Cody Glass and Tanner Jeannot scored, and Juuse Saros won a great goaltending duel to give Nashville the win over the Winnipeg Jets. Here's what John Hynes and the players had to say after the Nashville Predators' 2-1 victory.
Any time the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets get together the game is bound to be intense, and that was certainly true in last night's matchup. Two Vezina caliber goaltenders, one team at the top of the division and another trying to claw their way into the playoff conversation, and a back and forth contest made for an exciting sixty minutes of hockey.
Tanner Jeannot's Game Winning Goal
John Hynes on Tanner Jeannot's contributions outside of scoring:
"He's a guy that night in and night out, he fights for the team. He's a big time penalty killer, he plays hard minutes. He's a great teammate, plays the game the right way, plays with effort. He does a lot of things that don't show up on the score sheet."
Tanner Jeannot on scoring for the first time since October 27:
"Little bit of a weight lifted off the shoulders, but my focus has been the same going into every game - just do everything I can to help the team win. And if I can do that in other ways than scoring then I do my best to do that as well. But it's always nice to get on the board."
Tanner Jeannot on how special to have his goal be the game winner:
"It feels good to help the team win. Yeah. It feels good."
Roman Josi on Jeannot's score:
"It's awesome. Same thing as Smitty [Cole Smith who scored his first NHL goal Saturday night]. He's had a lot of chances and not a lot of puck luck. Everybody knew it was coming at some point. Obviously, I think he was hoping a little earlier. You see him. He fights, he hits, even when he doesn't score he impacts the game. For him to get on the scoreboard tonight was huge for us, and everybody's very happy for him."
The Defensive Performance in Front of Juuse Saros
Roman Josi on the defense and losing Alexandre Carrier after the first period:
"I thought it was good. Obviously, it [losing Carrier] changes things a little. More ice time, everybody gets a little bit more."
John Hynes on the defense's performance:
"I thought both goaltenders played well. They're two of the better goaltenders in the league. I really like our net front defense tonight. They [Winnipeg] get to the net hard and put a lot of pucks there, and I thought that our intensity level in that area to either get blocks if there were second chances or be able to clear rebounds were really important."
Alexandre Carrier's Fight Against Logan Stanley
Roman Josi on Carrier stepping up to fight Stanley:
"Not great to see him go down, but just him stepping up against a guy who's a lot taller than him I think that shows his character. I think everybody was just really fired up after he did that. Takes a lot of courage to do that."
Cody Glass on how it made him feel seeing Carrier step up to defend him:
"Not good, first of all just because I don't want Carrsy [Carrier] to fight for me especially against a guy who is 6'7" or whatever he is. I owe him a dinner, new shoes or something. But that is just the kind of character Carrsy is. He's a great dude and to fight someone that much bigger than him and have my back is something I'll never forget. That's just the kind of character we have on this team and something I really appreciate."
John Hynes on seeing Carrier fight:
When it happened the first thought in my mind was 'What is he doing?' He is injured. I don't have a thorough update for you. That's kind of indicative of him, He's a little bit of a smaller guy, but it's what makes him a really good player for us - just the heart and competitiveness he has. I think you have to commend him. It was a tough hit on Glasser and probably more of an instinctual, competitive play from Carrsy. Good on him for doing it."