Via the team, quotes following Saturday’s win:
Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on staying positive on Alex Ovechkin…
“I feel that way about every guy. If you are doing the right things it will turn your way at one point. You have to believe in that. That’s almost every life lesson. He’s [Alex Ovechkin] been getting a lot of chances. He could have had a few last night. In New York he had 14 shots, which means that the guys he’s playing with and himself are doing the right things. He’s getting opportunities. Good things happen sooner or later.”
Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on the play of Eric Fehr…
“He’s been playing well; that’s why he’s out there. Obviously a two goal cushion is big. The last few weeks he seemed to have had a lot of jump and has been making good decisions and getting more involved in the game, and I have been trying to find more minutes for him.”
Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin on scoring the hat trick today…
“The chances are there. Sometimes I feel that the puck just doesn’t want to go in. Today, it was that kind of game that almost every shot goes in, or at least it feels like that. It’s kind of nice.”
Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin on the chemistry of his line…
“Our line has good chemistry right now. Chimmer [Jason Chimera] knows exactly what he has to do and I know where Chimmer’s [Jason Chimera] going to be. We are talking before the game and between the periods. And especially with Ribs [Mike Ribeiro] who is a guy who can control the puck in the neutral zone.”
Washington Capitals forward Matt Hendricks on the improved play of the Capitals…
“We paid more attention to detail and we stayed out of the box more tonight. We didn’t have as many penalties, so it wasn’t as taxing on our PK (penalty kill) or Holts [Braden Holtby]. And we made some key blocks.”
Washington Capitals forward Matt Hendricks on the improved play of the Capitals…
“We came out and played our game. We played a full 60 minutes. We talked earlier about being100% committed to the system not only in the defensive zone, but in the neutral zone and the offensive zone. We played a full game. That’s something we need to build on.”
Washington Capitals forward Troy Brouwer on Alex Ovechkin’s pass on his goal…
“I kind of figured he was going to shoot it because he’s got a hot hand tonight, but he’s a good player and sees the ice well and you’ve got be ready.”
Washington Capitals forward Troy Brouwer on Capitals power play…
“It’s good. It makes other teams respect us and not want to take bad penalties against us because they know we have that ability to make them pay. We’ve been pretty dangerous of late and we move the puck around really well. We’ve got a lot of good players who see the ice well. We’re scoring and we’re making sure that our power-play is keeping us in games.”
New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer on Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin…
“He had a great game. I’m not going to speak for their team – all I can tell you is that we have to find a way to slow him down and stop him and we didn’t do that tonight.”
New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer on his team playing a good first two periods but losing it in the third…
“I think after two [periods], we had played a decent road game. We had some opportunities. I thought we carried the chances in the second period and was hoping for another push in the third [period], and we didn’t get that.”
New Jersey Devils goaltender Johan Hedberg on Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin…
“You have to give [Ovechkin] credit. We know what kind of player he is and if you let him execute, he’s going to hurt you and he did.”
New Jersey Devils goaltender Johan Hedberg on what went wrong for the Devils today…
“A lot of nights, we’re doing a lot of good things and we’ve been winning most of them. Some nights you’re not going to be all there and the other team is there. It looks like it was an uneven game [on the scoreboard] but it’s really not. It was 1-1 going into the third [period] and [the Capitals] got all the breaks. We’ve got to keep doing what we know works for us and doesn’t matter what the score is, just keep playing our game and working our way back.”
New Jersey Devils forward Steve Bernier on what happened to the team in the third period…
“I think we were trying too hard. Sometimes you want to just do things too well [and] out of the system, and when you try to do that stuff, a team is going to beat you, and that’s exactly what they did. [The Capitals] have a great team, they’ve got a great offense and we can’t turn the puck over and give them room like that to make plays.”
New Jersey Devils forward Steve Bernier on Coach DeBoer changing up the lines late…
“When you’re down like that, you’ve got to try to get your team momentum and try to get good chemistrywith other players. As a player you’ve got to adjust, you just have to go on the ice and play your game. Who you play with, it doesn’t matter, you just have to go on the ice and play your game.”