Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, improving the Leafs’ record to 12-4-0 away from home.
On the team’s performance:
I thought we started real well. Came out and played. A good goal from Ennis from The Goat there and Dermy. I thought that was a good start for us. I thought we had a real good penalty kill here tonight.
I didn’t like the way we finished as much just because we gave up some chances we didn’t need to, but a good win for our team. Like I said earlier today, the moms were all there watching them, too, so that was good they got to see that. They get to come on the trip here.
On whether William Nylander will be feeling better about things after a two-point night:
For sure. It is going to take him time, though. Let’s not get carried away. They’re all fine as long as the ice is open. As soon as it is in contact and you’ve got to get your legs going and you get stuck out on a shift… He took a penalty the one time he got stuck out on a shift. It’s hard for you. It is going to take some time. We’ll be patient and he has to be.
On whether Nylander’s role in the power play is something they’re deciding on:
Not really. What we’re doing is once he gets up to speed, we’re going to worry about it more, I guess. In the meantime, though, we want our power play to be deadly. It wasn’t that way tonight. We’re going to need it to be like that if we are going to have success.
On the team’s four-minute penalty kill in the first period to preserve a 1-0 lead:
Obviously, you are up and you are in a good situation and suddenly you’re in a four-minute [kill]. Willy’s stick got caught. You need the kill. We gave up one tonight that we didn’t need to. Our kill has got to become a dominant kill. We thought we got off to a real good start on the kill. It hasn’t been as good lately. We need it back.
On whether Nylander’s game and fitness are where he thought they’d be at this point three games into his return:
I mean, we knew it was going to take some time for sure. I actually spent time with Jeremy [Bettle], the sports science guy, tonight, trying to figure out — just in training camp, when you’ve trained all summer and you’ve come back — how many days it takes you to get your heart and all of that level. We were working on that tonight to figure that out. It’s not as quick as you’d like to think.
On how long it takes to get your heart rate level:
We did it today. When everyone is through, it’s 12 days before it levels out after training camp. If you think about that, you’ve trained, you’re in shape, you’re ready to go, and you’ve been with the team for a month, basically. It takes some time.
