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Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 4-3 overtime win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, the Leafs’ fifth win in their last six games.


On the team’s performance:

Obviously, the penalty kill was really good. Our fourth line was outstanding and basically got us two of the goals. We found a way to just hang around and hang around and ended up winning the game. A good game to win and I thought it was tightly contested. I thought there was no room either way, and in the end, we found a way to win.

On the performance of the fourth line:

They were physical. They played right. They were competitive. They put the puck in. They got in on the cycle. They just scored. Hyman was out with them but they ended up with a big goal there and then set up another one. I thought they did a real good job. Every shift they played, and we played them a lot, they were good.

On William Nylander scoring the critical tying goal in the third:

I think tonight will be a real confidence builder for him. It is nice to score in big moments in important wins. You feel good about yourself, so good for Willy. He made a great shot. We need him to hit the net a bit more and he’ll score a lot more, but that was an important goal for us. We answered back quick, so you’re not thinking negative thoughts. You’re just right back at it. I thought that was positive.

On the play of the Marleau – Matthews –  Kapanen line:

I just think that line has a chance to be real good line. We think that line can be a dominant line every night, so we need more out of the group. That’s why you’re on a team. You’ve got four lines and you pick each other up from night to night.

On the atmosphere in the Bell Centre and the rivalry meaning something again:

I think it is spectacular every night here. In fairness to the fans, when we played them when I first got to Toronto, we were no good. I think they had it down here last year, so we never really played a good team playing a good team in the season where it mattered. Tonight was a little different story. Obviously, the crowd was fired up. It was the most people I’ve ever seen here in warmup. They were ready to go tonight.

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