Post-game comments following the Ducks 3-1 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night…
– Corey Perry on why why the team has been so successful: “You look around this room and there are a lot of new faces, but there are a lot of guys in here with a lot of character who want to win, who want to prove they go out there each and every night and work as hard as they can.”
– Perry on the depth of the team: “It’s huge. We’ve been playing without some guys for a little while now, and some guys have stepped up and played different roles, and played some big minutes for us in key situations. It’s definitely been an added bonus that guys that step in and play as well as they have.”
– Nick Bonino on tonight’s win: “Freddy [Frederik Andersen] held strong and it speaks to our resilience. We find ways to win. We get a couple goals and then we shut the door. We have to win in every way in this league, and we did tonight.”
– Bonino on having a strong start to the season: “That’s definitely one of the things Bruce stressed when he came here, was getting off to a good start, and getting as far above .500 as you can get. He always says there are going to be points in the year where you slump. If you can set yourself up like we are, you’re going to be able to stay at the top of the standings.”
– Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau on Daniel Winnik’s defensive stop in the crease: “We know he’s a good defensive player, and that’s why we had him at center the whole training camp. Below the circles, he’s really intelligent. I wasn’t surprised he made that play.”
– Boudreau on the team stepping up without Ryan Getzlaf: “When you’re missing the second-leading scorer in the league, your captain, and arguably one of the best players in the world, you’re always going to miss him. But I thought we did a good job of battling. The team wanted to show we can survive injuries because we have good depth. It gave others guys a chance to play and I think they stepped up to the plate.”
– Canucks Henrik Sedin on the final minute of the game: “We could have taken over. We gave up a third goal when we were close to scoring a second tonight. I thought we played well. We made a few mistakes and it costs us.”
– H. Sedin on the Pacific Division: “It is a tough division, but we have showed that we can play with the best. I don’t think we came up to the standard where we want to be, in the last two games, but we are still in the games and we are battling. But it wasn’t enough.”
– Canucks Tom Sestito on tonight’s effort: “It happens in games like this. I think we were pretty stingy in what we were going to give them with a short turnaround there. I thought we played well, had a couple bad bounces, and we ended up losing the game like that…We want to win every game, but our division is tough this year. When they come to our place we have to beat them.”
– Canucks coach John Tortorella on his top lines not scoring: “They buckled it down in the third period, but through the game I was very comfortable with how we were playing. Our third, fourth lines were playing better. That’s what we needed, something from our top guys, and we didn’t get that, but I don’t think that’s going to happen many nights. We can keep getting the other guys playing and adding to us, and the other guys will come around I’m sure.”
– Tortorella on if the Canucks improved through the last four games: “You go through the San Jose game, the Phoenix game, a lot of good things. There was a lot of good things tonight- we’re right there. We don’t score a big goal, we don’t make that next big play and that’s a key. Games are won and lost on just a good defensive play or a really good offensive play, or a bad defensive play and not capitalizing on your chance. So, we weren’t far off tonight, and it could have gone in our direction. So, we go home and keep going about our business and trying to get better as a team.”
– Tortorella on if there was enough of a push in the third: “Yeah. They’re just defending and trying to block shots. We had a great chance with Burr- that’s a big play. We need to score. Burr had a chance the other night. He needs to score. It’s not through lack of effort, it’s not that he’s a really good player. He didn’t score. That’s the next step- we need to make that next big play in these types of games. And we will.”
– Tortorella on if there are any concerns after playing two physical teams: “No. No.”
