He said it: Rod Brind’Amour on rematch with Tampa Bay

The Hurricanes will look to bounce back from last night’s 3-2 overtime loss to Tampa Bay Tuesday night and pick up two important points in the rematch with the Bolts.

Rod Brind’Amour spoke with the media Tuesday morning about tonight’s matchup, here’s a full breakdown of everything he had to say:

On if there’s any lingering issues from last night: I’m not sure. We had meetings this morning here, but I haven’t talked to the trainers, so we’ll get an update here shortly.

On what it takes to be a Selke contender: I think you have to be a two-way player. A guy that plays at the end of the games both ways, so when you’re up a goal and down a goal. Those are the guys that I think you should consider. So they’re obviously counted on to provide offense, but they’re the guys that you count on when you need to defend. Those are the guys that, in my mind, deserve those awards.

On saying the team didn’t have the emotional investment Monday night: I don’t know. I just think we were a little flat. I always tell it how it is. Maybe I shouldn’t, because I listen to other coaches when they don’t play well, and they don’t say it like I do. It feels like it takes a life of its own when I tell you how I really feel about it. But I think there’s just a little level that we needed to get to to compete in that game, and we didn’t really have it emotionally, so it affected our whole game. Why? We’re in the midst of a lot of hockey, and I think we ask a lot of these guys, and at the end of the day, we were still in a 2-2 game in overtime, and had the first grade-A chance to win it. So we’re always trying to figure out how to be better, and it’s not easy playing a good team. But I know to beat those guys, we have to be at our best. So that’s why I said we needed to have a little more emotional investment in that game last night.

On a starting goaltender and other lineup changes: [Alex Nedeljkovic] is playing. There might be, we had a couple guys block shots too. So everything’s kind of up in the air with some game-time decisions on other players, but I’m hoping that we don’t have any changes to the lineup.

On Alex Killorn’s hit on Martin Necas: I only watched it once. I just said ‘What’s the point?’ It doesn’t matter. It’s done. I can’t really comment on it. It’s over with, and we’ve got a game to play tonight. I hate seeing guys get hurt regardless of whether it’s a good hit or not. Whatever you think of it, I just hate seeing guys get hurt on any play, let alone hits.

On if Teuvo Teravainen could play tonight: No, we’re still waiting on him. Hopefully, like I said the other day, we’ll get him in soon. I guess the best way to put it is I don’t think it’s in the next day or two. I think we’re still a few days away, but that’s kind of up to him, at this point, I think.

On finding a balance between winning games and making sure the team has enough energy for the playoffs: You want to win every game, and you want to push, and you want to make sure you’re playing your best, but there’s a fine line too. I see it now. I see it in how we’ve pushed hard all year. I think that’s the only way to do it, but I also know it takes a toll, mentally and physically. There’s a right way to play and we have to maintain that, but there is a balance too. I think that’s more where you really balance your practice times and don’t practice just to make sure you’re rested. That physical and mental fatigue is something that’s definitely evident in our group, but it’s everybody throughout the league.