Notes and Quotes: Maple Leafs 3, Hurricanes 2 (OT)

From the Coach:

Bill Peters:

(On generating offense) Credit to the guys for being ready to start on time. They did a good job there. Gotta find a way to finish some plays. I thought there was a lot of positives in our game, in our team game. I thought some individuals play outstanding. Victor Rask skated very well, 8-for-10 on draws... Little more finishing around the net is what we’re needing and lacking right now.”

(On Rask) I hope he plays like that again... I thought he played very well so he did a good job. I like the fact that he had more pace to his game. They’re a very quick team.

(On Polak-on-Zykov hit) Yeah, upper body for sure, didn’t look good. It looked like it was a hard hit, he went in awkward obviously. So, tough one, tough play. First shift for (Zykov) in the game, and obviously coming off a pretty exciting game for him in his last game.

From the Locker Room:

Jordan Staal:

I thought we played a solid game. It was a good game, we didn’t find a way to get the two points, had a couple chances 3-on-3... a lot of good things throughout that game.

(On converting shots into goals) Keep shooting, eventually they’re gonna go in. Obviously, there’s always a thing of getting in front of goalies, and getting in front of his eyes. Goalies are good in this league, and they’re gonna stop it if they see it for the most part.

(On the schedule) We’ll just keep working, and taking advantage of what we have to do off the ice to help us keep our legs and keep us going. It’s a lot of hockey, but it’s been good. We’ve been working hard, and I think we’ve continued to play pretty well the last couple.

Teuvo Teravainen:

It was a good battle, but it was tough we didn’t get the win.

(On playing with a short bench) Of course it makes a difference, I think Murph played a little forward, so it’s new for him so it’s of course a little hard, but I think our guys did a good job either way.

(On offense) We’ve been talking. We want to shoot a lot and create traffic around the net, and that’s how we score goals so that’s good. If we’re shooting the puck, it’ll go in.

(On the power play) It’s all about confidence. You want to feel good about yourself. You want to make some plays, and have the confidence to make some moves. Either way you have to shoot the puck too, like my goal I just threw it in there and it bounced in.

Jaccob Slavin:

(On depth on the penalty kill) They’re just smart players. They’re talented, and they can play in every situation, so it’s nice that we can have reliable players like that all down the bench.

(On play he made on Marner) It was kind of an instinct play I guess. It was reading and reacting a little bit I guess, to him. Like I said, he’s a really skilled player, so you can’t respect him too much, but you’ve got to be able to respect what he can do, and just try to take away his time and space there.

It was a tough pill to swallow on that one. Gotta give props to their goalie, he played a pretty good game, but we definitely had our opportunities to score, and we just gotta take advantage of that next time.

(On his minutes) I just play until we either get the two points or the buzzer blows, so I just try to play consistent all the way through.

Game Notes

• Valentin Zykov was knocked out of the game on his first shift on a nasty hit from Roman Polak.
• Forwards Teuvo Teravainen and Victor Rask scored goals to give them each points in two consecutive games
• Defenseman Jaccob Slavin set a new season high for ice time, as he fell just short of the 30 minute mark, coming in at 29:47.
• With an assist tonight, forward Elias Lindholm got his 27th of the season. He’s now one short of tying the career high that he set last year.
• With tonight’s loss, the Hurricanes have now lost their last three games that have gone to overtime. They have not won since Ron Hainsey’s overtime winner in Brooklyn.