The Carolina Hurricanes got the split from their weekend in Florida as they shutout the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 Saturday night at Amalie Arena.
Game Recap: Hurricanes Shutout Bolts in Much-Needed Response Game
The Canes needed a statement game after their poor effort on Friday, and they delivered. After the game, head coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Brady Skjei and Stefan Noesen spoke with the media.
Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On the response from his group: It was solid. It's what we were looking for. I thought that right from the start of the game and really through 60 minutes, we were really, really good and got what we deserved tonight. I think we were on it and ready to go from the start of the game.
On Pyotr Kochetkov: Solid. That's what you've gotta have. If you get goaltending like that... the other team's going to create opportunities and have chances and he looked like nothing was going to get by him tonight. That's calming for the group. He also played the puck really well and helped us get out of our zone. Just little things that don't really show up necessarily, but certainly help.
On a full, 60-minute effort: I mean, the third period we were a little... you know, you're up by a few and the nature is to kind of hang back a bit and they put some pucks in there, but i thought for two periods, it was exactly how we wanted to do it. It afforded us to have that little breather in the third. Good game. It's what we needed.
On Jaccob Slavin's offensive game: It's a part of his game, but it's probably a bit underrated because his other part is so good. Sometimes that happens with people. They have a skillset and they're way over here and everyone just talks and raves about it, but you forget that he can do the other things too. He can do whatever you want him to do out there. He's that good.
On Brent Burns: He's been around forever and there's a reason for it. You can't be around that long and play that high of a level without putting the work in and having dedication to your craft and preparation. He's one of the best ever at it.
On heading home: We've played pretty well at home obviously over the years. It's a tough start to the season, no one really talked about it, but when you're 11 games of 15 on the road, that's a long time and a big chunk of time playing good teams. I thought we had some hiccups in there, but hopefully we can build off of this one.
Brady Skjei
On the response from the group: It was a great response. Right from the start of the game. We played the way we wanted to. Last night wasn't the way we wanted to end it and we wanted to end this road trip on a high note. Everyone bought in and we played a really solid 60 minutes.
On Brent Burns: I've just seen how much of a professional he is. The way he comes to the rink every day. To be doing what he's doing at 39... He's been doing it for a long time and he takes care of his body. He still has a huge impact on the game and on our team. It's fun to sit by him in the locker room every day for sure and to be able to take things from him on a daily basis, you don't take that for granted.
On the growth of his offensive game: It's always a bonus when you get the offensive numbers. I definitely have a few lucky ones this year, there's no question about that, but I'm just trying to jump in the play when I can. Guys are finishing, it seems like, quite a bit when I'm making a play. It's obviously a bonus, but our team, our D-corp definitely has a defense-first mindset, but if you can contribute offensively, it's a huge bonus.
On Pyotr Kochetkov: He was great tonight. There were some big saves he made. Some grade-A chances that he kept out of the net. Just overall, I think that we had a little more of a buy in from the whole team tonight. That was more the style that we like to play and that we know usually leads us to wins.
On getting back home: We're excited for sure. It's been a long month or so, for sure. Being on the road. We're excited to get back and play in front of our fans and be in Raleigh.
Stefan Noesen
On playing his 300th career NHL game: It's been a lot of ups and downs, a lot of grind and a lot of support from my family and friends. I'm just very appreciative of getting the opportunity to have a chance to play here.
On having success within Carolina's system: I think just the way we play suits my game to a tee. I'm a very simple player. I'm not the flashiest of guys and I love a good puck battle. I think that 's pretty good for the system we play and Rod has a lot of belief in me. My forte is being in front of the net, so I appreciate him letting me be able to do my thing.
On playing in Carolina: Just opportunity given. I think just the overall structure of the system. You can kind of dumb it down. It's not rocket science the way we play. I think the way that we do that suits me pretty well and we have a great group of guys too so it's pretty easy to come into this locker room and try to help out.
On having a bounce back performance: Honestly, last night... I don't know what it was. We were just off and we kind of had some of those games were once we got down, we kind of tried to cheat the system a little bit. The way we play is the way we play. All of our team, overall, we know what we're doing. If one guy is off, it just looks ugly and that's just the way it is. All of our losses so far have looked that way and yesterday was no different.
Recent Articles
Aho, Martinook, Brind'Amour on Loss in Florida: "We didn't have everybody on board"