The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Arizona Coyotes 3-1 Saturday night at PNC Arena to head into the All-Star break on a three-game winning streak.
Dmitry Orlov and Jesper Fast both scored in the final minute of the game and Antti Raanta stopped 10 of 11 shots.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Orlov and Jaccob Slavin spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: The first period, it wasn't bad, wasn't great but then after that, I just thought we got to our game. We were real patient. That was the key. To not get frustrated. They were working really hard, defending, doing whatever they had to do to not allow us to get in tight. I think we wore them down a little bit and got the break.
On the key to limiting opponents' shot totals: It's hard work. Defending is hard work. When you get a commitment out of everyone doing it, that's kind of what it can look like. It has really all year, for the most part. We've defended really well, it's just that tonight was obviously a little better.
On momentum heading into the break: It was a perfect ending. We pushed them for, really, for a long time. This whole month with knowing we're going to get a break at some point. Trying to stay focused. We had a ton of home games, so we knew we had to take advantage of this. We had a tough schedule the first couple of months. Nobody was really saying anything and I think we played the most road games by a mile. It wasn't that we were playing poorly, just things weren't going our way and things kind of flipped coming home. Having all these games was nice. Obviously took advantage of it.
On Dmitry Orlov: It's tough for him, because he's obviously used to playing a lot more of a role in terms of minutes. But the strength of our team is from the backend. It's tough to find those minutes that he's used to, but his value is still the same. We needed that tonight. It was, I think, his best game as a Hurricane. Just did everything he needed to, good defending, then he jumped in there and made a great play. Hopefully that helps him turn the corner and feel good about what he's doing.
On the recent stretch: We've had a couple of games where we didn't get rewarded and I was thinking, 'Oh man, we have to get something out of this game,' because it was too good. So it was kind of a fitting way to end it I think because we deserved that one.
On Martin Necas: We need him on the score sheet. It's everyone though. To me, tonight was a great team effort because everyone we rolled out there kind of looked the same. Obviously they had a bunch of chances, I think Marty hit the post off a faceoff and obviously scored a big goal, but that was an impressive game.
On Antti Raanta: It's a tough position. There's certain positions in sports that just take a lot of heat and get a lot of focus. Like I said even when he went down, other players can play poorly for a while and you just don't notice it or don't talk about it or you can hide, but you can't hide in that position. It's nice to see that he bounced back and it's nice to see that we've played well in front of him. I think that's another part of it.
On any concerns over the long break: No. Not at all. We've pushed to this point and they need a mental break. That's really what this is about because when we come back, we're going to get right back at it again and look to pick up where we left off.
On if he's going to take time off: Yeah. There's nothing to do as far as hockey-wise. I'm not going anywhere. Got kids in school, but it will just be nice to take a real breather for a few days.
On getting a mental break: That's kind of what I mean. It's nice to end on that one. If we would have lost that one somehow, that would have been misery for 10 days. I jest, but that was a great win and proud of the guys.
On the home crowd: It's not just been these three weeks. All year and the last five years. It's been incredible. So much energy in the building and tonight I was happy they could go home feeling jacked about that game.
Dmitry Orlov
On the win: We played the last 15 minutes pretty good and we were focused on our game and how we should play. Today's result, we put up a lot of shots and they didn't have a lot. Playing the right way. It's important to get this win before the bye week and I think every point matters especially in our division. Everything is so tight so it was important to get this win today.
On the key to limiting opponent's shots: I think work. As a unit, five players go out on the ice and try to help each other. We play man-on-man and just try to be quicker and stop the puck. Just get more guys in, get the puck and get out of our zone and try to play in the offensive zone. That's our strength. We have a good forechecking team and we need to use that strength.
On staying patient: For sure. You have to be patient and keep doing what you need to do. You can't be frustrated. Doing it right is important.
On the final two minutes: I think the whole game was the same. When you have a chance to make a play do it, if not just get it deep and try to forecheck. Like I said, that's our strength. We just need to keep doing our thing and play more in the offensive zone and the more chances we'll get to win.
On if the team is playing its best hockey at the moment: It's hard to say because every game is different. We know what we need to do but sometimes we have breaks. Everyone has to help each other and communicate if something is happening. Especially helping our goalie sometimes. It's not easy when you only get 12 shots in a game, you kind of get cold and you're not in the game, so we need to block shots and try to stick around so there's not many chances.
Jaccob Slavin
On the team's ability to limit opponents' shots: I wouldn't say it's just defensive. It's not just the D-corp. It's a full five-man effort out there all around the ice. The forwards being good on the forecheck keeps them out of our zone and then backtracking really hard helps us stay up. It's something we've always talked about in here is limiting their chances so when you limit them to that many shots, it's always going to give you a chance to win a game.
On heading into the break with a win: It's always good to go out with a good taste in your mouth. Christmas break, we lost to the Islanders and it left a bad taste in the mouth, but we get a good taste here so it's always better.
On staying patient: That's something we always talk about here. Just staying on the hammer, keep going, keep going. It might take till the last minute for it to break, but it finally did.
On how important the break is: It's always good to be healthy. A nice rest time here for guys to hopefully heal the little bumps and bruises that might come throughout the season and for some of the guys who have been out for a while, hopefully they heal up all the way. It's always good to have that break.
On the goaltending: Anytime you have good goaltending, it gives your team more confidence. It's a good problem to have, three healthy, good goaltenders.