Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday night.
On the team’s performance despite falling behind:
Actually, I liked us. We were down 2-0 after one and we gave them not very much. I thought we played good. I thought neither team was running around crazy in the first period. Both teams played yesterday and both teams were under control. You know, Ovie scores. Touched it twice and shot it in the net twice. I liked our game, even in the second. When they scored to make it 3-0, I thought we fell off for the next five or six minutes and then we had a real push at the end of the period and obviously a real push at the end of the third. Bottom line is you can’t be behind and catch up very often in the NHL. I didn’t mind us. I liked our preparation. I liked how we started and I liked the way we played. I didn’t mind us.
I thought we spent lots of time in the offensive zone. I don’t know how many great chances either team got, to be honest with you, in the game, but we had some really good looks and lots of time in the offensive zone. I thought we wore on them pretty good, and in the end, we came up short.
On how they could’ve defended Alex Ovechkin better on his 1-0 goal:
I guess we’ve got to cut him off through the neutral zone a little bit better. Leo was with him and could’ve cut him off better. The D could’ve been gapped up better. I mean, he shot it in the net. You never want to give up your line against a guy like him because he can shoot it so good. We could’ve done that, for sure.
On Curtis McElhinney wanting one of the Ovechkin goals back:
You know, I’m not a goalie. I don’t know the answer to that question, really. The bottom line is you want him to stop them all, right? When you’re not getting a lot of rubber… It’s a lot easier to give up three on 50, but when you’re getting no rubber, you tend to feel like that.
On Roman Polak’s performance in his first game since November 2nd:
I liked him. Big, heavy, was good. Polie is what he is. He gives you an honest effort. I thought he did. That was a good pair for us tonight.
On how much he’s seen of the Toronto Marlies so far this season:
Not very much, to be honest with you. On TV, I’ve watched them, but I haven’t watched them live this year. I’ll get lots of opportunities. We talked to the coaching staff when they came in after the game. You get their player ratings. The GM was in after, so we just talked to them about that, too. So we’ve got a pretty good handle on what’s going on down there and we know who we are watching and who we are looking at all the time and seeing how our progress goes. We monitor all of our prospects pretty closely.
On hitting the road for the Western Canada trip:
I think it’s great. We’re not back-to-back on the whole trip. We’re going out there a day early. Sleep wise, anyway, time to go to bed. We’ve got to have a good road trip. I thought we did a good job, and then we come back and lose at home. We’ve got to get going. I think, when you’re just an OK team, when you win, it’s great. You don’t expect to win. When you win, you get greedy. You want to win every day. That’s what we should be: greedy.
