The following quotes have been transcribed by the Philadelphia Flyers public relations department. We can’t guarantee their complete accuracy because we didn’t write them ourselves, but we provide them as a post-game service.
Flyers center Danny Briere
Q: Offensively what has been the key to this run?
“Confidence is a big thing, it seems we’re building chemistry, we’re feeling better and better with each other. Right now we’re playing well defensively; we’re not giving up much, it’s playing the other way too. It’s been a lot of fun, I know it’s not going to last the whole season but we’ll try to take advantage of it while it’s going and while guys are feeling hot with their stick.”
Q: When you see Claude the way he’s playing are you surprised he isn’t on the All-star ballot?
“Yeah, I don’t know, maybe they sometimes go with guys with more experience. I’m not too worried. I’m pretty sure the next ten years he’s going to be on that ballot. When he keeps playing that way there’s no doubt he’s going to be in the All-star game anyway. Like I told him, ‘It doesn’t matter, a ballot doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t mean you’re not going to be there,’ especially the way he’s playing.”
Q: Faceoffs sometimes are things we don’t talk about but two of the five goals came off of great face-off wins.
“That’s an area that we’ve been a lot better. When we’re not doing well everybody is criticizing us in the first month of the season but the past two or three weeks we’re doing a much better job, it’s been paying off in a lot of occasions. It’s a part of the game we’ve been working on after practices, trying to get better at it.”
Q: I know by his standards Mike Richards didn’t get off to a great start but as of late several goals in his last games, can you talk about he’s been able to do?
“We knew it was just a matter of time for him to heat up, start putting the puck in the net. Mike always plays hard, [he is] tough to play against, so it wasn’t a surprise that he was going to heat up at some point.”
Q: Do you think this win was a little different than some of the others, it wasn’t a blowout, it seemed you guys kind of needed to grind this one out.
“Yeah, compared to the last few it took a little longer. If you look at the shots on net we were right there, just like we were the last few games, it just took a little longer to open up the flood gates. Right from the get-go I thought we had a tremendous start and we were ready. We jumped on them right on the first shift of the game and that there was no looking back for us.”
Q: Danny, is there ever an explanation for the teams confidence?
“I wish I knew, I wish I could put my finger on it and just explain it. When it’s not there, [you try] to fix it a little quicker. When it is there you try to run with it as long as you can, try to ride it, that’s all you can do. It’s a lot more fun, everybody’s happy, everyone is in a good mood, it’s fun coming to the rink. I wish it could last the whole year.”
Flyers Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky
Q: A lot of games [started] in a row now. How is this is a hindrance to play this many, if you need some rest a little bit?
“On one hand, physically it’s a little tougher. But on the other hand, with each game, you get into the game much faster. So I prefer to do it [play] as often as possible.”
Q: What was the longest stretch of games you ever played in his career?
“I don’t know. Last season I played 32 games, so I doesn’t know how many in-a-row I played.”
Q: The first goal tonight, it looked like it was a little surprise; [Jason] Spezza’s goal.
“It was a difficult goal and a difficult puck to catch because of, you know how fast it happened. It could be my fault but it’s questionable.”
Ottawa Senators goaltender Brian Elliott
Q: What were your thoughts tonight Brian?
“Could you be more specific please?”
Q: They had a lot of chances tonight…
“It’s a tough game. They came at us pretty hard and we knew that was going to happen and for the most part we did a good job holding on until the third when they broke it apart. We just have to go back to the drawing board and just look at the video. I don’t think we need to change that much but we need to focus on details and play our game and not really play to the other team’s game.”
Q: How tough is it to face a team that’s this deep on offense on four straight penalty kills?
“I think you make your own luck. We got some penalties and they obviously have a pretty good power play. We just have to take advantage of the ones we get and I don’t think we did that tonight but that’s one of the things we have to look at. We have to take the positives out of the game and go back to the drawing board I guess.”
Q: What are the positives you can take from a game like tonight?
“I don’t think we panicked. I don’t think we got out of our frame of mind that we wanted to be in. Sometimes puck luck doesn’t go your way and they got a lot of shots, rebounds and tips. Their first two goals were just tipped in and sometimes they go in and sometimes they don’t. We just need to make our own luck.”
Q: Looking at the big picture, last year you lost the first game and then won the next three against the Flyers for example. Was it just the kind of thing where you step back from it a little bit and just let it pass and get ready to go back at it?
“Yeah we’ve been playing well and you can’t just throw the baby out of the bathwater. Yeah, you need look at the big picture and not get too worried and we have the next game and it’s still early in the season.”
Flyers Center Mike Richards
Q: Have you done something special to flip the switch or has it just been all this hard work finally coming together?
“We are starting to get a lot of the bounces. In the beginning of the year, there was a lot of posts and pucks just seemed to be slipping off sticks. You are going to have that in a year, where you can’t seem to find a balance then you have stretches where pucks just end up on the sticks so that’s a big part in it.”
Q: So it’s not just the mustaches?
“It could be the mustache, but I will tell you one thing, I’m not keeping it after November.”
Q: It has to feel good when the one pass was a muffed pass and resulted in a goal.
“Yeah, and that’s what happens when a team starts rolling. You get more bounces and obviously it happened tonight. There’s that pass that I kind of muffed and it went right on someone’s stick and the puck that came off the boards and ended up right on my stick. With the teams in this league being so close you got to have some bounces, and get some luck, to have success and right now we are capitalizing on a lot of our chances.”
Q: There are games that you win and you shouldn’t have. Do you feel like you guys are playing a complete game?
“Well we are playing well. I’m not going to take anything away from that, for sure. We are doing a lot of good things. We are putting ourselves in positions to get those opportunities. At the same time, we are getting some bounces, and we are making hay on a lot of out opportunities. Hopefully we continue to do it.”
Q: You have gone through an impressive stretch of wins here, Is it nice to get this points early in the year?
“Well it’s certainly…We really take advantage of our home games. Early in the season we were playing well at home, but we weren’t getting the results. But, like I said before, it’s getting the bounces now. We are starting to put more pucks in the net, and we are taking advantage of the home ice and hopefully bring this energy on the road.”
Q: Do you think about being atop the division or conference or is it to early now?
“We play to many games to even really look at that. I think we are a team that knows from experience how things can turn around, either way, if we stop working hard. We can kind of feel the jump at practice, that we are working hard in practice and we are bringing it right into the game. So, we are not taking these teams for granted.”
Q: Did you feel [Matt] Carle send it on your heels like that?
“A little bit, yeah. I saw his stick, actually, off my eye.
Q: 2 of 5 goals were off faceoffs. Can you touch on that?
“Well we work on them almost everyday. Every morning skate, it’s obviously a big bonus when you start with the puck instead of chasing it down. I think with the amount of guys that can take faceoffs, I think, Ville [Leino] won one, and scored on [Briere’s] goal. I think [Carter] is out there too so you can cheat a little bit more if you need to. I guess it’s easier to start with the puck then chasing it down and we put a big emphasis on it.”
Q: Do you think this game was a little different than the last few because you needed to grind it out a little bit?
“Well we knew it was going to be a tough game. There are no more easy games in this league. I thought today, we were fortunate with some bounces and we capitalized on our chances.”
Ottawa Senators Head Coach Cory Clouston
Q: Coach, you kept things clear for the better part of 40 minutes here, but four straight penalties in the second period can kill a lot of momentum.
“Yeah, that’s what it was. We thought we came on towards end of the first and had real good momentum going into the first five or six minutes of the second period. There was kind of a botched play at our blue line that started a snowball going the wrong way. Mistakes happen, but the linesman was in a tough position and kind of created a turnover and started the first penalty and then we just couldn’t get back on track.”
Q: Is it fair to say there was a little bit of mental fatigue that set in here?
“Yeah, possibly. We definitely didn’t have the emotional jump and the energy that we had the night before. We just seemed a little bit flat in a lot of areas. You know, we gave them four straight penalties and they scored on the last one. That really killed all of our momentum that we had tried to gain in the first part of that second period.”
Q: I guess Brian Elliott did all he could to boost the intensity?
“Brian? Yeah. He played well. He played fine.”
Q: You needed a pretty close to perfect game to beat the Flyers today.
“Well, we needed a better, well-rounded game. You can’t give a team four straight power plays. To me, that was kind of shooting yourself in the foot as soon as you get back on track. I think they were on the last 13 and a half minutes, it wasn’t even spread out over the full period. I think it was the last 13 and a half minutes that we killed. We just about killed four straight penalties and if we could’ve killed that last one, it would’ve given us an opportunity to keep some momentum. That really put us behind the eight ball going into the third period.”
Q: Was that short-hander the killer?
“No, the power play goal was the killer. You know, any of the energy that we created early in the period and late in the first had just seemed to go away when we took four straight penalties. Whether they are all penalties or not, everyone has their own opinion. We thought there could’ve been a couple calls, at least somewhere in between there, to break up some of their momentum and give us a little bit. To me, the power play goal kind of did us in.”
Flyers center Claude Giroux
Q: Were you upset at all for not being on the All-star ballot?
“I think anybody that is not on the All-star ballot is disappointed. Obviously it would be fun, but it’s a good league, a lot of good players. I’m still young so hopefully a couple years ahead, maybe.”
Q: (question inaudible)
“Yeah, it’s important to be consistent. The last maybe ten games, 11 games, we’ve been playing as a team, everybody’s contributing. Guys are just working hard, having fun doing it. I think we’re having a lot of fun in the dressing room, the bench, even on the ice. It’s important to keep that attitude and keep going like that.”
Q: Do you take any stock as terms of what you guys are doing in the division and conference?
“We’re trying to show up every game, if it’s the conference or the division, it doesn’t really matter to us. Two points is pretty big for us. We’re just trying to be consistent, show up every night. It’s a long season. Even in practices we’re still out working hard, working on stuff and still trying to get better. Hopefully we can keep going.”
Q: Coach said you’ve been working a lot on face-off in practice, two of the five goals were huge, can you talk about how it can be a momentum shifter?
“Yeah, any time you have a face-off, it’s a little detail in the game, like winning a battle in the corner, it’s the same thing; you get the puck, or you don’t get the puck. Especially in the defensive zone, it’s important so you can break out and in the offensive zone we had a couple chances because our D moved the puck pretty well and they always get the shot on net. I think it’s important to keep working on that.”
Q: By his standards Mike didn’t get off to the best start, but he has seven goals in his last six games, is it nice to see it working for him?
“Obviously Mike is going to show up every night, we know that. He’s one of our leaders. He can show up consistently, he’s playing well for us. It’s good to see.
Q: We’re you surprised his pass found you?
“I don’t think he was trying to do that, but we’ll take it.”
Q: It’s the kind of thing that you wouldn’t have gotten if you weren’t playing well?
“Yeah, the first four games or five games we didn’t get those kind of bounces and right now we are. It’s important to take advantage of that and enjoy it. Hopefully we can keep going.”
Q: Did this all start in Columbus? A lot of guys were not happy with that game…
“Yeah, that wasn’t the way we wanted to play. We didn’t follow the system, we didn’t work. We had a meeting the next day and coach really showed us what we were doing wrong. We finally realized that’s not how we have to play if we want to win. Guys just changed their attitude. Since then we’ve been playing as a team and everybody’s been playing well.”
Q: Are you sure it’s not the moustache’s?
“I’m sure. It’s a good cause but I can’t wait for November to end.”
Q: Sometimes teams coming off a long playoff run tend to get a slow start, were you guys worried about that happening?
“Obviously when we play a long season like that, especially in the playoffs, it’s important to rest. I think guys did that in the summer. Obviously the first five games we didn’t play well but I don’t think that was because of the playoffs last year.”
Q: Was there any guarding against that or discussion about that from the coaches?
“No. I think guys were pretty smart about the summer, taking time off and coming to camp in good shape. The first five games didn’t work the way we wanted but now we’re finally playing the way we should be.”
Flyers GM Paul Holmgren
Q: What’s the word on Dan Carcillo?
“Well he has an injury to his left knee. Right now, we think it’s an MCL sprain, but we are going to have a further exam tomorrow, probably an MRI and we will have a better update tomorrow. We are probably looking at least 2 weeks.”
Q: If [Andreas] Nodl isn’t ready to go…
“I think Andreas… was one of those things this morning where he probably could have played. But, we didn’t want to take the chance. He should be ok for tomorrow.”
Q: With a guy like Danny [Carcillo], how difficult is it for him and this team?
“He’s a good player on our team. He fills a lot of roles. Sometimes he’s on the 4th line and sometimes, depending on the game, he moves up. So obviously, it’s not a good thing for us, but these things happen. Other guys just have to pick it up a bit.”
Q: Will you call up anybody as a precaution for Montreal tomorrow?
“No, probably not for tomorrow, no.”
Flyers Head Coach Peter Laviolette
Q: Peter, in your mind where was the turnaround for this team? Was it the Columbus [Blue Jackets] game?
“I don’t know. Columbus certainly wasn’t a good game, we know that, the players acknowledged that too that we’re a better team than Columbus, we just played flat that night. You can go back, we started okay, played hard and came out 2-0-1. We had a good camp, camp was good. I don’t know if there’s a turning point, I think we just, there’s always going to be a flat spot or two in a season, you don’t want there to be but there is. That three game homestand where it didn’t look good, we were catching teams that had played the night before and we were finding the success. One of the games I liked the way we played, just didn’t get the results. I didn’t like the third period against Tampa Bay and that’s where we got beat, the third period. That one game I didn’t like very much. I don’t know if there’s been a turnaround, I think it has been a steady progression. Nobody was happy with those three games.”
Q: Have you played much better than you have in the last three weeks?
“I liked the way we played tonight. The other few games they kind of got away from us and we started strong which is good, you need that, and I’m not complaining but we dipped a little bit and we got through the game tonight with a real good consistent team effort. We rolled the lines over, played everybody, the power play was good, and the penalty kill was good. The one opportunity they had, defensively we were pretty tight, offensively we threw a lot of pucks at the net, generated a lot of offense and tonight I thought probably was one of our better games.”
Q: If you are without Carcillo for a little while, JVR will have to step in. What are some of the things you’d like to see him doing and if you’ve seen some of that tonight?
“I thought James [Van Riemsdyk] came back in and gave us some jump. He was physical early, he had the chance when he hit the post and a couple other opportunities he got going. Hopefully he’s back, ready, and he’ll be good.”
Q: Is Richards imposing himself more in the last couple games?
“I think he played really fine. His line mates have jumped around a little bit, but we seem to have some consistency with the other lines. His line mates have jumped around and it hasn’t really seemed to affect him. He’s been skating really well and looks like he’s got energy. Tonight when he scored, that was a big goal, and because you’re in a game, it’s tight, and you think maybe you’re probably going to have to kill not only that penalty, but maybe one or two more. So it’s a three to one game, it’s still in question that it’s going to be a tighter finish than we would probably like. He grabs that, he was out there for a bit, pulls away from the guy, and was under pressure with somebody coming in from the back side of him. That was a huge goal. For me that’s where the game went, and we got separated.
Q: Do you think you will be growing a moustache any time soon?
“I will pass on the moustache. That’s for the players, they’re doing a good job of it.”
Q: The points that you have so far, this early, how important is it to keep that moment going early in the year?
“The points are as valuable early on as they are late. Any time you can catch a streak or stretch where you’re putting points on the board and moving forward, you’re separating yourself from team number eleven or team number ten. You’re separating yourself as one of the top conference teams. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the middle of the year or the end of the year, you need to do it consistently. The teams that struggle at the beginning of the year, they find themselves in a dog fight down the stretch. So we just need to keep moving forward, go slow with it, it’s one game. We have to wake up and focus on Montreal tomorrow.
Senators left wing Jarkko Ruutu
Q. You knew it was going to be tough here tonight; and obviously you didn’t help yourselves with the four straight penalties
A.” It was tough tonight. We just tried to battle and to keep those penalties down and they scored one in the end. The four penalties kind of killed the game.”
Q. Is it safe to say that there was some mental fatigue that set in to throw off this game?
A.”I don’t know, we were playing from behind pretty much the whole game so it changed the outlook. I don’t think that we were that poor. The first two periods we feel behind 3-4-1 and that changed the game and it’s very hard to come back. You can erase the last period there, it wasn’t our best.”
Senators right wing Daniel Alfredsson
Q. What were your thoughts tonight?
“They did start well, I think we came back in the last six or seven minutes of the first period and started the second pretty good too. Having those four power plays in the second period, that takes a lot of energy. They got opportunity one, and then the second period make the difference tonight.”
Q. When a game is close like it was, the last thing you want to do is give another team momentum and essentially four straight penalties did that.
“Yeah, a couple of calls were very questionable in my mind but it defiantly does take the momentum away from us. It gives them a lot of puck control and less chasing. I thought going into in the third we would try to make a push and we would make a turnover there, and the power play there put the game away.”
