From a work ethic standpoint and skating, we did a lot of great things in the game. To bounce back after the dismal 30 minutes we played against Montreal, we did a lot of good things.
I was trying to get him the last one, and why not? He's a rookie who's played very well for us. He'd only played about four minutes going into the third period, so it was great to see him get it.
I was hoping to weather the first 10 minutes but we came out and controlled play and did the things we needed to do to set the tone for the game.
We played 40 real strong minutes then didn't show a lot of composure in the third. We didn't handle the pressure very well.
Every game we play, every team we play, we've talked that teams are gunning for us. The first 15 minutes they may not even try to score. They're saying, 'Let's not turn the puck over, let's not give them any chances.' You notice teams aren't taking any penalties early in the game.
After that, I was just hoping we'd get through the first 10 minutes all right.
In the last two minutes of the first period, that's as big of a blow that you can suffer when you are in your building.
The first seven minutes was as poorly as I've seen us play in a while. Our execution, our passing . . . we weren't crisp. We weren't alert. We deserved what we got.