Jarvis' Olympic nod, Bussi's shutout and homecoming, and Brind'Amour's insight after a crucial win over the Rangers.
The Carolina Hurricanes closed out their final game before the Olympic break with a 2-0 win over the New York Rangers.
Brandon Bussi made 16 saves for the shutout and Andrei Svechnikov and Jordan Staal (ENG) scored the lone goals.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Bussi and Seth Jarvis spoke with the media in New York. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: I liked all of it. I liked it from start to finish. I just thought we were pretty focused, especially with all the distractions with this big break that everybody is excited for. So I thought we stuck with the game plan and didn't get flustered. I thought we were, for the most part, in control of the game.
On Seth Jarvis' Olympic nod: I'm just happy for him. It's the toughest team to make in the world, that and the U.S. team. You could pick a lot of good players that get left off. It was no snub that he didn't initially, it's just that there's so many good players. Hate that other guys are going to miss for him to get in there, but I'm happy that he's getting that opportunity.
On Brandon Bussi getting the win in front of family and against his childhood team: That's the most important position and I'm happy for him just in general. That was a special start to get and we knew that. Also knew that he grew up idolizing that Rangers and Henrik [Lundqvist] so that's pretty cool to do that here with his family and all that. It's a good story.
On Brandon Bussi's importance: It's been huge for us, obviously. Really, it's just quality starts and that's the key. Just giving us a chance. We're playing well, we're not, he just every night gives us an opportunity to win and that's all you can ask.
On the long break coming right when the team is starting to roll: It's going to be interesting to see how we come out of it because it's hard to practice when you don't have half of your guys. So all of that is a little bit uncharted territory, but I think we've pushed pretty hard. We ask a lot. So they need this little break and hopefully it'll give us a little juice for the last push.
Brandon Bussi
On the game: Just a great 60 minutes by the guys in front of me. They made my job really easy.
On how he views his performance this season: Just giving my team a shot to win. We've been playing good hockey and if we continue that, I just have to make the saves when they matter.
On the team's performance: I thought we were creating a lot of zone time and a lot of chances. Credit to their goalie, he played great and kept it really close there. The Rangers had a little bit of a push in the third, but we did really well to handle it. It's a good win.
On how much he had to spend on tickets for tonight: A little bit. My family helped me out with a lot of it, but yeah, you know.
On the reception for him in the locker room: I think we're just fired up for everyone. We have a really good group in here and obviously a lot of excitement for me, for the guys going to the Olympics. It's a big accomplishment and I'm really pulling for all of them. Maybe Slavo a little more though.
On how many friends and family he had in the building: Started with 40, might have made its way up to 50 or 60, I don't know. We'll see when I get out there.
On if he starts to think about the shutout as the game goes on: I'm trying not to think about it at all. I'm not even looking at the clock. I want it to keep running as fast as it can. But, again, in late game scenarios, our team is really good at tightening up, making it hard for them to get in the zone and then getting some offensive zone ourselves. Great win for us.
Seth Jarvis
On the game: I think our defense played well, obviously Bus had a shutout and I think just being able to stay focused as a group knowing that there's still a job at hand and one game left and wanting to go out on a high note and I think that's what happened tonight.
On staying focused on the game even though he had found out he made Team Canada right before puck drop: There was a lot of distractions to say the least, but I mean, as soon as I stepped foot in here, everything goes away. This is kind of its own little world and that's what I love about hockey. As soon as you're in the rink, nothing else matters. At that point, coming to the rink, I was a little nervous on what was going to happen and how I was going to feel, but as soon as I stepped back in here, it was just kind of regular schedule and just getting ready for the games.
On what the few hours before puck drop were like: It's been a whirlwind. There's been a lot of phone calls, a lot of questions I've had. I've reached out to a couple of guys, just basically on what to pack because I have no idea what's going on. Hopefully figuring out flights and everything, but yeah. I guess just go home, throw some stuff in a suitcase and head back here as soon as possible.
On what his plans for the break had been: Going to Cabo. Obviously love warm weather, but this is absolutely a great reason not to go.
On if he's ever been to Italy: Nope. First time, so it'll be fun to go over there and especially in a situation like this. It's incredible.
On having familiarity with the group from 4 Nations: It is nice to know the guys and have a familiarity with maybe the systems and stuff like that. Having a little bit of an idea of what's going on. It definitely makes it a little bit easier, having a relationship with a lot of those guys already, so it's not quite as intimidating as it was at 4 Nations, but just excited to get around all the guys and head over there.
On the call: I was sleeping. I was in my pregame nap and Doug Armstrong called me. Great reason to interrupt my nap, I take those pretty seriously, but for that reason, more than happy to wake up. He just broke the news to me, I probably sounded a little groggy, wasn't quite sure what was going on yet, but as soon as I heard those words, just so much excitement.
On if he had held out hope at all: They had told me to stay ready. Obviously you never want to see somebody go down, especially Pointer, someone I model a lot of my game after, someone I have a ton of respect for and someone at 4 Nations I grew pretty close to and really enjoyed being around. It sucks that this is kind of the way it had to go, but now my job is to focus on helping the team in any way I can, whether that's playing games, just being a great teammate off the ice or doing whatever I can to contribute.
On if he felt that he had a good chance of being the next in-line replacement: Obviously I knew I was in the running to be one of the guys up and you never know what direction they're going to go. Obviously super happy that it went my direction and again, just can't wait to get over there and help contribute any way I can.
On where he was for the Sidney Crosby Golden Goal: I was at a friend's birthday party in Winnipeg. I vividly remember that and running around his basement as a like 12, no, 8 year old does.
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