John Tortorella addressed the media after his team’s 2-0 win in Game 1 of the best-of-five playoff qualifying series versus the Maple Leafs.
Tortorella on his team’s composure in a low-scoring game:
We have played a lot of games that way — a lot of one-goal games, tie games going into the third period. We just continue to try to play.
Tortorella on Alex Wennberg’s game:
He is a very smart player positionally. Not only him, I thought our whole team was in fairly good position most of the night. The game tended to go back and forth a little bit as far as getting hemmed in. Wenny, you see that we have him on the ice at the end of the game. He is a very smart player away from the puck and does some really good things with his stick.
Tortorella on taking just one penalty over the 60 minutes:
There have been a lot of penalties called in these games here when they started out yesterday through today. We really try to make a point of emphasis as far as just trying to play the right way — skating, keeping our sticks down, and just checking the right way.
It is a dangerous power play we are playing against. We can’t give them that many opportunities. It changes momentum in the game. For tonight, I thought we did a pretty good job.
Tortorella on Cam Atkinson scoring the game-winner:
I thought Cam played a good game. For a goal scorer and a guy that has struggled a little bit as we have gone through, hopefully, that will loosen him up a little bit. The play I like about his game was the last play on the empty-net goal. He just gets run over, but he makes the play to get the puck out. That is a really big play for us.
As far as the goal scorers, they want to score goals. Hopefully, that will help his confidence.
Tortorella on Joonas Korpisalo’s shutout:
Big part of the win. Not a lot of wasted motion. I thought both goals played well. I just liked his demeanor also. We have two goalies. With Elvis also, we are not here playing if it is not for those two guys. We are in a pretty good situation as far as that position is concerned.
Tortorella on the team’s defensive focus and how it paid off in Game 1:
They’re a good offensive team. It is certainly a point of emphasis as far as how we play in our end zone. I thought we played in spurts through a lot of the game. In the third period, especially when we had the lead, it just seemed there was more concentration on being in the right position. It is nothing special we are doing. We are just trying to play the game the right way.
