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 goalie Brian Boucher
Q: Was it a relief to get one [a win] at home?
“Yeah, a good effort all-around. I think we had a good game last game too, I just think that, for whatever reason we could get the win tonight. We got good goals and when we get five goals we’re going to win most nights, so it was nice to get a win at home.”
Q: A product due to really good defense, I know blocked shots was huge, Kimmo [Timonen] had, I think, five or six alone in that first period.
“Yeah I think we had a couple penalty kills – I think we had the first two penalty kills of the game – and I thought we did a great job on it and I think that set the tone. I think after that we got going. We had a good shift, we got our grinders in and we got going after that and started to create some chances. That two goals at the end of the first [period] – it was nice to come back with a two nothing lead. Obviously they got a few in the second but we were able to stay with it and win pretty handedly.”
Q: Richie [Mike Richards] had been struggling in the early going, hadn’t scored a goal, nice for him to get one with a three-point night tonight?
“Sure, yeah. He’s going to get points, these guys they get chances, three breakaways a game it seems. He’s going to score, it’s just a matter of time. I’d be more concerned if he wasn’t getting chances, but he’s getting chances so it was just a matter of time. It’s nice to see him get some points.”
Q: The deep back played really well tonight, is it tougher when you only see 13 shots to save?
“Yeah it’s difficult, especially when the game’s tight, it’s difficult. But when we scored four or five, to get some breathing room, it was nice. I guess at the end of the day you’ll take games like this where you’re not taxed too much. It was a good effort.”
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette
Q: You talked yesterday about, with Richards, just staying within his own game. Did you still think that changing some lines around was something you were going to have to help?
“You know, I wrestled with it a little bit to be honest with you because I thought last game we generated a lot of even strength chances. I thought our lines did a good job and yet we found ourselves on the wrong end of the score again. Ultimately, later in the day yesterday we decided to change it. I thought that the lines were good and I thought that Mike had a terrific game. You know, he’d been putting opportunities at the net. Like I said, it just seemed like things weren’t dropping for us. They weren’t going in and tonight it seemed like we finally got the results to be able to pull away from throwing pucks and offense at the net. The goal is to pull away and it’s really the first time all year that we’ve done that.”
Q: Do you find that Mike has the tendency to do this a lot in his career? When he might be down a little bit because he lost a couple games in a row, and he takes the game to a new level?
“I think so. He’s a competitive guy. In a situation where your team is faced with adversity you need your leaders and your top players to step up and have a big game. You know, in the forefront, he was there tonight. It was a good team effort but certainly Mike led the way.”
Q: On Dan Carcillo…
“I thought Danny played a strong game. Physically, he was trying to bang bodies and he got going in that fight. It seemed like they came out and they had some good skating legs and they’re coming off a couple of decisions and they probably wanted to turn the tide on that. They came out ready to play and I thought Danny did a terrific job with his energy and getting involved in the game.”
Maple Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf
Q: You had better nights, what happened out there?
“Yeah it was a bad night, personally and as a team. We didn’t play well at all, and me personally, I wasn’t very good myself. But as a whole, we got to be a lot better and individually we have to be a lot better, and that starts with me.”
Q: Were you guys pressing too much when you weren’t getting shots through. I mean over-handling the puck and making passes that you shouldn’t have made?
“Well I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. You look at the scoreboard, you look at their shot for, and our shots for, and I don’t think much more has to be said.”
Q: What happened with that second goal, Dion, off the rebound?
“It hit my foot and went into the net. It starts before that. I got to make a better play on the wall. I take full responsibility for the way that I played, and I’m sure if you asked every other guy they’re not happy too.”
Q: It’s a team game, Dion, is it a matter of getting back to working? Just working harder and getting smarter out there?
“Yeah we have to…the biggest thing as a group is we have to be better. Within the group, individuals have to be better. That’s what makes our team good; is when we play together, we play hard, and we haven’t done that, and we have to get back to that.”
Q: Is this the first test of this team’s chemistry?
“The room is still fine. We’ve got to get back to Toronto and get back to work. Take tomorrow and reload, and come back to work on Monday.”
Maple Leafs defenseman Mike Komisarek
Q. How do you feel about tonight and your recent games played?
“Our last two games, we knew we were coming in to the game against two hungry teams, the Rangers; they were on a three game losing streak and the same with these guys. You know they’re going to be hungry and desperate and they’re going to be coming out reading the plays; we can’t be spotting two goal leads, right off the bat, and our execution could certainly be better. It was a tough loss. We’ll just have to try better this week.”
Q. Was the defense just not there; any specifies there or is it just when you’re up against teams as good as Philadelphia?
“Well, you’re not going to win when you’re giving up over 40 shots and then having fifteen on goal. It’s almost the same formula that gave us wins early in the season, we’re getting plenty of shots but not giving up enough and teams are sort of playing this against us. We need to start executing better knowing that were playing hungry desperate teams, like I said before.
Flyers center Mike Richards
Q: You used to say when you get a hit, take a hit, you usually get it going?
“I don’t know, it does I think when you get a hit or especially taking a hit early on in the game. We knew that they were going to come out hard, they’re a team that works extremely hard and finishes every check, so the anticipation of it being a physical game I think kind of gets you that much more ready for a game.”
Q: Blocked shots were a big part in the game, how big was that?
“It’s huge for our defense, our goaltending especially, but our defense have done a great job of getting in the way of shots from the point, especially on the other teams’ power play. When we get in the way of shots it helps Boucher obviously. It allows us to get on the offense too when pucks are scrambling, it allows us to jump a little bit and get chances on the penalty kill.”
Q: There was a few lineup changes, does bringing in Carcillo and putting Claude on the wing help others?
“Losing two or three in a row doesn’t hurt either. I think we played with a lot of desperation tonight. We were ready for the game. I think you could feel the energy before the game in our locker room, that everyone just had a sense that everyone was ready and excited to play the gam,e and it showed tonight and we played well.”
Q: Nice to have mom and dad witness this?
“Yeah, it seems like every time they come down we play well, its good to have them here and hopefully we can keep going.”
Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen
Q: Kimmo, is that [ice around your ankle] from one of the five blocked shots you had in the first period?
“That happened the day before, it’s not from this game.”
Q: How big was it though tonight, obviously a great defensive effort as well, just to get the offense going?
“We knew the last couple games we didn’t play well. We knew we’d have to come out hard and play our game, and get our game back on track, and play our system, and skate hard. When we skate we’re a good team and I think [for the] most part of the game we did that today. Hopefully we can do that game-after-game.”
Q: [Was it] nice as a teammate to see [Mike] Richards succeed after maybe struggling for the last five or six [games], not being able to score?
“Yeah, it’s one of those things. Sometimes you go through the slumps and you just have to fight through it and good things will happen. Everybody’s going through that [during] some part of the season and some of the guys like me, and maybe Pouches [Darroll Powe], hasn’t been there but hopefully it will come down the road. Just keep working hard.”
Maple Leafs left wing Clarke MacArthur
Q: …I guess the next couple days coming off a game like this?
“Yeah. It’s just one of those games where we didn’t battle all the way. Just the little mental mistakes, I thought, a few times we were giving up odd man rushes when we didn’t need to. I felt like in the 1st [period] even though we only had 4 shots, they blocked a lot and we had opportunities to take something positive out of it. Other than that, we need to get back to the drawing board here and start playing with more intensity.”
Q: You are doing ok in the goal scoring department and so is Phil [Kessel], but do you think some other guys are pressing is maybe why we saw people jumping into the rush and that kind of thing?
“Yeah I think so. I think once the games start building up, the guys start squeezing the stick. We have a lot of good shooters here, and I don’t think they need to but, on the other hand, they are looking to get one. I mean, everyone needs to keep shooting. That’s the only thing that you can do, is just keep putting pucks to the net. [Grabovski] was buzzing all over the place. He deserves one and it is coming soon for him.”
Q: You and Phil [Kessel] got switched a little bit. I guess you guys got to be on your toes for something like that, as the coach looks for something that works?
“Yeah I mean, when things aren’t going you got to switch things up in the game. We just didn’t have it going early on, and we made a couple switches and we got a goal, and we got two. I mean wherever the lines are that doesn’t matter, we just got to play our system and play hard.”
Flyers left wing Scott Hartnell
Q: Why did you cut the hair?
“I don’t know, it was a long time coming. I think. [Paul Holmgren] probably begged me for two years to cut it and I’m like, ‘No, no, I’m not cutting it, not cutting it.'” Sometimes it was a pain in the butt and I just decided last week actually that I was going to cut it, didn’t tell anybody, just got it done.”
Q: Nice to see the offense finally get going?
“Yeah, it’s nice to have a game like this, everyone contributing. I think every line scored. We were relentless, our penalty kill was great, finally our power play was clicking a little bit, and we’re staying out of the box. It was a complete game. Our last game was good but we didn’t get the result we wanted, but tonight we got the two points.”
Q: How great was it to see Richards contributing tonight, especially that pass to you?
“Yeah, It was a great pass, I thought he was actually going to shoot it and he slid it right over, kind of surprised me a little bit, but a great goal, a great shot [by him] on the first one. He needed a big game, he came up with this; big after a three-game losing streak here at home. He’s going and we’re following.”
