how you respond to it. You can’t let it snowball. (Tonight) was a great example of that.

Penalty kill’s done a great job all season. They’re well-coached, and they execute well... Cam’s helping out too.

(On upcoming game at Washington) We know the situation we’re in, so for us any two points is big. If you can get points against a team you’re chasing like Washington, that’s great. Whether we’re gonna catch them, probably not, but a team like that, you want to get those points.

(On if he felt Berube was fighting puck) No, I didn’t get that sense. I thought he made a nice save on me in the first period, and then he made some good saves. We had some good looks... I thought actually he played well.

Ron Hainsey:

Maybe not the sharpest defensively played game but it turned into an entertaining one... We caught a lucky break there with JT breaking his stick off the draw and we were able to set up a nice play.

Yeah, you wanna keep going when you make mistakes, especially... you know we have a youngish team here... It’s much easier to forget whatever happens with a goal against when you come back and score a goal... it was a lot of hard work... it wasn’t pretty obviously, but we were able to get it done.

(On Lindholm) His hands are really going, he’s making a lot of good plays... he’s really been good with the puck for a long stretch here.

They did a good job. Their “D” were up on the rush a lot creating a lot of problems for us... Some good players back there, and they were pouring it on, certainly.

I don’t know how realistic it is we’re gonna hunt down one of Washington, or Columbus, or Pittsburgh... they’re playing quite well, but we need all the points we can get here.

(On the last penalty kill) You’re obviously happy to get it to overtime at that point, and get the point... we did a reasonably good job of not letting them get set up.

Game Notes

• Elias Lindholm picked up two assists today, including his first secondary assist of the season. Coming into tonight, all 18 of his assists had been those of the primary variety.
• Lee Stempniak scored his 10th goal of the year on the day of his 34th birthday.
• Ron Hainsey doubled his goal total for the season by picking up his third and fourth of the year, including the game-winning goal in overtime.
• The Hurricanes improved to 3-0-0 since the all-star break, as they look to erase the five-game losing streak that put them in such a tough position.
• Brock McGinn snapped a 7-game pointless streak with his assist on Teravainen’s buzzer beater to end the second period. The last time he recorded a point came in his herculean four-point effort when the Islanders visited Raleigh.
• The Islanders fell to 5-1-2 under Doug Weight. They’ve been much better under him than under Jack Capuano, at least as far as results go. Their underlying numbers have been lacking, but tonight that wasn’t the opposite. The Isles dropped a game that they probably deserved to win.