Necas, Raanta, Skjei, Brind'Amour on Overtime Win: "That's why those guys get paid a lot of money."
© James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports - Necas, Raanta, Skjei, Brind'Amour on Overtime Win: "That's why those guys get paid a lot of money."The Carolina Hurricanes won their second straight overtime Tuesday night as they defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-2.
Martin Necas scored the game-winning goal on a feed by Sebastian Aho and Antti Raanta turned aside 20 shots.
Game Recap: Hurricanes Topple Buffalo in Overtime
Following the game, Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Martin Necas, Brady Skjei and Antti Raanta spoke to the media. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the game: We didn't start well. A little sluggish. I think that's... you know we've been on the road forever and you could just see that they had the jump going and that's when [Raanta] was at his best. The first five minutes where there were a couple of grade-As right away. He was able to save those. I thought then we were pretty good the rest of the way. We didn't give up a ton, we just missed a lot. There was a lot of almost that didn't even get to the net or missed the net. They did a great job, they blocked a bunch. But I liked our game. We stuck with it and got the result.
On balancing overtime shifts: When you have possession, even if you're tired, you want to stay on the gas. You knew they were gassed. I don't know how tired our guys are at that point. When you have the puck, you're not tired. It's when you don't have it that you all of a sudden get tired. They did a nice job keeping it in the zone and not letting them change. Obviously there's a lot more room out there. Your talented players seem to find ways to make things happen and that's what happened.
On what he things seeing Raanta way out of the crease: He came flying out and got it, but then didn't quite get it out and then we had three or four guys back in the net trying to play goal. Yeah, that's not how you draw it up, that's for sure.
On Raanta being capable of carrying the load: We've probably played without Freddie half the time he's been here, so this is not something where we're like, 'Oh no.' [Kochetkov] came up and he's done his part and we know what we're getting with [Raanta] and him. He was solid and that's what we need. You need solid goaltending in this league and that's what he did tonight.
On the penalty kill: It was good. I mean, the one they got, I bet you [Raanta] would say that was a tough one, but you can't blame him for the game. He was good. But yeah. I thought that was really the difference in the game because it was really crucial moments, especially at the end. I liked our game for the most part.
On the overtime goal: It was a great play. The pass was great, but the redirection... there wasn't a lot of room. It wasn't one of these wide open ones you see in overtime with a 2-on-1 and the guys wide open and you slide it right over. It was a tight window. That's why those guys get paid a lot of money.
Martin Necas
On 3-on-3 overtime: I wouldn't mind it. [Aho] and [Skjei] did a great job and right before that, [Raanta] made a huge save. We got the puck and they were tired out there. Anytime you see that, you don't want to shoot the puck. You just want to create more and more until they're really tired and something on the backdoor opens up.
On noticing the opportunity: I saw that they had started [the overtime] and they had a chance but had to go back. Guys made a great change. [Slavin] skated it into the zone and then he just ran around for a little bit with the puck on his stick.
On if overtime gets his blood pumping: When it's going well, you feel comfortable and confident. I like it, what else can I say?
On his perspective of the goal: A bunch of crisscrosses with the puck and when they're stationary... it's 3-on-3 so if one guy slips up on the play, something opens. That's exactly what happened and we got a goal out of it.
On if that's the best he's seen Raanta play: No. I've seen him play great so many times. It was one of those nights where he was on. You can see it in practice. He's so quick and so flexible. Hard to score on him. So I'm not surprised to see that in a game.
On Raanta's play in the faceoff circle: I was watching from the blueline and saw him come out. Making two stops. Gotta get the fans going, right?
Brady Skjei
On if it's frustrating to generate so many chances but only score on a few: Some nights you're not going to get those chances to win, but we created a lot. There were a lot of pucks that were sitting in the crease area. The D did a pretty good job of getting pucks to the net and our forwards were crashing the net. We never get too high or too low on the bench. Everyone says that, but it's very true. Other team's are a little more antsy, but our is pretty even keel so I feel that that helps in a long season. We know we're going to get our chances and our breaks will come.
On the overtime winner: Just so much skill between those two. So much speed. I'm just out there setting picks for him and just trying to get out of their way. They're a huge threat on 3-on-3 with that much ice and that much time
On the balance between shifts in overtime: There's definitely a fine line. You've gotta know who you're on the ice with. Obviously they have some players that can really make you pay. I thought we did a good job of shutting them down. We didn't capitalize on all of our chances, but when we needed to, we bared down and scored.
On the penalty kill: I thought the penalty kill was good all night. I thought the one was a good shot by Dahlin, but for the most part, getting kills early in the game and then the big one at the end was huge. Kill was really good tonight.
On Necas' clutchness: Roddy called him Mr. Overtime and I think he's earned that name. Feels like he scores every time. Him and [Aho] just do such a good job with their skill and their speed creating those 2-on-1s on the ice. It's fun to watch.
Antti Raanta
On his game: The first five or 10 minutes was kind of what you've been hoping to get. Making those saves and giving the guys a chance to grow into the game. When you get a lead and then kind of a stray shot goes in it's kind of where you look back, but rolling puck and there's always excuses that you can make. I think I could have done a little better there, but other than that, I felt my movement was good, tracking the puck well and obviously a couple of diving saves that's not an everyday thing, hopefully, but sometimes you have to entertain the crowd and get them going. They were buzzing so it was a nice boost of confidence there.
On what's going through his head when he was way out of the crease: Nothing really. You're kind of looking back at your own net and thinking that you're too far away, but then your instincts kick in and you just try to do something. Dived and then it hits your stick, but the play is still on and you're almost at the boards and sliding around. After that, you just try to get back to the net as soon as possible and just try to catch your breath. When you take those first two steps, you can't back down anymore. It was just pure instincts. Puck stayed out of the net so it went well.
On the chance to be a bigger part of the team in Frederik Andersen's absence: Every goalie wants to play as much as possible and every goalie wants to win. It's just unfortuante what happened to Freddie. Kind of shock first and then you start hearing what's going to happen and things like that. So wishing nothing but the best for Freddie. It's tough to see someone go down like that. Hopefully everything goes well. You hope to be the guy that the team can rely on. It's one day at a time and one game at a time. Just trying to give the guys a chance to win. Making those saves when you have to. One shot at a time. Simple as that.
On the emotions leading up to the game: Came back from the Islanders and then the next day we had the day off and you hear the news and nobody really knew what was going on. Came to practice and games still keep going so it was pretty much just starting to get mentally ready yesterday night and then having the morning skate. Felt good there and just prepared myself as normal as possible. I think we played really well after the first five minutes. We started to get better and better and at the end of the day we deserved the two points. We had the chances and I think overall we played really well.
On motivation: When you get the chance to play you want to show everyone that you can do it. Consistency is the key for a goalie. You can do it one night but what about the next night. So that's going to be a big thing for me to keep myself consistent and just day-in and day-out keep myself as best as I can.
On the 2-on-1 save in the second period: When he goes to the backhand, you kind of start loading a little bit. You can't start going too early though because then you're going to end up making a big hole on the short side, so I was pretty much just trying to stay patient and get a little bit of that back skate rhythm going so if there was a pass, I already had some motion to get myself over. Maybe a little bit lucky there. He kind of came back to where I was coming, but those are the saves that you hope to make. It was nice to get that done.
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