Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 3-2 shootout win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
On the team’s performance and the result:
I thought we did lots of really good things. In saying all of that, we’re still a young team that is learning how to win. The game is on the line and we do some things to generate offense for the other team instead of just continuing to play right. They’re a veteran team, and they know how to play. It looks like it went the game is on the line. We’ve got a long way to go, and yet it was a good win for us.
It was good — Freddy made a mistake early in the game and was able to shut the door for us. I think it’s good for Freddy as well.
I thought we had lots of good players tonight.
On the Thornton vs. Kadri fight energizing the team:
Yeah, it was good for Naz. Obviously, Naz gets the fight and gets the goal. Someone banked it off of his leg and into the net, so good for him. Suddenly, it was no different than any of our young guys. If you haven’t scored in a while, it’s kind of like energy. I thought he played real well after that. They had a tough matchup tonight and I thought they did a real good job.
On what Nazem Kadri is able to contribute even when he isn’t scoring like in December:
No question about that. He’s able to contribute for sure. Naz is one of the guys on the team that nothing bothers. He just goes about it. But when you haven’t scored in a while, you know you haven’t scored in a while. You like the numbers to go up. It’s like anybody. Everyone likes to score and feel good and feel like they’re contributing. Obviously, Naz — with the way he plays — helps us every night anyway, whether it be matching up or generating offense. But it makes you feel good when you score.
On the importance of the special teams in the win over a good team:
I thought that was important for us, obviously, tonight. I’ve got a lot of respect for the guys there in San Jose. Pavelski and Couture and Thornton and Vlasic and Burns — those guys are good players and good leaders and have been doing it for a long time. Their team is organized and plays right. They’ve got real good special teams. It’s not by accident that they’re starting to really pick up some steam.
I was looking — we’ve lost a bit more than they have. We’ve got a few more wins, but they haven’t lost very often. That’s because they know how to play. It was a good test for us. We need to get going at home. We need to get some momentum. I thought we had good energy the last two games, and we’ll get more energy. You’ve also got to get into the rhythm of winning.
On Frederik Andersen’s ability to bounce back after the gaffe on the 2-2 goal for San Jose:
It’s a good thing that he was able to do that, obviously. There’s no sense in getting rattled. He made a mistake. He didn’t mean to pass it to them and have them shoot it in the net. We just scored to go ahead and it’s supposed to be 2-1 going into the third, and you make that mistake. But I thought he did a real good job and I thought he did a real good job in the shootout as well. That’ll lead to confidence. Got to get back to work tomorrow and keep grinding.
