Fresh off their shootout win over the Kings on Wednesday, the Pacific Division leading San Jose Sharks used a Brent Burns hat trick to down the visiting St. Louis Blues 6-3 on Friday. With the two points, they now sit just one point behind Chicago for the NHL’s top spot.
After the game, here’s what was being said in both locker rooms…
– Brent Burns: “We knew it was going to be a big game against these guys. There’s a lot of stuff going on, with the history and two teams that both feel that [they’re] at the top of their game. It was big. It was pretty special [to score a hat-trick].”
– Logan Couture on the first period on: “We realized there was still forty minutes to go, and that wasn’t St. Louis in the first period. That was a different team. And they showed that in the second and third, that they are a very good team. We made a lot of mistakes in the second and third that they capitalized on which we aren’t very happy with, but Burnzie’s [third] goal was huge and we were able to win.”
– Joe Thornton: “We just looked real, real sharp at the start of the game and you like to get one and then– bam– you get two. To go up 4-0 in the first ten minutes of the game is kind of unheard of. We were ready to go and we knew it was going to be a good test for us. And I think we passed the test.”
– Thornton on the Blues comeback: “You knew they were going to come back and play well. They definitely made it a game in the third period, with Burnzie’s goal getting in on the power play for the fifth [goal] that was huge. You knew they were going to have a little push back and they did, it’s just nice to get the two points.”
– Sharks coach Todd McLellan: “[The first period was] a heck of a period, really happy with it. Excited about going back out and playing the next. It was a really good start.”
– McLellan on Burns: “A big night from him, he had a lot of energy early. It looks like he’s getting back into where he was before. His minutes went up, he got back out on the power play, some more confidence. He can shoot the puck and his big body was needed today against a strong team.”
– Blues coach Ken Hitchcock: “They just took it to us. They weren’t ready to go. It was my responsibility. They weren’t ready to go.”
– Hitchcock on the goalie change: “It was four to nothing. We still think we can score, so we are still in the hockey game. We needed to win the next two periods. The fifth goal was a back breaker. It came too quick… before we could settle down after we made it four to three. We had them on their heels. Catch up hockey is losing hockey. You can’t play that way. You can’t be that ill prepared to start a hockey game, like we were. We didn’t compete at the start and they did and they took it to us.”
– Blues captain David Backes: “Great for them for coming out so hard but we need to have a better response. Scoring the first minute they scored and couple of more minutes on the power play and really just punched us in the mouth in that first period. We gained a little back in the 2nd and 3rd but too little too late.”
– Blues defenseman Ian Cole: “To spot them four goals is ridiculous. Especially a team like that that is so good that we knew we needed to play well against them. We just didn’t deliver.”
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