Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 8-1 win over Carolina in the “Next Century” game at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday.
On the blowout win:
It was good. I thought Mitch was really going. I mean, it was a good night for the guys. Leo scored – hasn’t scored in forever. Mitchy scored – hadn’t scored in forever. Willy scored – hadn’t scored in forever. Carrick scored – hasn’t scored in forever. Who else? Kapanen scored – hasn’t been in the league.
That part was obviously good for our team. I thought they were all over us right at the start. We had good goaltending and then, obviously, got going and scored some timely goals.
On the confidence the goal scorers gained from scoring:
For sure. You can just tell by the energy that goes into their body. If you are a goal scorer and you haven’t scored for a long time, it starts weighing on you. I don’t care what anyone says… if you’re a young person, you can’t help it. You’ve got to look at [your phone]. You get used to getting beat on.
On JVR’s consistent production:
He’s just got real good hands at the net. That’s what he does. He’s got real good hands. The better the other guys are playing, the more the puck gets there, and the more he’s going to score.
On whether the scouting report on Scott Darling was glove-side high:
I think we’ve got a scouting report on every goalie, but you’d think we didn’t have one for last month. I don’t think that’s… sometimes the puck goes in. That’s just the way it is. Sometimes it doesn’t. We’ve played lots of good games where we didn’t score at all. We’ve played games where we weren’t very good and really weren’t ready to go, and we scored. Who knows why? Over a period of time, it usually evens out.
On whether the ceremony and all of the kids in the stands served as extra motivation:
I don’t know the answer to that. I heard lots of shots coming off the ice. “Mitch, you were really good in the first! You’ve got your classmates here and you’re trying to impress them! The first time we played you the game was after your bed time!” All of that stuff. I heard lots of stuff. I don’t know what the reason was.
On whether this was a breakout game for Marner:
No, not necessarily. I mean, he’s a good, good player. You keep telling him that if he works hard and gets on the inside and wins battles… when you’re playing good, you want the puck all the time. When you’re not playing very good, you don’t go get it. You’re watching, you’re thinking too much, and your feet don’t move. Your brain does, but your feet don’t. Obviously, as soon as he got going there, he had adrenaline.
I thought Willy was the same. Willy – I don’t know how many shots he missed. He hit once, I know, because he scored. But he had lots of opportunity as well.
On Roman Polak logging big minutes on the PK in Nikita Zaitsev’s absence:
Polie is always good. He’s just a good pro. He’s not – how would I say this right – fun for some people to watch. But he’s great for the coach to watch.
On Connor Carrick getting a goal in his first game back in the lineup:
On the offensive blue line, Cs does real good things. And he did tonight.
On whether Auston Matthews will make the trip to Columbus:
Yep.
