Barry Trotz Game Quotations

He made a great pass on ( Scott Walker 's) goal (last Sunday). That's what experience brings. He sees the game at a little slower pace than some of the young guys.

Paul does not feel pressure. He keeps his emotions in check. He thinks and prepares for the game very intelligently. It was a storybook ending with him winning the shootout against his old team.

I thought our whole roster played well. That's how you win in this league. You need 20 guys to contribute. We played a real smart game in terms of puck management. We did a real solid job with the puck. We had no blind or hope passes. I think we managed the game well.

I was more concerned about how we came out, our attitude and our preparation following the break. And I was happy with all of those aspects. I think every element of our game was showcased tonight.

We executed really well and took parts of their game away and established parts of our game tonight. You need a lot of different parts working together if you want to be successful.

That was probably a really big momentum swing, because we had just tied the game and fought back. If they score that goal and it lasts, that could have killed a lot of momentum. And it got called off, which was the right call because the net was off.

Every game has been a one-goal game and a nail-biter, if you will, but we'll take it. They don't ask how, just how many.

We scored early and we were very fortunate when they countered and tied the game up. We responded right away.

His game shot up to a higher level. He started slowly, but he built up until he got hurt. I'm hoping he can start the year like he finished it when he was still healthy, and maybe even take it to the next level.

But he thinks the game so well, and you don't have to skate as well if you're a real intelligent player. And we found out he was a real intelligent player, and he's been quite productive to this point. He's probably exceeded any expectations that we have.

I don't know if it was a Detroit hangover, but we were not ready to go. I thought we lost the game in the first period.

Things came to us real easy in the first period. It is a little bit of human nature to let your foot off the gas a bit after a start like that. When a game is so easy at the start it is a hard game to play.

We frustrated them, and they took a lot of poor penalties. We knew their game plan. They wanted to bang, have a lot of energy and come out and prove a point. There wasn't much of a point at the end.

I feel better about where we're going because of the all-around effort and the game we played. It's the last game before the regular season but we wanted to respond with some good efforts and some good play. And I thought we did.