The Canes beat the Penguins 4-1 Friday night.
The Canes beat the Penguins 4-1 Friday night.
The Carolina Hurricanes picked up their first road win of the season, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 Friday night.
The Canes got goals from Jackson Blake, Martin Necas, Shayne Gostisbehere and Jack Roslovic as Frederik Andersen stopped 25 of 26 in net.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour and Gostisbehere spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the difference in the power play: I just thought the guys moved the puck a little better, a little more efficiently and had a little bit more of a shooters mentality. Did a good job on entries for the most part, won a couple of faceoffs. All those things matter and obviously we were able to capitalize.
On shutting down the Penguins' top players: I thought the mindset coming was right. That's two games now where we knew how we had to play and it's hard. The way we play is really hard and the guys bought in tonight right from the start all four lines. I thought we were pretty tight most of the way. Didn't give them a lot of room. We actually probably deserved a lot better. Had a lot of scoring opportunities, just hit posts and some things but I liked how we stuck with it.
On some of the new guys stepping up: That's huge, especially with [Jackson Blake], that's great. He's earning his ice time and I have to find a way to get him more because he's doing a great job. And nice to see [Jack Roslovic] get his first too. We have a lot of guys contributing right now and that's what we need.
On holding Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin without a shot on goal: That doesn't happen very often. We talked before the game that generally when they get the puck, they're going to make things happen. So you're trying your best not to let them get it because when they do, they're world class. They hit those milestones for a reason. We'll take it that's for sure and get out of here because that doesn't happen very often.
On setting the tone for the road trip: Listen, we'd been sitting at home for a long time and not playing. Just watching everyone else play. So now hopefully we'll get into a rhythm and continue playing the way we've been playing.
Shayne Gostisbehere
On the power play's success: I think we just had a direction in the sense that we knew we were going to have quick puck movement, we were going to see our plays. We knew they weren't an overly aggressive penalty kill so for us to feel the puck out there and find our spots, find our chemistry and get rewarded with a few is pretty nice.
On his goal: I was tired and I was like, I'm just going to shoot it and thankfully it worked. Everyone crossed the path at the right time and I found twine.
On setting the tone for the road trip: We're going to be a hard team to play against. Even if we're on the road, we're going to be a heavy team every night that is hard to play against. You want to make teams be like, 'Oh crap, we're playing the Hurricanes tonight. It's going to be a tough one.' So just not giving them any breathing room out there and just going out there and playing our game.
On Jackson Blake: His confidence is just blooming. You can see it. Everyone's been a rookie in this league at one point in time. It's hard to score in this league, I hope he knows that but I hope he keeps it going. He's playing really good hockey right now.
On holding Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin without a shot on goal: I think our top guys play against them and defensively it's a tight game out there. That's the game we want to play. They're special players and hall of famers and when you give them time and space, that's when they do special things. For us, it was just eliminating that and it worked for us.