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Pre-game comments ahead of Thursday night’s game versus the Devils.


Mike Babcock

What is Fehr’s status, Mike?

Babcock: Injured.

Any idea how long?

Babcock: Don’t know. He’s not here. So, he stayed overnight there and when he comes back we’ll know more.

Leivo in for him?

Babcock: Leivo.

How do you handle Roman Polak’s situation?

Babcock: [Marchenko] is ready to go and I’d imagine Polie wants to play, so.

How is Sosh coming?

Babcock: He’s alright. He’s not as good as he normally is. I don’t know if he could be available today. We didn’t ask, so we’ll just wait another day and go from there.

Mike, do you feel your group has grown enough this year that you don’t have to guard too much against a letdown or getting excited after what’s transpired here of late?

Babcock: No. I mean, it wouldn’t matter if I was coaching the Red Wings when they were really good or coaching tonight. You come in here this morning and you’re feeling good about yourself. If you don’t get prepared, you won’t be feeling good about yourself. Good teams win every single day. They just come in and are machine-like and they get prepared and they dig in and they find a way to do it. So that’s obviously our day of preparation, and yet, if you’re them, you don’t want to hear very much this morning either. It’s a fine line there, but we need to be ready to go tonight. They’re going to be jumping. They’ve got a lot of kids in their lineup. So we’ve got to be ready to play.

Carrick saw time with all three lefties last night. What do you like about shifting the pairs that way instead of having more stable ones?

Babcock: Just that Carrick hadn’t played in a while so we’d rather him be as stable as he possibly can. I think Carrick is a real good player and we’re trying to get him back in and going. It’s just the way their lines were and the kind of matchups we wanted — heavy people versus people who get the puck going. So that’s what we did as best we could.

Considering the opponent, was that as impressive of a win as you’ve had this year?

Babcock: Yeah, I think what you do is, when Chicago left town, you say, “hey, we played pretty good.” In Tampa the other night, you say, “we played pretty good.” I think the tendency is to do all that. Now, you don’t know what they’re going through. You don’t know if their coaching staff is saying, “hey, we just got to 100 points and clinched a playoff spot and we didn’t play last night.” I think there are two parts to every equation. What I like to do is just get on with it. You’re trying to grow the confidence of the group but you’re trying to do grow the details and what you do and how you win. The expectation is that you just put on your skates and you work hard and you get prepared and you win every day. To me, that is what is about.

Mike, how have you seen Leo elevate his game here of late?

Babcock: I just think the more competitive he gets the better it is for the guys that are little bit nasty. They like having fun with that. It gets them going. I thought last night’s game was like that. They abused us pretty good the last time we were in there, so our guys were more engaged this time. Last time, they got us in the back-to-back and we won the night before. We were probably feeling good about ourselves and weren’t prepared to play. I think our guys were better that way. Obviously, Leo and Naz and Brownie have got a big job again tonight with Zajac’s group. They’ve been rolling along.

What is the balance between pushing this team forward and acknowledging their abilities and what they can do, versus the reality of being prepared every day?

Babcock: That’s a real good question. I don’t spend a bunch of time worrying about that. What we try to do is get prepared every day and make them better every day. We know we are in a process here, but right now we’ve earned the opportunity to be in exciting hockey. So, why wouldn’t we just keep getting better every day? All we’re trying to do is keep them as fresh as we can, keep them organized and working hard. Ideally, we can have some success.


Connor Carrick

Obviously, getting involved physically in the game early last night. You’re back to 100%. You look like you’re having some fun out there

Carrick: In hockey, it seems like you’re either zero or 100%. You’re either healthy or you’re not. I’ve been lucky to be in the lineup the last couple of nights. I’m trying to bring something that will help the group. You’re on the road in a good building in Columbus and we were able to kind of set a tone early and get the two points.

Now you obviously have to make sure you don’t drop the ball today. Preparation critical in coming out and beating a team like New Jersey who sits below you in the standings?

Carrick: No question. It’s part of being a good pro. There are 82 games on the schedule. You’ve got to come ready to play every one of them. New Jersey is a sneaky team. They have some players that can beat you. They’ve always taken good pride in their defense and they’ve got some good goaltending, too. We’ve got to come out ready to play tonight.

What’s it like for your confidence when Mike and the coaching staff recognizes your versatility and has you out there filling the blank on the blue line for any shift?

Carrick: It’s a compliment for sure. As a player, you want to be able to make your D partner and really all five guys on the ice better because of you. You want to make the game easier for the guy you’re playing with. That’s something I’ve tried to do. I’ve played with a lot of good players. I’ve played a lead role where I’m handling more pucks on the D pairing. I’ve played kind of a supplemental role where I’m maybe feeding those guys more often. You kind of get a feel for each guy and what kind of helps them play better, and vice versa. You just want to be calming, you want to be strong defensively, and you want to be able to move pucks quickly and efficiently all night, no matter who you are out there with.


James van Riemsdyk

How do you make sure, in the second game of a back to back against a team that has struggled this year, to not sort of fall into a trap of looking past this game?

JVR: We know how important this game is. Every game you can’t take your opponent lightly. You’ve got to understand where the other teams are at. We know that those guys have some pride over there and there are guys playing for contracts and stuff like that, too. You never expect teams to just come out and roll over. We’ve just got to be ready to go.

Did the depth of this hockey club really show last night? All four lines made contributions to that big win.

JVR: I think that’s something that has been one of our strengths all year – just having that depth up and down the lineup, guys chipping in offensively, and it makes it really hard for other teams to key in on a certain line or two. We can score all through the four lines.

How have you seen Leo Komarov elevate his game here of late?

JVR: I think, again, Leo is just so consistent game in and game out. I think he has good habits and he’s a big part of that line with Naz. Those two have some good chemistry together. Again, nice to see him get rewarded with a goal there. He played a strong game, but he’s been playing well for the whole year now. We’re not surprised by that.

Tyler seems to enjoy his trash talking. He has a certain flair for it. Are you in that same boat? Do you enjoy it when he gets going and gets engaged in that way?

JVR: Yeah, it’s pretty funny to see, especially when he gets really fired up. Usually, he’s the guy that has the other guys on their team all out of sorts. When he gets yelling, it’s pretty funny, too.

Do you think his poker face drives people crazy, too?

JVR: Yeah, that’s what I mean. He’s usually the guy not showing much and the other guys are yelling at him and coming after him and whacking him. But when he gets fired up, it’s usually pretty funny.

How much positive momentum do you think this group has built with this series of wins and close games in emotionally-charged environments?

JVR: I think we’ve earned some more of that confidence with how we’ve played over the last few games here. We played against some good teams and had some good results. Obviously, we know we still have ten games left here and we’re going to need a really good effort down the stretch to make sure we get where we want to be.

What have you seen in Naz’s development? You’ve been here a while and he got his 30th goal last night. What do you think has made the difference for him this year?

JVR: That’s a good question. I think, especially in the last couple of years, he really relishes going against the best players on the other team and wanting to get the best of those matchups. He’s always had that kind of confidence and swagger about him. I think the details he has in his game now have come a long way as far as just making smart plays with the puck and doing things like that, and he’s getting rewarded for it. He’s having a great year. He’s a big part of our team.


Tyler Bozak

Is Leo still as annoying as he was when he first started and guys didn’t know him and he seemed to be creating trouble every game?

Bozak: Yeah, I mean, he’s one of those guys that you love to have on your team but probably wouldn’t want to play against. Every game we play there are a few guys that are getting pretty mad at him on the other team. You need guys like that on your team. Obviously, he’s a huge part of our team. I think he’s been great.

How much are you relishing this playoff race considering some of the down years you’ve been through here and now this has got to be pretty fun?

Bozak: It’s awesome. Any time you’re in the hunt and you have a chance it’s fun. I think, with our young group and the way we’ve been playing makes it more fun, too. We’ve got ten games left, I think, so we’ve got to keep it rolling and hopefully we can get in and hopefully make some noise when we do.

Do you want to just get in or do you want to get as high as possible and maybe get that 2-3 matchup?

Bozak: Yeah, I mean, you want to win as many games as you can and finish as high as you can. The ultimate goal, I think, is you just got to get in and then you’ve got a chance. Obviously, we’re going to try to keep winning games. Where we finish is where we finish, but the main part is getting in. Anything can happen after that.

You had that injury in the playoffs last time the team made it. Do you feel like you’ve almost got some unfinished business here?

Bozak: Yeah. I think we haven’t been in the playoffs much. Just that one year. It’s exciting for the guys who have been here for the last few years or whatever. We’re excited to be in this position that we’re in now. But, like I said before, there are no guarantees. There is still a lot of hockey left. We’ve got a lot of tough games coming up against some good opponents.

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