Via the team:
Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on the Capitals penalty kill…
“The penalty kill did a great job tonight. I think both teams played very good hockey tonight. Not a lot shots, 0-0, both goalies played good. Really good hockey.”
Washington Capitals head coach Adam Oates on the play of defenseman Mike Green…
“He’s obviously a huge part of our team. We talk about this a lot. It’s a reason why I don’t want Mike to try too hard to be a scorer during the game because we need him to have the poise back there at a key moment when it’s a big power play, place is going crazy, there’s electricity. You need guys out there who are calm. That’s one of his gifts.”
Washington Capitals defenseman Steve Oleksy on the flow of the game…
“They [Rangers] had moments too during the game but I think we did a great job weathering that and I felt we controlled a lot of the game and we knew it was going to come down to one bounce either way and fortunately we got it.”
Washington Capitals defenseman Steve Oleksy on the importance of winning both games at home…
“It’s huge. In any series you want to take both games at home to start the series. Get a 2 – nothing lead. Obviously MSG [Madison Square Garden] is a tough building to play in and we are going to head in there pretty focused and keep doing what got us here.”
Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom on the play of Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist…
“He played really great. We had a couple of really good quality chances, but he made some great saves. I think it’s strong of us that we won anyway even when they played well. Obviously [Braden] Holtby played well for us too.”
Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom on the key to the Capitals penalty kill…
“We’ve been working hard and working together. That’s the biggest key, I think. They have really good players on their team, so you’ve got to make sure to take away all those options.”
Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green on his game winning goal…
“He [Mike Ribeiro] does such a great job drawing guys to him and obviously they are on Ovi [Alex Ovechkin], so I just happened to be open and my goal was to get it by the first guy and try to hit the net.”
New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella on Rangers forwards Dan Boyle and Derek Dorsett stepping into the lineup…
“They played well, they played well. We changed the lines to try to create some more offense and also due to some matchups.”
New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella on his team’s power play…
“We’re just too stagnant, we’re almost paralyzed.”
New York Rangers forward Ryan Callahan on the power play for both teams deciding the game…
“I think it comes down to they score on the power play and we don’t. We had a couple chances on our [power play] to capitalize late in the game and then again in overtime and we don’t get it done.”
New York Rangers forward Ryan Callahan on the emotional factor of dropping a game like this…
“It’s tough. It’s tough to lose in overtime especially in a game like this but at the same time, we’ve got two [games] at home now. We have to take care of business at home. We lost two [games] on the road and we’ve just got to take care of business in our building now.”
New York Rangers forward Rick Nash on how the Rangers couldn’t get the job done on the power play…
“I think those last two power plays have to better chances [and] we’ve got to execute on them and score a big goal. We had the opportunities and we didn’t get the job done.”
New York Rangers forward Rick Nash on how difficult it feels to be on the losing end with a great goaltending effort…
“It’s a tough one. [Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist] was unbelievable, we have to get goals for him; there are no excuses. We go home now and the next game is a huge game.”