Despite a shootout loss, Brind'Amour and Martinook discuss how the Hurricanes secured the top Eastern Conference spot through relentless effort.
Despite a 3-2 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Carolina Hurricanes clinched the top spot in the Eastern Conference Monday night.
The Canes saw an early two-goal lead evaporate in the second period and despite strong push in the third and in overtime, they couldn't find enough finish to win.
But again, the team got what they needed out of the game even despite resting seven regulars.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with alternate captain Jordan Martinook spoke with the media in Philadelphia. Here's what they had to say.
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: Considering who we're missing and the stakes of the game, I thought, to be honest, we probably deserved the two points. So a pretty good effort through 60 minutes. They're gonna make their plays and they had a few. Bus made some real good saves and we just didn't cash in in overtime. I thought we had a lot of good looks, just didn't happen. Goes to a shootout, whatever. It is what it is. But overall, really happy with the way we played.
On clinching the top spot in the Eastern Conference: I mean, that's a huge accomplishment that nobody really cares about, but it says you had a real good year and that you came to play every night. You can't luck into that. We have one more game here to finish this part of the marathon and then we get to look at bigger and better things.
On the group that he iced today: It's been, however many games we've done this, where we're kind of missing a large portion of our group. We just kind of have hung in there. Tonight was probably the best game out of all of those that we've played. It looked like how we should play and again, we just didn't get the extra point. But certainly had our opportunities.
On Brandon Bussi: He made a couple of big ones and again, anytime in the game is crucial, but when the score is tight and it could go a different way... and their guy did too and to be honest, we should have made it 3-0. Blaker had that one and then that could have been different. We know how important goaltending is and he was solid tonight.
On Bradly Nadeau: If you play with Fly, you're gonna get some opportunities. He's such a creative player and Nades, we know if we can get it on his stick around the net, good things can happen and that's what did happen.
Jordan Martinook
On the game: I felt like we were good. We competed really hard and obviously you know what that game meant to that team and so for us, I felt like we probably had the better of the chances. Proud of the guys that were playing tonight. We gave it our best. Whenever it gets to the shootout, it's kind of a flip of a coin. I was happy with that.
On clinching top spot in the Eastern Conference: Obviously you have to take every accomplishment and everything. You have to reflect on it and be happy about it. It's a long season and for us to finish at the top of our conference is something to hang your hat on. Everybody can be happy about that and we have one more game to finish up here and then the fun starts.
On Brandon Bussi: I felt Bus was great. I felt like that first period, we didn't have a ton of shots, but it felt like we were playing well and in their end. Then in the second, they obviously do their push. It sucks we couldn't have pulled it out for him because I felt like he was really good.
On the competing hard even with an incomplete group: It just shows the depth of the organization and how it's set up. It's impressive that you can kind of put guys into our system and our team and whoever comes in, it's just status quo. They pull on the same rope as everyone else. Really impressed with everybody and happy with that.
On Bradly Nadeau: Whenever he can get that shot off. Obviously he has a lethal shot and he's got that goal scorer's mentality. He's kind of always around the net. You just want to see him get into spots where he can use that shot and obviously playing with Fly, I know from experience, he gets you in some pretty nice spots. He just needs to be a shooter.
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