The Carolina Hurricanes took the day off from the ice following Monday's Game 5 win over the New York Rangers, but Rod Brind'Amour still met with the media via Zoom.
Here's what the Hurricanes coach had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the team's ability to keep fighting: We have a veteran group of guys that have been through a lot. We've always approached it like that. Trying to make the most of every day that you have. That's all you can control and we've done a pretty good job of that throughout the years and that's the way we have to keep approaching it.
On if the team grinded the Rangers down mentally in the third period: I think it was more in essence that you could tell there was a momentum shift in that game, but I also think the human nature kicks in. They had a big lead in the series and it's kind of like, okay, they have another game and we didn't. So there's just a little different mindset at that point when you get ahead, when it flipped. But up until that point, I don't think so. I thought obviously it was pretty tight. We were playing really well, but obviously we had a little more desperation in that third period.
On momentum: I think momentum from game to game in the regular season is more about your team's momentum. Like if you're playing well, you feel it and it doesn't really have any impact on the other team, but it certainly affects your team. Same thing when it doesn't go well. It's a snowball effect and you can't get out of it during the regular season. In the playoffs, I find it that every game starts fresh. Even though you're playing the same team, you almost toss it and you have to start over. You take everything you've liked out of it and obviously you want to keep building on it, but I really think that every game starts fresh and has almost no bearing on what happens.
On the importance of the team's depth: Well you need everybody. Your top guys have to be your top guys because they play at the most crucial times, so they have to produce and they have to be a factor, but then there's a whole 'nother part of the game that goes on. Whether you play 18 minutes a night or 12 minutes a night, that shift is the most important shift when you're out there, so it has to be impactful. So if you can get those 12 minutes or whatever being better than the other group, than that's going to help your team. Everybody has a role regardless of ice time and regardless of whatever and you have to be able to do it.
On limiting Artemi Panarin: I don't really know what to tell you there. There's unique players in the game and he's one of them. They can be non-existent and then the next thing you know, they end the game for you and they have that unique ability. Every time he's on the ice, you notice him and he's a threat as far as I'm concerned. You can feel it. We've maybe done a nice job of just having that awareness. Like we know when he's on the ice and that you better be tight and I think that's maybe part of the success we've had, but like I said, we saw it in the one game. You give him a couple feet and it goes in your net. That's what that kind of player can do for you.
On fighting the urge to make adjustments versus sticking with what had been successful for so long: You go through that all the time. There's certain parts of our game now that we have to get better at. But how much do you juggle it all around and does that really make you better in the short term. Like, you got to this point doing something right. To be playing against the best team in the league and be in the playoffs, we had to do something right to get there and so you have to rely on that. Yeah, you have to be better and you do make tweaks as you go, but you do fight that a lot. Just because something isn't working, like if it's the power play that's not working, well it was pretty good. Do you blow it all up, do you trust that these guys can get it done, or whatever. You fight that all the time, but at the end of the day, I think you just have to believe in your guys.
On Jordan Staal's clutch night: [His goal] was the play of the game that turned the game for us. It gave us life. We were always kind of there but now, all of a sudden, it feels real that we have a chance. You're always looking to your top guys and your leaders to do that. That reminded me big time of six years ago in the Washington series where we were down a goal and who got us the goal to tie it up? It was him and an in an individual kind of way. It was an individual effort goal. He doesn't get a lot of those moments, he hasn't scored a lot, but man, he's been all over it and last night he got rewarded and it was huge for us.
On the health of the team coming out of Game 5: I think we're in good shape.
On bringing the new guys into the culture: It's nothing to do with me. We bring guys in and we're all family, but it's the guys in the locker room. They bring the guys in and they show them kind of how things work and they accept them for all that they have and then we try to blend it in with how we want to play. I think that's what takes time. More of them figuring out exactly the details and the systems and stuff like that. But we have a great group that just accepts the guys and I think that helps them feel at home right away.