Via the Caps, post-game quotes following their 3-2 loss to Toronto:
Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on keeping up the confidence …
“It’s part of the job, and we have to figure out ways to get the guys to understand that they’re doing a lot of good things and hopefully it will turn our way.”
Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on the team playing well but not winning…
“At some point you can’t have those breakdowns. The way we played the other night I thought for sure we would have a good effort tonight, and we did have the effort. It just kind of deflates you when you make a mistake early in the game. You’re looking for a good start, and it kind of takes the wind out of your sails.”
Washington Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner on the frustration this season…
“I am very frustrated. I still feel like we played good hockey. It’s just never good enough to win, and it’s time to get over that hump.”
Washington Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner on staying positive…
“Our power play has been getting a little bit better. We had two tonight which is great. PK [penalty kill], as long as we are on the 5-on-3, we seem to be doing okay. I don’t really know what else to fix. You have to continue being as positive as you can. It’s never good going into a game down on yourselves. You can be mad, but you can’t be down.”
Washington Capitals forward Marcus Johansson on looking forward…
“We have got to find a way to win. That’s all that matters. How we do it, doesn’t really matter.”
Washington Capitals defenseman Tomas Kundratek on the play of the Capitals tonight…
“I think we played great, but there were some mistakes and they scored the goals on us. Hockey is about mistakes and [the team] that makes less mistakes is going to win.”
Washington Capitals goaltender Michal Neuvirth on staying positive and moving forward…
“It’s tough, but no one is going to help us. It’s on us right now. It’s just a difficult situation right now, but I still believe we are going to win more games and we are going to be on a roll.”
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle on what he thought was the difference in tonight’s game…
“I thought we were more involved in the game. I thought we did more of the things that we talked – about creating more offense, maybe a few stop-ups, maybe a little less loose with the puck in the offensive zone – and we got some bounces that went our way. I thought, again, when you come on the road, you have to play a tighter game. I think at one point, I looked up and it was 20-20 in shots and you know there was a lot of things being pushed to the outside and a lot of the game being played in the neutral ice.”
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle on the play of goaltender Ben Scrivens…
“That’s what you ask your goaltender: to give you a chance to win and I thought [goaltender Ben Scrivens] did that. This is a big game for a guy who hasn’t played that many in the NHL, and this is a pretty raucous building. The crowd is noisy, you’re playing against [Alex] Ovechkin and the Capitals have a lot of firepower. I thought he responded very well for us.”
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Korbinian Holzer on his first goal in the NHL and how the play developed…
“I knew someone had tipped [the puck], I just wasn’t sure if it was one of our guys or one of their guys but everybody told me ‘It was yours.’ it was a special feeling. [Leafs defenseman Mark Fraser] made a great play on the blue line, out-winning the guy and passed it back to me and I just shot it at the net, and luckily good things happen.”
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Korbinian Holzer on if that’s how he dreamt his first NHL goal…
“The way you dream about it, you go top shelf after dangling three guys but I’m very happy to get the goal and help the team win the hockey game. That’s the most important.”
Toronto Maple Leafs forward James Van Riemsdyk on what worked for him and the Leafs tonight…
“We’ve been talking about a couple of those things, getting in on the forecheck, making it hard on their defenseman and getting to the net. I got some lucky bounces and I was able to put them in.”
Toronto Maple Leafs forward James Van Riemsdyk on his first goal of the night…
“It was just kind of a miscommunication. I was skating down and I was going to kind of hold up but I saw them kind of looking at each other like who was going to take the puck and it was just sitting there so I went to go grab it and was able to wrap it in.”