The Hurricanes went 1-1-0 over the past week. The Carolina Hurricanes picked up a big 4-0 win over the New York Islanders Tuesday night as Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 32 shots for his first shutout of the season and ninth of his career. Andrei Svechnikov, Jordan Martinook, Tyson Jost and Sebastian Aho all scored for Carolina. After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Kochetkov, Aho and Jost all spoke with the media. Here's what they had to say: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rod Brind'Amour On Pytor Kochetkov: He was honestly the best player tonight. We gave up probably more than I'd like to see and we were a little loosey, but that sometimes what happens when you get an early lead. Sometimes it's hard to stay with it. But he was great all night. Looked like he was dialed right in. On if he feels the team is getting back to their game: Eh. In spurts, for sure. Tonight was nice on all of our goals. It was how you have to do it. I think still we were a little loose. We were giving up some chances that we don't normally do, but give the other team credit for pushing that. Obviously our goalie was the difference. On Tyson Jost: That was a big goal. Got us a nice cushion there. Good play by all of the guys that were on the ice, really. Everyone had a little hand in it, but yeah. Josty's been good. On Jost's versatility: It was important when we signed him this summer. We knew we were getting a veteran player that has the ability to play wherever you need him to in whatever situation. That's obviously proven to be a good acquisition. On if its been beneficial having an AHL affiliate again this year: It helps those guys. We didn't have a lot of callups last year. It was kind of weird. I don't even know if we had any. We kept extra guys. This year, it's a little different. He would have been here all year had we not had to do it this way. It probably works out because he was getting game action and with the systems being the same or at least similar helps. On the Jordan Staal line: Really all year, those've been our go-to guys. Nice to see them get kind of rewarded. They've always played really well, but a lot of time they're not on the scoresheet so you kind of graze over them to the guys that score and yet their impact on the game is always there. Nice to see them get rewarded. On Sebastian Aho: He was good. I thought his line wasn't great, but they obviously got a big goal there and that was a real big one because it was the end of the second period and kind of, I don't want to say put the game away, but it was a nice play by Robbie too. You have to give him credit. He's been playing well all year too. Hopefully that really jumpstarts Fishy to get going. On if he ever gets surprised by some of the things Kochetkov does: No. Listen, you come to expect a little bit of surprise with him. I thought tonight he was actually really good in there. He had the one of course, maybe he just can't help himself. But it ended up being the right play, right? Stopped a breakaway from even happening. Listen, he has a way he has to play and you can't take that out of him, but maybe you can... I don't know the right wording, but curtail to a certain degree, but you certainly aren't going to change what got him here and what makes him a good player. On if the Tokarski start on Sunday was a bit of a push for Kochetkov too: No. That had nothing to do with that. It was just getting the other guy in there because we're going to need him. We know Kooch is our guy. There's really no question about that. That was just more so to get Dusty in there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pyotr Kochetkov On the team getting back to their game: I think we always play good in the defensive zone. No guys bad play in the defensive zone. For me, I just play a little bit better. I happier today. Have shutout and guys play well. Defense play well. Power play, penalty kill. All well. On going against Ilya Sorokin: I don't think about it. All Russian goalies are very good. I just try to answer. He has save, I can answer with save too. For me, just no big deal. Russian guy. I just... for me, no business. On if he thinks about the shutout at all: I try to no think about it. When seven minutes in last period, I think, 'Okay, I have a couple of ideas about this.' I think, 'Okay, just f---ing stay in net, relax. F---ing do your job.' Because sometimes I have a couple of moments this season where I think about shutouts and then next shot, goal. Today, I just want to stay in net. I just want to win. I no think about shutout. I happy. It's always good for the goalie, for the team. On his stick toss in the first period: It was tough shot. I no see puck a little bit. I just try reaction save and it was my bad. My stick always... No comments about the stick. On making saves against players cutting across the slot or crease: Hard to say. Sometimes you have save, sometimes you have goal. You always tracking pucks and seeing where it goes with different guys. Today, I have save. It good for me. Sometimes I have games where I do same and have goal. On having a day off to mentally reset on Sunday: After Senators game, it was a tough lose for me. I think so it was a good idea. [Dustin Tokarsk] played well against Columbus, and I have a little bit of rest. Couple of days and ready for tonight. This helped me 100%. On his stick dropping frequency: I think this season I do better. Last season, it was every game. Five time in period I no have stick. I work in summer with f---ing... [makes gesture of gripping stick] my stick and my hand. I think this season a little bit better. So it's not on purpose: No, no of course not. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sebastian Aho On Pyotr Kochetkov: Especially early on, huge. Really, throughout the whole game. Big saves. Just great to see him have that type of game. He can build off of that. On if he felt like he's starting to get his game back: I think overall, the past two games have been at a pretty good level. Obviously you're never satisfied. Even if you have a great game, you still want to improve, right? I feel like Robbie and Jarvy did a really good job of winning battles on the wall. I got a lot of rush chances because of that so I was kind of able to speed through the middle. Played, I think, a pretty good game. Obviously we know we can be better as a line as well. Good game to build off of. On the team producing at 5v5 again: Honestly, the mindset has been just not giving them anything. Both goalies played great games, but I think we've done a much better job too at shutting them down as well. Kind of waiting for our own opportunities. We won 5v5 today. It doesn't matter how you win the game, but obviously you want to build your game and 5v5 is a big part of it. On Robinson making a "sneaky nice" play to set up his goal: Just nice, not sneaky. Just nice. It was a nice play absolutely. Just a 2-on-1 and two great passes and I kind of got a one-time shot there that went in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tyson Jost On if he liked scoring his goal tonight better than his first one as a Hurricane: What was wrong with my first one? No, it felt good. Nice to score on your stick rather than your butt. On being an NHL/AHL tweener: Honestly, I've loved how I've played up here. I feel like I belong in the NHL and I know I can play here. So it's nice to come up and play well and prove that I belong. I know I have that in me. It's been a little difficult going up and down and living in a hotel, but I'm not complaining. I'm just grateful to be here and I want to make the most of every opportunity and stay up here. That's the goal. On forcing the turnover leading to his goal: That's a huge part of my game, getting in on the forecheck and creating turnovers and creating havoc out there. It's something I have to bring to my game and I feel like I'm doing that really well so it's nice to get rewarded for that. Blake made a nice play, Rosey did too. It's a big part of my game and I have to keep that up. On having speedy and skilled linemates: It's great. I think hat's something our whole lineup, everyone has skill and everyone works and goes out there and plays the right way. That's winning hockey. All four lines have that and it's cool to see. That's what makes a good hockey team. When we're doing that, we're hard to beat. On transitioning between wing and center: There's not much change and I've played center a lot too. That's actually my natural position. At the start, I hadn't played center all year. Think I played one game in exhibition, so I was wondering how this was gonna feel and it was fine. It was kind of like riding a bike, I guess you could say. It's easy when everyone is on the same page too. That's the nice thing about this team. Everyone plays the right way and it's very predictable. On having continuity in systems between the AHL and NHL: They preach the same things so it definitely helps when you come up and it's the same system. It's definitely a nice thing for sure.
