John Tortorella Game Quotations

From where we were before this game to after this game, there are a lot of positives. The team battled hard. We have to build off of that.

I don't know why it should increase intensity. Our intensity should be increased to the limit right now, with where we're at. I'm not a big believer in statement games, measuring sticks, four-point games. I think every game is important.

I think some of our young guys who have been here for two or three years finally got a taste of the playoffs and a little bit of an understanding of where the fun in the game is. That's the time of year. It certainly whets your appetite and we have a new challenge this year, so we are going to attack it.

I think that was one of those situations where Marty was trying to deliver a message to the team. He was dead on in this game as far as his intensity and the way he wanted to put the game on his back.

I was worried about that. It has happened quite a bit. We have done a lot of good things in all parts of our game except put the puck in the back of the net. You could feel the same thing. But we made a step in the right direction. We didn't wait for something bad to happen.

It has been a different year from the past two or three. I think we expected that: some things to not always be in place, some adversity coming to us. Our consistency on the ice in all aspects of the game hasn't always been there.

I think he is great for our game. He has some jam to his game to add to his talent and the dynamic player he is he's the total package. He can be a one-on-one player, but he can also make a play and make another player look good. With that talent and that type of jam, he has the full package.

I thought parts of the game we played very well, but other parts we were brain-dead. Even in the second period when it was 3-1 I thought we weren't playing badly, but we put ourselves in a bad spot with too many penalties.

That's a tough one, I thought that we played well right on through. I thought that we played a good second half of the third period. We'll rebound and they should feel good about the way that they played, as it was our seventh game in eleven nights against a quality team and we just have to stay positive.

We have a short time left in our season. At times you have to have amnesia and for a good part of this game we will, but there are some things to learn from it and now we'll just get ready for Montreal.

We need to capitalize on our own power plays. That's what changed this game - special teams.

We need to capitalize on some of our chances. That's what changes the game, special teams. The first seven or eight minutes of that period, that's the game. No matter what the score is, that's the game right there.

You look at a lot of the other studs in the league this is the time when your best players need to step up and Marty, certainly the past couple of nights, he has been our best player offensively. I don't want to single anybody out because I think we have played well as a team, but you have to give him a little bit of credit. His game is different than it was in the middle of the year.

Boyle had a huge game. He knew how big this game was. He wanted to make big plays and he did.

The thing that bothers me the most is I just thought we shut it down. Was our goaltending good? No, it wasn't good. But we cannot start looking at the goaltender and (if) he lets a lousy goal go in then shut it down. If we're not getting the saves, we better win the game 6-5 or whatever it has to be. But to shut it down, that's the wrong way to go here. And that's what disturbs me the most.

No, we'll rebound. They should feel good about how they played. It's our seventh game in 11 nights against a quality team and we've got to just find positives as we go through here and there are plenty of them tonight.

As I've always said of Brad, he is a student of the game and always will be. That's why he continues to progress. I think his maturity at such a young age allowed him to grow into more roles on a team. That's important, the preparation. 'Are you satisfied with your play or do you want to continue to get better?' I don't think Richie is satisfied yet. And for us to be where we want to be, we can't have him satisfied; he needs to continue to get better.

Right now, we just have to focus on winning one game to prolong (the series). I guess that's the best way to put it ... we just want to prolong it.

I knew there was going to be a ton of adversity and a lot of ups and downs, and that's what's happened. We've gone through some now for 41 games. Now we have to learn to fight through it and just try to find a way to get points. We are not in a situation where, and I'm trying to stress to the guys, don't look at the standings or projections or this, that or the other thing. We're taking it a game at a time and I think that really has to be our concentration. One game at a time and try to find a way to get points each and every game.

That's a part of the game now. I hate it, but it's part of the game and our guys are going to have to produce.

I just couldn't wait to start another game. That was probably, to me, one of the toughest losses I've gone through. I'm glad they responded.

I just couldn't wait to start another game to forget about the (Washington) game. You do have to look by it, but it was a tough one to eat. So I'm glad they rebounded.

The key to the game was, I thought our power play was very good early, and Theodore was better. He made some great saves. Later on, I thought our power play struggled and you know it's going to come back and bite you, sooner or later.

It's a series. We got it done up there one game and we don't get it done down here.

We're going through a tough time here with injuries. This situation, things piled up. Three main guys on our team all together. I really respect how our team stayed together and played a game as a team.

This was a game as a measuring stick for us early in the year to see where we're at. We deserved that result.

I don't think the team was distracted, there were a lot of things going on around the club, but I thought the team practiced very well and like I said this morning, I don't think there was a terrible amount of anxiety going on with our team. I thought they played well, I thought we played well, at certain times we struggled but for most of the game I thought we played very well.

I don't like finishing a game that way. I'm not getting on my team at all. They played hard. They played really well.