Transcriptions by Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff
Opening statement
In general, I thought that it was a really exciting game to watch, unbelievably exciting. The difference between last night’s game and tonight’s game was night and day for both teams. I didn’t think we played that well last night. I didn’t think UNH played that well last night. I thought both teams played really well tonight. I think we needed the win more than they did, so they’re probably happy to get three points on the weekend. And we only get one, so that really hurts us. That was the only negative thing about the game for me. We come back, we gave up a goal right off the bat, they get a power-play goal in the third period, and then we come back and get one for ourselves to tie it up. In general, we had opportunities to win it on more than one occasion.
I thought Shattenkirk and Cohen played great tonight. I thought they played well last night, but tonight they played absolutely fabulous. And I thought Bonino came out of it a little bit tonight. He got his legs back a little bit tonight, made some plays. I thought most guys competed pretty hard. We had a couple of our guys that we usually use killing penalties not in the lineup, and that really hurt us as far as numbers are concerned. And they had six power plays, which hurt us as well. Six and two is not a good ratio. Six for them and two for us. In general, I thought Rollheiser played extremely well. Their goalie played really well. We both had chances to win it. The puck was around both nets a lot.
On what happened in the handshake line after the game
I thought that was getting testy around the corner, and then somebody said something in the line.
On moving Warsofsky back to defense in the third period
I thought we needed a bit more poise back on the point. I thought he’d create a bit more offensively for us. He almost broke out a couple times. He was struggling on the forechecking a bit, and on the backchecking. He’s good when he’s got the puck, but he doesn’t have that instinct as a forward. We’ll see what happens on Tuesday. We might move him back up, or we might keep him on defense.
On the team’s psyche and their record
I think that you get what you deserve. I think our record is indicative of who we are at this point. I don’t think we’ve played a lot of good games and dominated opponents and didn’t get a W, or our goalie stunk and we didn’t get a W. I think that there were many nights when guys just didn’t show up and we didn’t play hard enough. We’ve played a lot of 3-2 games. We’ve played a lot of games that we were in, but we weren’t nearly as competitive.
We’ve played two 60-minute competitive games this year, and how many have we played overall? Eleven? I thought we played very, very well over at Northeastern from start to finish. I thought that was our best game of the year. We dominated that game, up and down the ice, couldn’t put it by the goaltender. Tonight. I thought we played real well. We gave up a lot of shots in the first period, gave them a lot of grade-A shots in the first period. But in the second period, we did a much better job. Then we both got some great opportunities in the third period.
I think that’s the best initial rush team in our league, mostly every year, but this year I think they’re really good speed-wise coming through center ice. They really put a lot of pressure on you. They don’t forecheck and dominate you down low like some other teams can, but they can really get opportunities on the initial rush. I thought their power play moved the puck real well tonight. They got 10 shots on the power play.
On the forward lines after moving Warsofsky
We just rotated four lines with three left wings, so sometimes it was Gaudet, sometimes it was Zach Cohen, sometimes it was Glass. It was one of those three. Those three played, and the rest of the other four lines played for the most part until the very end. So, it was four lines with three left wings. Mostly every time a line went out, a center went out, he had a different left wing, but it kept those guys in the game. I thought Glass played pretty well. I thought Vinny Saponari gave us a real solid game, too. I thought he played real well in every phase of the game, finally making plays, getting pucks to the net, playing pretty well defensively.
On Trivino and Saponari turning a corner
I thought that Trivino had played extremely well the last three games until last night. Last night, he looked legless to me. He had some opportunities, but he really looked tired. I thought the big surface hurt those two guys a little bit last night. I think they’re both playing much harder than they were earlier in the year. With Vinny, it’s just you have to skate harder. Vinny’s got a lot of confidence, but he’s got to move his feet more, and he’s doing that now. With Trivino, I think he’s got to just grow and realize that he’s a good player. He has to gain a little confidence, but he certainly helped us out tonight. That’s a nice goal, and he played well. As I said the two games before that, he really came on and made some good plays. He looked like a hockey player for us against Merrimack.
On the save by Bonino in overtime
I didn’t see it. I just knew there was a pile. I didn’t know who was behind, who was around the goaltender. But I know we were running all over the place. I just knew we were out of position. When somebody dives behind the goaltender to make a save, it’s usually a desperation situation because everybody got caught out of position. But the effort is there for sure, and I thought Bonino was, especially in the defensive end, really working hard tonight.
On why Ryan Santana and Justin Courtnall didn’t play
I wanted to rotate some guys in and out, wanted to give some guys a chance. Glass had been out for a while. Kevin had been out for a while. So, I wanted to give both guys some ice time. And Kevin, really, you can’t judge him because he didn’t get much ice time at all with the way the penalties were. And I thought Glass played very well. I’m pretty sure we’ll get Connolly back, which will give us a different look up front, too. So, that will help us out, and we’ll see what happens on Tuesday.
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