Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Post-Game Reaction After The Dallas Stars Defeated The Anaheim Ducks 4-2

04/24/2014 at 7:58am EDT

Stars Head Coach Lindy Ruff

On the Stars’ resiliency tonight:

“Obviously we didn’t play our best first period. I thought we were slow to move the puck and didn’t quite get our feet moving. We had a couple of good offensive chances that we were just a little bit slow to. We talked about trying to get a little more speed through the neutral zone and getting more pucks in behind their defense and then that was probably one of the better second periods we’ve played.”

On his comments to the team in the first intermission:

“I just said I wasn’t happy. I thought we got outworked. I thought we weren’t playing smart enough and it was our turn to answer and that group in there answered the bell. It’s not often that we get outworked but I thought after that, the last forty was as hard as the boys could go, they emptied the tank.”

On the physical nature of tonight’s game:

“That’s just playoff hockey. It was fun for everybody I think. It’s just playoff emotion. I really feel like we’re in a playoff series now.”

On the series going forward:

“It’s starting from scratch. We’ve got to go there and win a game. We’ve got to win a game in Anaheim. We’ve got to be better and I have to do a better job with the team. I thought in Game two we played, in my eyes, a real good game but we didn’t finish and we made some big mistakes. We eliminated some of those big mistakes here and it’s now just focusing on one game…no more. We’ve done it all year.”

On Jamie Benn’s goal in the second period:

“That goal was really important. To get us on the board that quickly and get the energy back in this building…I knew if we could get one early in the second that would probably tip it our way because we’ve always had good push-back from adversity.”

Stars forward Jamie Benn

On the plan of the first goal:

“Everything is always different. Teams line up different, you kind of just mix it up, go off instincts. It was lucky enough to get a couple bounces and I found it on my stick and just tried to get a quick shot.”

On how impressed he is with the resiliency of his team:

“Very impressed. We are a confident group in here. We want to play the same way all the time, if we are up two goals or down two goals. We regrouped in the first and came out with a strong effort in the second and third.”

On the momentum after winning two straight:

“It is obviously what we wanted. It wasn’t fun being down 2-0, they won their home games and we won ours, the next one is going to be huge, it’s going to be hard to win. They are a good team in their own barn and we want to find a way to keep this thing going.”

Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski

On coming back from 2-0 deficit in the game:

“I think all year we’ve been good at putting stuff behind us. If things haven’t been going well we’ve been able to put periods behind us and we just stuck with the plan and we kept going, kept getting in their zone and it paid off.”

On riding the momentum to Anaheim:

“I think we feel good about our game. They are a really good team over there and they are good in their building so we’re confident in our game and we will go in and try and get a better start than we did in the first game over there. But I thought in Game 2 we were pretty good, and it’s 2-2 now so we have to go get home ice.”

On if the series has gotten chippier:

“I really don’t think so. As far as between the whistles the games have been played pretty honest I think by both teams. You’ll get the pushing and shoving stuff after the whistles but you look around the league it happens everywhere.”

Stars forward Vernon Fiddler

On the change of game in the second and third periods:

“I think we were sitting back in the first. I mean we had some good looks, but we gave up a few and they had a couple guys take some good shots, and that’s the kind of team they are. They have some good shooters. We had forty minutes to make a push back and I thought the guys did a great job in the second. Right from the get-go we were on our toes. Obviously, Jamie (Benn) got a goal in the first few seconds, and that kind of changed the momentum right there.”

On the series being tied:

“Both teams have taken care of business at home, and we obviously feel comfortable in our building, but Anaheim is a tough place to go in and play, and they obviously have some great players and leaders.”

On setting the tone for the rest of the series:

“We’re not worried about Anaheim. We want to worry about our game. I think when we worry about our own game, we are a really confident group. We know how to play. We’re not the most skilled team, but were a team that’s going to work, and we pride ourselves on that, and we don’t get out worked.”

Ducks Head Coach Bruce Boudreau

On if Andersen wasn’t playing as sharp tonight:

“After the second goal I certainly did. I didn’t really notice it in the first period because I didn’t think they had a lot of opportunities. But after they scored their second goal, I told Hilly [Jonas Hiller] to get ready because I didn’t think he was that sharp, but then he settled down and I think right after that made a flurry of good saves, and I thought, OK, he is settling down. Then in the third period, when they got that goal, I thought it was time.”

On what needs to happen to slow Dallas down:

“Well they are obviously quick. They jump into the play very well. I think what we have to do is get our forecheck going and make them play 200 feet. And then we have to make sure we are not getting all three guys caught, because once you get three guys caught, and that happened about four or five times after the first period, then they’re coming four on two or three on two because they’re ready to go offensively right away. It’s things that I thought we controlled very well in the first period but we just didn’t do it for 60 minutes.”

On where he felt the team missed Getzlaf the most:

“Everywhere. He’s one of the elite players in the NHL. You miss him in the offensive zone, you miss him on the boards, you miss him as a leader. You miss him in a lot of ways.”

On the importance of getting back home:

“It’s a best of three right now. We fought awfully hard this year to get home ice advantage, and I think we had the second best home record in the league, so we’re going home and we’re going to be glad to be home.”

Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler

On if Dallas’ speed is causing problems for them:

“It’s a problem for us if we play into their hands and let them skate, that’s when they are at their best. Like I said, in the first period I thought we did a good job of slowing them down and making them play a grind style of hockey which benefits us. Unfortunately in the second and third we got into a run and gun game with them and before you know it we’re down two goals and crawling our way back. We understand that and it’s pretty evident out there we can’t play that way, so hopefully we can clean it up and it will be good to go back into Anaheim and hear our own fans again.”

On if losing Getzlaf created a letdown:

“Not at all. If anything you rally around that and we understand he’s our best player and when he can’t go the rest of us have to step up and take on a bigger role, and I thought we did a great job of that in the first period. Unfortunately consistency is what we’re searching for right now and we can’t seem to find it. It’s not easy losing a player like that, but you can’t sit and think about it, you just got to go out and execute.”

On trying to turn the momentum back in the Ducks’ favor:

“It’ll be good to get back in our home building and hear our fans and feed off their energy, but it’s all about us and our execution. I think we’re lying to ourselves if we look in the mirror and tell ourselves we are playing our best hockey in any one of these four games. We’ve shown spurts of it, but we haven’t done it consistently so it’s up to us there’s nobody else to point the finger at, and we have to take ownership of that and go back home and sort it all out.

Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano

On the game tonight:

“We had full control in the first period and I thought some of the goals we gave them were mistakes that we gave up. They had a big push in their home building. You can expect that. I thought that the goals we gave them were self-inflicted for the most part and we couldn’t recover.”

On taking the excitement out of the arena early:

“I think so. That was the most perfect first period that you could ask for and then to give up a couple in the second hurt us. It’s tough when the momentum starts building in the opposite way against you in the opposing building but to give up four unanswered goals I think that’s the one thing that just can’t happen.”

On looking at the remainder of the series:

“2-2, at the end of the day it is best out of three now. I think it has been back and forth in a lot of the games. It is going to be a tough series, we know that, when your captain goes down and your best player is out I think we responded really well, some of the young guys did a great job but now we get to go back to our building and create the momentum there.”

above was provided by the Dallas Stars PR department

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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