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 forward Jody Shelley
Q: Are you happy that you got a win in your first game against your former team?
A: A little bit. I got over that real quick. Once you get into warmups, it’s just kinda whatever. You’re just playing hockey again.
Q: Did you expect the fight with Derek Boogaard?
A: Yeah, a little bit.
Q: How do you think you performed?
A: I don’t even need to comment on that garbage. Sound about right? It just ended too quick, and I wouldn’t even call it a fight. … It was all right.
Flyers’ forward Claude Giroux
Q: Did you see [Mike Richards] on that pass?
“Well I saw that there were 4 white [jerseys] around me and [Richards] did a good job yelling. I knew he was back post, because he is always in good position so I just tried to pass it as hard as I can and if he doesn’t roof that it’s not a goal.”
Q: The more you play, the more confidence you have to make plays like that. Is that fair to say?
“Anytime you are on the power play you look for good players. You try to make plays and, I don’t know, you get more comfortable when you play a lot. And this season the whole team is playing well. Anytime the whole team is having fun, and playing well, and working hard, it’s easy to be on top of your game, and I think a lot of guys right now are playing great.”
Q: What has been the difference on the power play in the past week or so?
“Well like I said before, just keep it simple, get it on top, try to open up some shots, and guys are crashing the net, like [Pronger] again tonight. He had a nice shot, and [Carter] had some good position to screen that goalie.
Q: Bobrovsky has had a nice run here. What makes him tough to beat?
“He is always focused, always ready to go. His confidence is pretty good right now, and anytime he is in net we feel pretty comfortable too. We are pretty happy for him.”
Q: As a shooter, is he tough to face in practice?
“Yeah he is not very fun to shoot on.”
Q: It’s only your 1st game against the Rangers, anything like that carry over throughout the season?
“Yeah those games against the Rangers are pretty interesting every year. They are always fun to play, and pretty rough, and we were missing a couple good players here, so I think next game we will be ready to go.”
Q: You gave up the first goal, then you came back and took over the second period. Can you talk about how you respond?
“Yeah first period we came out a little flat and good job by Shelley to get into that fight and we got life after that. We were working hard, and winning the little battles. Anytime you do that you are going give yourself a chance to win the game.”
Q: You have had the advantage of playing at home a lot. Now that you have won 5 straight games, how has that kept you going and keep you going?
“Yeah anytime you play at home, you try to get those wins because it’s going to be huge at the end of the season. Right now, we have done a great job of playing well right now and hopefully we can go on the road for the next few weeks and get a couple wins too.”
Flyers forward Blair Betts
Q: What was it like scoring against your former team?
“Yeah, I mean, I had a nice four years there. Yeah, it was nice to score, I don’t do it very often and to do it against a former team makes it a little more special.”
Q: You really stayed w/ the puck on the backhand
“Yeah, when I kind of turned over the puck there I didn’t have any speed. Henrik’s a tough goalie to beat and it took me two chances and fortunately that rebound went kind of beside him, far enough away where he couldn’t recover.”
Q: Pretty gritty win here tonight, huh?
“Yeah, we knew it was going to be a physical, emotional battle, it always is between these two teams. They’ve got a few key players out of their lineup and they have some guys in there that bring a lot of energy and work hard and we got a couple big power play goals and I think that helped us out quite a bit.”
Q: Bob didn’t have a lot of shots but the few he had were some tricky ones…
“Yeah, they had some lengthy end-zone time with the puck, they do a good job of crashing the net, and creating traffic. When they did get their opportunities Bob saved them there for us.”
Q: Can you talk about the confidence Bob has given the team in the 5-game win streak?
“Yeah, he’s been great; he’s been a pleasant surprise obviously. There was a lot of talk about him, I keep saying that, I personally didn’t really know much about him coming into training camp. For a young guy, especially as a goaltender coming into this league, he shows a tremendous amount of maturity and poise back in-between the pipes. There’s going to be some tough decisions to be made for sure.”
Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky
Q: Was it hard for you to not face many shots in the first period?
“It’s pretty difficult. You are still very tense when you only see 2 shots. Even in the second [period] there were not that many, only 11 or 12.”
Q: What was it like hearing the crowd cheering your name, really for the first time, they got the whole “Bob” nickname going around the crowd?
“It’s very pleasant to hear that.”
Q: Do you realize how much the fans have taken to you this season?
“Of course I do. I hear it. At first it’s really great, but they are not going to like you if don’t play well and win.”
Q: How much does it help to know that you are the guy going to be the starter?
“I’m not concerned to be number 1. I’m only told before the game. We have two goalies and neither of us know who is going to start.”
Q: Does it help being able to play and start consistently?
“Of course it is much easier. You are in better work shape and it helps with your preparation.”
Rangers left wing Ruslan Fedotenko
Q: On the hit from Dan Carcillo…
“In the first one, I felt like it was hooking. I was trying to shoot the first time, then the second time it was a shot to the head. I’m sure the NHL will legally review it and see if it’s a clear shot to the head or not. I’m sure it will be addressed.”
Q: I know that you had a chance to talk to the referee in front of the net when the whistle was blown a little bit later. I guess you didn’t get an explanation?
“No. He said I shouldn’t try to avoid the hit. I mean, I was looking for the puck and trying to shoot it so I didn’t even see him coming until the last second. ‘Don’t duck’ was his explanation.”
Q: What did Philadelphia did so well to shut you guys down today?
“I don’t know. I can just tell what we didn’t do well enough. First, we didn’t create enough offensive opportunities. We didn’t have a lot of shots, especially in the first period. I felt like we had a couple good shifts but we still need to bring the puck and create some more chances. I mean, they had the one lucky goal from the corner there, and the power play. So, I think we just need to stick to our game plan and do what we do best.”
Rangers left wing Brandon Prust
Q: I guess the frustration spilled over into the third period?
“Yeah, with this team, the Rangers and the Flyers, there’s always some bad blood going on in there, and just trying to get something going, try to get a goal in.”
Q: What made this team out of sync tonight?
“I don’t know. We were well prepared by the coaches and we knew what to expect or not, we’re a new team this year but we’ve got to be in it more mentally and be more prepared than we were tonight.”
Q: You get the first goal, and then they come back and score four unanswered. How tough is that after you think maybe you can get a win on the road?
“Yeah it’s always tough you know when you get the lead, and I don’t know if we sat back or not, but we didn’t seem to generate too much after that. We had a couple breakdowns that cost us, a couple penalties that cost us.”
Q: Brandon, in terms of what occurred with [Daniel] Carcillo and [Ruslan] Fedetenko, was it at the point where your team felt like you needed to stand up for each other?
“Yeah that’s our mentality every game, I think we’ve done a good job with that this year, sticking up for each other and backing each other up, no matter in what way. There was just a little bit of everything, trying to maybe get the guys going after that hit.”
Q: They showed it on the scoreboard, did you guys have any doubt after that, that it was a dirty hit or an illegal hit?
“You know I didn’t see the replay, actually I jumped on the ice and saw it happen, it was close. It was a close one.”
Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger
Q: What’s the difference been on the power play?
“I think first and foremost we’re getting more traffic, or we’re moving the puck around quicker. You can’t stay stagnant otherwise you don’t make the box move and you don’t create openings. We’ve done a lot better job of moving the puck around quickly. When we get it up top, seeing the openings and getting to the net, rewarding those guys that are battling in front to screen the goalie and allow them to get after loose pucks.”
Q: That’s enabling you to shoot more you think, is that a conscious thing, you’re shooting more because the ability is there?
“We’re moving the puck more, so we’re catching them. They’ve got to move their box, adjust to the pass, and you’re going to get seams and openings when that happens.”
Q: Would you say this was more of a one-dimensional game because there are so many other aspects of your game going right now….great defense, get the power play going?
“No, we did a lot of good things; I don’t think we played our best by any stretch. They’re a pretty defense-oriented team, they didn’t really generate a whole lot other than the stuff we gave them, Some stuff on the power play. When we got hemmed in our end they got some quality chances, really they got what we gave them.”
Flyers Center Mike Richards
Q:They [the Rangers] got a good jump in that first period then you guys take over there and score three goals, take the momentum back. How nice was it, for your team to be able to do that?
“Well they scored on the power play and we knew it was going to be a tight game, we just had to wait for our chances. In the first period we started creating a little bit and in the second period I thought we started doing a lot more things better. We played an alright first [period] and then brought it into the second period a little bit better.”
Q: I know it’s November, it’s early, but you battled a division team that was two points behind – do you take a little more solace in a game like this one especially when it’s a rival like that?
“Well it’s always easy to get up when you play New York or Pittsburgh. We all know how important points are; you can’t take anything for granted. We were a perfect resemblance of that last year, of needing every point, of itching and crawling for points every single night. So you can’t take anything for granted and it was good for us to get the win.”
Q: We you surprised at how [Claude] Giroux got you that pass on the goal?
“No, I had a feeling I knew he was there or he knew that I was there. He’s having a great year, he’s great vision. He seems to make the big plays when it’s needed. He just put it right on my tape – perfect pass.”
Q: What if I told you over the summer that an undrafted, free agent kid out of Russia [Sergei Bobrovsky] was going to be your starting goalie for the foreseeable future, would you really have believed it? And how impressive has he been?
“He’s been great, and it’s funny you say that. Homer [Paul Holmgren] in our meetings last year said that we had a pretty good Russian kid, that he just wasn’t sure if he was ready yet to play. He’s come in this year and played extremely well, and proven that he is capable of playing in this league [the NHL]. There’s just a sense of calmness that he has about him; he never seems like anything is out of reach. He works hard in practice, works hard in the gym and he’s definitely earned a good spot for us.”
Q: Five [wins] in a row, especially taking advantage of home ice here, how nice was that for this team to do what you did on your home ice?
“You know, home games for us are important just to take advantage of; and it’s so hard to win on the road because every team’s great, you have to take advantage of home games. Especially at home where we feel comfortable playing, obviously a great crowd to play in front of. It’s important for us to take care of home games and really bear down and try to get the two points.”
Rangers center Brian Boyle
Q: What do you think was the reason why you guys only had 11 shots through two periods?
“I’m not sure how many we took, I don’t know how many were attempted, but they did a pretty good job of keeping us on the perimeter and blocking shots. They have good sticks, they’re pretty good when it comes to that, getting in there when the puck’s in your skate, getting the puck in with possession, below the dots. For whatever reason they weren’t going through and that’s us. Obviously we need to focus and get them through, but it’s them too, they did a good job blocking.”
Q: I’m not sure if you saw it live or if you saw it when they showed it on the replay but what did you think of when [Ruslan] Fedetenko was hit by [Daniel] Carcillo?
“I actually still haven’t seen it and I didn’t know who did it, I didn’t know what it was but I don’t think Fedetenko would fake anything like that. He was playing hard all game I think, and we play them five more times.”
Q: Do you think you matched their physicality pretty well?
“I think we could’ve picked it up a little bit. Their defense was moving the puck defenseman to defenseman, kind of baiting us in, in the neutral zone and even in there zone, and moving it. I know for me personally I’ve got to get in there a little bit quicker because I felt like I was just a little bit too far away to finish, and I’d go up, it’d be borderline interference then. They played hard, but I don’t think they dominated us by any means. We wanted to be the aggressors and I don’t think we did a great job of that.”
Q: Does it seem like they won a greater share of the loose pucks that you guys often get to?
“I don’t know, I thought we had the puck in their zone a lot. I thought there were some battles that we won, they won some too, obviously you’re not going to win every single one, but you want too. That’s the mentality you’ve got to have. If you have the puck more then you would have had more shots so I don’t know, I haven’t seen anything.”
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist
Q: On Nikolay Zherdev’s goal…
“It was an unfortunate bounce. Well, I made the block. Then, it hit my stick. Then, I think it hit my chest and went straight up and then I kind of lost it. Somehow it just went over my shoulder. It’s bad luck but at the same time I need to be more determined to just push the puck back in the corner instead of just make a block. I think out of ten times, there’s no way that it can happen again.”
Q: Is it tough to be in a situation where you get the first goal, have the lead, and have them come back with four straight?
“Yeah. The way they scored, it didn’t feel like they had to work that hard to get them. I think we played pretty well. Obviously, the third one I had to have. Then, we had a couple breakdowns. Overall, I think these guys played a good game. Next time, we could play better.”
Q: When you say they didn’t have to work hard, isn’t that the worst feeling in the world when the team throws it out there and boom, it’s in there?
“Well, a goal is a goal. Obviously, it’s tough when you know you have to stop that puck. It was just bad luck there on that bounce. It was weird. It hit me twice, I think, before it rolled over my shoulder. It is what it is.”
Q: What do you think they did tonight or you guys didn’t do enough of tonight, versus the last couple of games, to take away what you guys have been doing well?
“Well, I think we played a pretty good game. It’s just, they scored a couple goals here and they didn’t really have to work that hard. You know, then they got that 3-1 lead and kind of killed the momentum that we had. But, up until then I think we played pretty well. We just have to move on and try to forget about this.”
