Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 7-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.
On the result:
I thought we had a pretty good first. I didn’t think we were as good in the second. We needed a response. We got the response we needed. Matty’s line had a huge night. The puck went in a lot at both ends, obviously. It was nice to win.
On Frederik Andersen’s status after leaving the game in the second period following a knock to the head:
I think fine. I was just talking to him. He seems good. We’ll see what goes on tomorrow.
On what was different about the Matthews line tonight vs. the Boston game:
They scored. I mean, I don’t know. They played good. They played against a real good checking line, and it didn’t affect them. That line tried to be physical with them early. They didn’t let that bother them. They just played. For whatever reason, we didn’t have legs very good the other night, so when they played against Bergy’s line, they didn’t have much success. They turned over the puck and played a lot of defense. But tonight they were skating and working and all three guys were very, very competitive. In the end, it went good for them.
On Jake Gardiner’s incredible stretch passes for goals of late:
He’s a real good player. He’s got real good hockey sense, obviously, and can really pass the puck. His hockey IQ is high, high, high, so he sees things other people don’t see. So he makes those plays.
On shuffling the defense pairs mid-game:
Yeah, we couldn’t… They were eating us alive, right? That line dominated us and we just had to be better defensively. We didn’t take good enough care of the puck against them and they knocked down a lot of plays. We were — I don’t want to say cheating for offense — but we were hoping to get offense instead of just playing right and being patient.
On getting his 100th win as Leafs coach:
What did I get in my first year? Anyone remember? It didn’t seem like we won one that winter, did we? I don’t know when we got all of these, but obviously, our team is getting better. Tonight we played… I think Anaheim has a real good team. You’ve got to see what you can do against the good teams to really measure yourself. Winning 7-4 isn’t the way you draw it up, but it was nice to win and we’ll just keep getting better.
On whether Andersen wanted to come back into the game:
I don’t do any of that stuff. They just tell me if he’s playing or not.
