They Said It: Brind’Amour, Stepan, Staal on win over Islanders

Despite watching Antti Raanta leave the game due to injury in the second period, the Carolina Hurricanes picked up an important 5-2 win over the New York Islanders on Sunday.

Rod Brind’Amour, Derek Stepan, and Jordan Staal spoke to the media after the win. Here’s what they had to say:

Rod Brind’Amour

On Raanta’s injury and how Kochetkov closed the game out: Well, what are you gonna do? Cry over it? We just have to keep moving forward. Thankfully, we brought him over. It’s not what you draw up or what you want to have happened, with injuries, especially with goalies. Hopefully, neither of them will be too serious and we’ll get them back.

On the resolve of the team and their third period: Our third period was our best period. We didn’t give up anything. We’re going to get our chances, but it’s about just limiting theirs. It looked like how we want to play, especially the game-winning goal. It was great work by everybody. It wasn’t a pretty game for two periods, but I thought it was a really good third period.

On Domi’s playmaking ability and if he wants to see him shoot more: He’s an unselfish player. He’s really good with the puck, and he’s made a lot of great plays with the puck on his stick. Can you get him to shoot more? Yeah, you say that about Teravainen, too, but he scores goals, too. That’s just their nature. They want to set up other guys and are very unselfish. He definitely had the ability to put the puck in the net, which we’d definitely like to see more of.

On Jarvis: He knows how to play. You don’t last as long as he has in this league and play power play and kill penalties - whatever you ask him to do, that’s what a pro is.

On who will come up to back up Kochetkov: I don’t know, to be honest. And I don’t know how bad Raanta is. I’m hoping it’s not too serious. We’ll know more in a couple of days.

On how Domi has settled in: It’s taken a little while for us to figure him out. We’ve used him at every position, and he’s done really well. He’s gotten better and better, so I think he’s more comfortable with how we play. It takes time to bring in a guy from one system and put him into what we’re doing. I think he’s getting that, and that makes him more comfortable. He’s making plays out there and scored a big goal. That’s been a big addition.

Derek Stepan

On Raanta’s injury and stepping up around Kochetkov: Yeah, I don’t think it’s an easy position for a goaltender to come in midgame. I thought Raanta was really good for us. When [Kochetkov] came in, I think everyone really tightened up to help a teammate. The kid did a great job. Overall, our best period was the third period. That’s a big part of tonight’s game.

On what let them get to their game in the third: I don’t know. We just weren’t as sharp as we needed to be. I think it just sharpened us a little bit. That’s all it takes nowadays in this game, just a little bit of elevation and it can be the difference. I think the little sharpening was huge for us.

On him scoring and on being in and out of the lineup: Nobody likes sitting out. I’m no different. I was excited to play....*technical difficulties*....I want to continue to make it hard to not keep me in the lineup and continue to focus in on what I can do to help.

Jordan Staal

On Raanta going out and Kochetkov: The kid looks great. He’s played really well for us right from the start. It’s unfortunate. Obviously you don’t want injuries in that position, but the team has obviously done a great job having some depth. [Kochetkov] has come in and played really, really well. We’re going to continue to fight in front and play well for him, and we’ll keep moving on.

On Stepan performing even when he’s not consistently in the lineup: He’s a pro. He’s done a great job throughout this year. Obviously it’s not exactly the way he would want it this year, but he’s taking it in stride. He’s really just been on the ball as soon as he’s gotten the call, and tonight was another example of a great game by him. He’s such a smart player, and obviously it was a great stick on his goal. He’s done a lot of things. He’s been great on the PK. He’s helped me out a few times when I’ve messed up, so he’s done a great job of coming in and playing well for us. That’s another type of situation that this team done a really good job of having that.

On the mentality heading into the third period: The first we gave up probably one too many. I thought we had a couple shifts here and there that were solid. In the second period, they started taking it to us a little bit. They made some good plays and kind of wore us down a little bit. We obviously just wanted to get to our game in the third and stay at that level of pace. Our team has done a great job all year long of having solid third periods and staying at that pace that we play at. We keep pressure on, keep creating turnovers. We started to take over the game and really had the puck a lot and started to play our style.