Jack Parker Postgame Transcript

General comments:
First off, I thought it was a great college hockey game. I would’ve been so disappointed if we had lost that game because we were playing so well. We had 41 shots. I like the way we’re playing from start to finish except that right after they scored in the second period, we were back on our heels for a good six or seven minutes. But after that, I thought we got back after it again.

A whole bunch of guys played real well for us. Our goaltender I thought played really well. He made the miraculous save on that mess-up there. And then we had a great effort by Joey Pereira. I thought his line played well. Obviously Glass got the big goal for us to tie it up, but Joey was terrific all night long in every phase of the game. Whatever line he plays on, he gives them so much energy, and I really like that line tonight.

We really shortened the bench in the third period. We only played three lines the entire third period. Our guys were changing very quickly so they weren’t too tired, and they really went after it pretty good. I think our defensive group played pretty well. Obviously Nicastro had a good night.

We were 0-for-6 on the power play, but I thought we had a lot of good chances. We moved the puck really well. The same thing happened to us last night, the same thing happened the last time down there –– we just can’t get a handle when we’re about to put it in. And give them credit. … 1-for-20 we went against them on the power play [this season], so that’s a heck of an effort by them killing penalties. And obviously goaltending has a lot to do with it. He played very well all three games against us.

I told them I was really proud of how poised they kept and how they didn’t get rattled, because the pressure was all on us. We had to win this game tonight to stay in the hunt for home ice and feel good about ourselves. We’re down 1-0 and things aren’t going well until we started to turn the tide a little bit in the second period. And then we had a hell of a third period. All in all, it was a great effort.

Completely different type of game refereed tonight than last night, by the way. Completely different look out there.

On why he went with just three lines in the third:
Well, we needed some goals and the fourth line is not really a scoring line. It’s more of a banging line. I thought we could keep the flow going by getting real quick shifts.

On the decision to start Andrew Glass:
I thought that he’s been sitting and waiting for a while. He played some games earlier in the year. He’s got potential. We recruited him to come here and be a hockey player for us, and he hasn’t had a chance to get in the lineup for a while.

Glass was playing either way tonight. Courtnall got back in the lineup because Wade Megan was sick before the game. He was an unhealthy scratch, so we had to put somebody else back in the lineup. So, Courtnall went back to the fourth line and Glass went up to the third line and played really well. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next weekend, but I can tell you that Glass will stay in the lineup after his effort tonight.

On the pleasant surprise of Glass getting a goal:
He was playing well the whole game. It was a surprise that any of us got a goal, not that Glass got it. We were playing pretty hard and getting a lot of shots, but when we came up empty in the first, I thought, ‘Boy, this could be a tough night.’ And then when they scored right off the bat in the second, I was concerned that psychologically it would be a real downer for us. But we kept plugging.

On Providence keeping its forwards down low in the defensive zone:
We talked to them before the game about trying to get plays up to the top and play 5-on-4 or 5-on-5 what we call the BU power play, which was an old power play we used to use. And that’s just D-to-D, load the middle, take the shot, get it off to the side and he either shoots it or gets it back to the middle D for a shot. That gets people moving a little bit, and it also gives us the chance to bomb away with somebody screening. And when we’re doing it 5-on-5, we got the chance to go D-to-D and get it back to the high guy.

What they want us to do is play 3-on-5 down low. They had everybody backed in down low. So, we had to get them stretched out. What really helped us, and we got a goal out of it, was when we passed the puck directly from the goal line back to the point and we one-timed it right down again before they could get in shooting lanes instead of holding onto it and then try to find a shooting lane. That really helped us and created some offense for us.

I think we just kept after it, too, and did a much better job of recovering pucks and keeping the puck alive in their zone. Time of possession is pretty easy against them because of the way they play in their own zone. But you have to get time of possession inside the dots, not just outside the dots.

Were those one-timers from the point the biggest key in getting 11 grade-A chances in the third?
I think that and getting people in the high slot and finding those guys there. We were looking more to turn it quickly and go get rebounds instead of having a tendency to want to overpass it. … We made them cover us down low. Instead of blocking shots, they had to cover us a little.

Is Glass’ goal what caused the momentum change?
I think we had a bunch of good shifts back-to-back in the second period for a while and then the start of the third. But the goal really changed it. Then we got really jacked up. Then it was like the ice was tilted.