Hurricanes dominate Oilers with balanced attack. Brind'Amour praises defensive grit and young stars. Andersen and Chatfield detail the crucial road victory.
The Carolina Hurricanes were good enough Friday night, as they defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-3.
K'Andre Miller had a three-point night and Jackson Blake scored twice as the Canes just poured it on on the Oilers.
After the game, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour along with Frederik Andersen, Jalen Chatfield and Blake spoke with the media in Edmonton. Here's what they had to say:
Rod Brind'Amour
On if he had an update on Shayne Gostisbehere, who left the game after the first period due to a lower-body injury: I don't have one. It's obviously not good. He's been dealing with stuff it feels like all year. Just when he gets rolling, he just gets nicked up. I don't really have an update at this point.
On the defensive effort: Those guys really dug in. We lost Ghost and so we were down to five, really playing four for the most part, and that's a lot to ask against that team and I thought they just did a great job. They didn't have a lot of chances and not a ton of shots, so we were doing a pretty good job.
On the third line: It's the same that you see every night. They're not always getting on the scoresheet, well, they have lately and certainly Fly has, but they're our leaders, right? Especially Jordo and Marty. They've been here for a long time and they do it right and everyone kind of falls in. Niki's been a great addition. Today was the trade deadline day, but he was a big addition in the summer. That was a big add for our group and he's playing really well.
On Jackson Blake: That line's been really good. They're playing with a lot of energy. I think the break has been good for them and the young kids, they're the ones that seem to have the most juice out there. They're really pushing our group too. It's been good to see.
Frederik Andersen
On the game: They've obviously got some very good players. I think we did a really good job of containing them. They got a lot of speed when they carry the puck up the ice. The D did a hell of a job of containing McDavid.
On his game: Overall pretty good. Obviously I think the second goal I'd like to have back. Heck of a shot, so kudos. Surprised me a little bit and a bit of a scrambled play too trying to figure out who had who. But he did a hell of a job getting that up and obviously I was a little surprised. Other than that, I did what I had to do to get a win with the way the team played.
On seeing a low shot total: I think the league has changed a lot. I don't think a lot of teams waste shots anymore. So shot total is really useless to look at in my opinion. But yeah, as a goalie, you like high-shot games. You feel like you're in it. But just trying to stay with it and help the team by playing the puck and stuff like that.
Jalen Chatfield
On the game: Full team effort. I don't think there was a guy that took a shift off. We knew it was a good team coming in tonight and so we needed to play together and we needed everybody. Ghost went down early, so as a whole team, we had to step up and fill in for that too.
On regrouping after losing Gostisbehere: We don't like when guys go down, but it's kind of happened to us a few times. I think at one point, we played with four D this year. So we've been resilient whenever that has happened and we know we can't take a shift off and you have to get to the bench, take some deep breaths and get right back out there and play a full 60. There's no excuses. We don't want anybody getting hurt, but you can't make that an excuse, you can't go out there and say you're tired. You just have to play hard.
On playing his 300th game as a Hurricane: Felt good. Always. Hockey is up and down, every game is different, but I come in with the same mentality, same preparation and same routine of going out there and playing hard for the guys and trying to get a win and doing whatever the team needs me to do. I feel good, felt like I came ready to play and we got the result as a team.
Jackson Blake
On the game: Roddy pointed it out after the game. Everyone contributed tonight. That's the group we are. It doesn't matter how much you play or who you are, everyone is contributing out there in their own little ways. Whenever you come here, it feels like a playoff game a little bit. They have two of the best players in the whole world and I thought our team did a great job tonight.
On his goal scoring: Honestly, it felt like a playoff game a little bit and so it took me a little bit to ease into it. But like I said, everyone was awesome and when everyone is playing the way Rod wants us to play and our line, I thought was great too, it makes it a lot easier out there on me.
On moving forward: Honestly, just play the same way we played tonight. Obviously back-to-backs are pretty tough and with traveling too and getting to bed late, but no excuses. We just have to have the same mindset we had tonight and just finish this road trip on a big win.
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