Quotes from the Capitals versus Rangers Second Round playoff Series

Alain Vigneault, New York Rangers Head Coach

On the series…

“We were taking it one game at a time.  Game 5 we found a way to win.  Game 6, definitely our goaltender was the difference.  We had a real strong first period but they had a tremendous push.  Tonight it was a hard fought game.  Two teams that aren’t separated by a lot.  Game 7, overtime, we were able to find a way.”

On the team’s play in the series…

“I just think our guys stay in the moment, stay in the present and focus on what needs to be done.  They go out and play and have fun doing it.”

On the lineup in overtime…

“Game 7, you are going into overtime, you are down to five D – sometimes you shorten up the bench.  You’ve got to find a way, and our guys found a way.”

On playing the Capitals…

“There is so little separating both teams.  It was a very competitive series.  Both teams had their top players playing well.  It was a lot of fun.”

On coming back in the series…

“I expect this group to win.  Even though we were behind I thought we were playing good hockey.  It was a matter of staying with the process and that’s what we did.”

On the atmosphere in the series…

“You tell your players to focus on their job and what they need to do and you (coaches) are doing the same thing.  There was a lot of atmosphere, there was obviously a tense moment, but guys just play.  It’s probably more stressful for the fans watching the game than it is for us.  We are just going out and just trying to play.”

∙        Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers defenseman/captain

 

On overtime…

 

“We spent the majority of the game there. We spent some good quality time in their zone. In overtime there we had to play a few shifts in our end. Ultimately this group found a way, coming back from being down one there early on. It’s a great feeling for sure to come through here on home ice in front of the crowd.”

 

On playing in close games…

 

“You have to be smart, we talked about it. [You have] to make sure shifts are short and don’t get overextended out there. We’ve been in situations like that before and we trust each other out there.”

 

On the pressure in overtime…

 

“Obviously that’s not ideal but we had some pushes of our own there. It was great that we kept them on the outskirts there. Hank [Henrik Lundqvist] had to make a couple big saves, but in the end we knew we needed to get pucks towards the net. The first one didn’t even hit him [Holtby], it was a deflection but Step [Derek Stepan] finds it there and puts it home.”

 

∙        Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers goaltender

 

On winning the series…

 

“It’s hard to describe. You think a lot throughout the game, you try not to be ahead of yourself or anything like that but it’s hard not to. You know everything is on the line. The last five minutes of the third period and overtime you know one mistake and it’s all over or you are moving on. It’s such a great feeling when you see the puck go in. This series was fun. Washington played really well and [Braden] Holtby was outstanding.  For me personally it was a great challenge to try to match that and stay in the game. It’s fun when you feel like you are doing your part and then there are moments where the team steps up and scores the big goals.”

 

On the closeness of the series…

 

“I have been thinking like that all series because [Braden] Holtby has been playing that well and it’s been hard for us to sometimes create big chances. I felt like the first two periods were a little more open and then in the third you could see it was two teams that knew that the next goal is going to be huge. So we still created some big chances. It’s just a good feeling being part of this group. We’ve been through so many things over the last few years. You learn from it and you appreciate those moments, even though you have to move on and you can’t keep stopping. But it definitely helps that we’ve been part of so many different things throughout the years and in this situation we are confident in this group and how we play. In the end it all comes down to just one play. It was close a couple times that they got the win [in other games]. But the puck was on our side and it’s just fun to get another chance.”

 

On coming back to win after being down in the series 3-1…

 

“I think it’s important that you stay focused on the positives. They [Washington] won three out of the four but it was close games. That’s important to know that you don’t need to change much to win a game. It you feel like you have to do so much more, you might be in a tough spot. But we knew that we were very close, there were a couple things, the puck might need to bounce our way a little bit more and try to solve [Braden] Holtby and we did. It starts with confidence and that you can do it and take one game at a time and we did a great job.”

 

∙        Derek Stepan, New York Rangers forward/alternate captain

 

On his game-winning goal…

 

“Well they are a good faceoff team and all series long we’ve talked about faceoffs with all the forwards, involving everybody.  It’s a 50-50 puck and Jesper (Fast) is able to get his stick on it and poke it back to Keith (Yandle) and from there we have a one-timer set up and we get a fortunate bounce.”

 

On overtime…

 

“It was pretty much a hard fought series.  Both teams back and forth, momentum swings.  For most of overtime they have the puck and we just find a way to stick with it.  Hank (Lundqvist) made some big saves and we were able to get a fortunate bounce.”

 

On scoring the series-winning goal…

 

“It’s a special feeling.  We have a lot of work to do here.  It’s certainly a lot of fun but we have a lot of wotk to do here.  You know that we are only half way.”

 

On the series…

 

“You know we just seem to have a group here that just keeps their wits about them and you compete.  We said from Game 5 – let’s just take it one period at a time and you never know what can happen.  We were able to find ourselves in a Game 7 at MSG.”

 

∙        Dan Girardi, New York Rangers defenseman/alternate captain

 

On the team’s feeling physically…

 

“You feel good, there is no feeling tired out there.  Unfortunately Boyler (Boyle) went down so we had five D back there so we had a lot more ice time for the five of us, but we managed to do well.  This time of year, in overtime (of) Game 7, you can’t be tired.”

 

On the game-winning goal…

 

“Step (Stepan) won the draw.  Yans (Yandle) made a good play over to me.  I got a good whack on it and honestly I thought it was going in because I didn’t hear anything, didn’t see anything.  It went by everyone.  I think someone came by, maybe it hit their shin pad and it kicked right to Step’s stick.  You knew it was going to end like that somehow, either way.  It was going to be a shot on net, quick play, and I’m glad we are on the good end of that one.”

 

On Derek Stepan’s line…

 

“They have gelled really well together, with Jesper (Fast) on there.  Kreids (Kreider), the way he’s playing, giving us a chance to win every night.  They are just clicking right now.”

 

On the feeling in the locker room going into overtime…

 

“We were just getting some rest, getting the fluids.  We know what we have to do out there – just stay within our structure and not be too crazy, not grip our sticks, just play our game.  Not much was said – we just went out there and played.”

 

∙        Marc Staal, New York Rangers defenseman/alternate captain

 

On the series…

 

“They’re a big, strong team and they play physical.  They don’t give you much and make you work for everything you get.  They run a lot of interference, and it’s a lot of grinding.  Something that they obviously try to do is slow us down and we had to get into that game sometimes.  I thought we did a great job when we had to play that way.”

 

On winning the series and advancing to the Conference Finals…

 

“Obviously it’s a huge win to get to the Conference Finals.  We were here last year and we’re a confident team. We take it game by game.  Now our focus shifts to Tampa in Game 1.”

 

On the Capitals forecheck in overtime…

 

“You’ve just got to stay with it.  You need a good block, a big stick, a big save in those situations.  You always try not to panic.  We were hemmed in for a few shifts, that’s what good teams do to you.  We were able to find a way to damper that a little bit and create our own chances.”

 

∙        Barry Trotz, Washington Capitals head coach

 

On the series…

 

“We asked our guys to do two things today. Obviously in a seven-game series against a good opponent is be relentless as you have been all year and play without a fear in game 7. That’s really what I asked again. I said leave your best game out there and if that’s good enough you’re going to win and if it’s not good enough you can walk out of here with your head held high. We had 14 incredible games in our two series here going seven and they were very hard, very intense and they were that close in game 5 here. We could have closed it out and then in game 6 we got off to a slow start and from there I think you saw what the Washington Capitals are about today. You saw two very good teams go nose to nose just inches with the team winning an inch here, and inch there, and everybody here probably predicted 7 games and you got it.”

 

More on the series…

 

“It’s always painful when you look back at those moments in game 5. This is how the series went and I thought Game 5 was one of their weaker chances. It was one of those where it was 3-on-4 and they didn’t really have any play and they throw it towards the net and I think it was off our defensemen’s heel and changes direction and finds its way in. That’s sort of the way it goes sometimes. In Game 6 we gave up the goal early but we saw the character and I think we made giant strides in our group in this series. I kept saying to the guys all year long is that you learn different things from defeat and you learn different things from winning. This is a new group. Our team has changed but we are learning from our history and are looking it right in the eye and we went after this game. There’s no nervousness on our part. We went after the New York Rangers in their own barn and almost pulled it off. I said to them all year defeat is not your undertaker and should be your teacher. We learned a lot, we had some young kids that learned a lot and we got some great veterans. You’re going to see the Washington Capitals back here again.”

 

∙        Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals goaltender

 

On losing the series after leading 3-1…

 

“I don’t think that makes it any more frustrating for us.  Obviously, we had an opportunity to close it out, but all the games were close.  It could have been 3-1 the other way at that time and us coming back.  We fought hard and it was a great series, one that could have easily gone our way, but it just didn’t.”

 

On the series…

 

“It was good hockey.  Both teams played really well.  We obviously feel we played good enough to win a series, but you look at them, and they played good enough to win the series.  It’s tough to swallow.  This group is special and it’s unfortunate.”

 

∙        Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals forward/alternate captain

 

On the team…

 

“We have a great group of guys in the dressing room.  The difference from last year is we play the right way.  It’s something we want to build on, but it’s tough to think about right now.”

 

On the team’s play in the series…

 

“The biggest thing for us is everyone played the right way.  Everyone blocked shots, everyone worked hard, and that’s what you need to do.  I think if you compare it to last year, it’s a lot better.  It’s also disappointing, because you want to go further.”