Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 5-4 win over the New York Islanders on Friday night.
On getting the two points on a night when it wasn’t always pretty:
Obviously, special teams tonight for us — we weren’t as good on the kill. We didn’t have Polie here, though, and we didn’t have Leo, so we weren’t as good, or Plekanec. It was obvious on our kill. It was one of those games that was very loosely played. There was lots of room for both teams. That’s probably not where we are headed, but that was what was there tonight. We found a way to win a game. We seemed to be down all night and crawled our way back, and in the end, got a win.
On the team having three 30+ goal scorers on three different lines and the overall depth of the club up front:
Where we are going, everyone has got depth, right? That’s why they are going to be in the playoffs. Winnipeg — the team that is sitting there waiting for us tonight — they have lots of depth, too. It’s nice, obviously… guys want to score. You like to have guys who can score. The more you have, the happier you are.
On a good night from the Auston Matthews line:
They worked. It’s real simple. You work hard, you get rewarded. If the other team works harder than you, you get frustrated. It’s real simple. I thought they did a good job. Now they’ve got to do it again tomorrow.
On Matthews having a point in each game since returning from injury and how he’s progressed since his return:
He’s not as good as he’s been, and he’s going to be better. I thought tonight was another step. I thought his first game and this game… it takes you a while to get your game back. He’s going to get a real test tomorrow, which is real positive for him. Back-to-back games, good grind, good for his conditioning. He’ll just keep getting better.
On the team finding a way to win despite falling behind on four separate occasions:
Obviously, we didn’t want the puck in our net as much as it was tonight. It just seemed to go in. The first two — we didn’t want that to happen, but that’s the way it went. You’ve just got to find a way to keep grinding.
On Bozak taking a couple of late draws to preserve the lead, with Plekanec given a night’s rest:
He won two big draws at 5-on-6 for us and that was important. But Plek is an important part of our team here. He gives us real good balance. That fourth line — I didn’t play that fourth line nearly as much as I normally would. We’ll get him back in there tomorrow and go from there.
On the team hitting the 100-point milestone:
I think that’s real important. I’ve had a lot of 100-point years over the years and I think it’s a real indication of a good hockey club. It’s hard to get 100 points. You’ve got to be a good team to do it. I’m excited for our guys that worked that hard to get good enough that they can do that. Now we’ve got four more opportunities to get better and get ready.
