Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 3-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night, improving the Leafs’ record to 10-5-0 on the season.
On getting off to a better start at home but fading in the second period:
I thought we started real good the first ten minutes, and then I thought we got fooling around with the puck and they showed us how fast they were. I thought they really dominated the second period. We were lucky to get out of the second. I didn’t mind our third.
In the end, when you look at this game, kind of like when Pittsburgh left here with the points or Dallas left here with the points, you thought you’d done enough to win and you didn’t. Tonight the shoe is on the other foot. We’ll take her. Maybe we can loosen up at home a little bit and play.
On Connor Brown getting in on the scoring for his first non-empty-net goal of the year:
I thought that line (Johnsson – Lindholm – Brown) was our best line at the start of the game. I thought it was our quickest, most effective line.
We were playing good and we were playing plays. Suddenly, in the second, we never made one play. I don’t know how many times we iced the puck. We were just under siege. They were quicker. They were on top of us. I talked about that this morning — the speed through the middle of the rink on their team is really good. When we got on our heels and they got on top of us, they were quicker.
But I thought that line was real effective. Obviously, you need everybody involved in the offense, so it’s great to see Brownie score.
On Frederik Andersen’s consistent play:
He does a good job for us all the time. We expect him every once in a while to win us a game. We played real well and didn’t give up anything and he gets the win and even the shutout sometimes — that’s a bonus for him. So it goes both ways. We are all in it together. But I thought Freddy was really strong for us tonight.
On Ron Hainsey staying on for multiple shifts in a row late in the game:
Probably just turned out that way. Couldn’t get off the ice. But it wasn’t that… Ron knows where to stand when the game is on the line. Having a little knowledge and being a veteran and being in the right spot never hurt anybody.
