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Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals that took the team to 5-1-0 on the season and completed a four-game road sweep.


On his overall impressions of the game:

Obviously, the first ten minutes weren’t very good. I don’t know if it was nervousness or we were rattled, or whatever, but we weren’t very good. But I thought we settled in and played pretty well. We had some quality chances early and didn’t bury them. We were able to finally get it going a little bit. I thought our third period was our best period of the night. In the end, it’s two points for us.

On Frederik Andersen’s superb outing:

Both goaltenders tonight — there were some good chances; point-blank chances. I thought there were some bell ringers in the first and never got anything out of it. They had some bell ringers down the stretch there, so Freddy made some good saves. It’s good to see.

They got one from the power play on the side on a really good shot. But other than that, I thought he was real solid.

On Par Lindholm getting his first NHL goal:

I just think he is a real good player. I thought Ozhiganov had his best game, too. Those are going to be real important pieces for us as we move ahead. Any time you can find free players, it is positive. These guys are super intelligent. Oz doesn’t even speak the language but is getting better every day. They will be be a big part of things to come.

On getting secondary scoring contributions from guys like Lindholm, Leivo, and Kapanen:

I think you have to have that. Obviously, it’s great that our big guys got off to a real good start because having them feeling good is so important. In saying that, part of the reason we are going to have success is because we have real good depth. Both teams tonight had real good depth. I think it was obvious in the game as it went on that you can’t play in high-level games like this without four lines that can really play.

On whether it’s a good feeling sweeping the four-game road trip:

You have an off day and then you get back to work, obviously. LA will be ready to go and we have to be prepared. We’ll feel good and we’ll feel good on the way home. It’s nice to have an off day after a win. But we’ve got to get back at it.

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