When a team is down 2-0 after opening a playoff series on the road the plan is simple, get a win in your own arena and then build from there. On Monday night in Dallas the Stars did just, shutting out the Pacific Division champion Anaheim Ducks in Game 3. Jamie Benn, who has been fantastic for the Stars all year, opened up the scoring and strong goaltending from Kari Lehtonen at the other end of the ice made sure it stood up as the game winner. However, in what may turn out to be a bigger story than the Stars 3-0 victory or them cutting the Ducks’ series lead to 2-1, Anaheim likely lost defenseman Stéphane Robidas for the remainder of the series after he was accidently hit in the knee by a diving Ryan Garbutt.
Following the game, here’s what was being said back in the locker rooms – including comments from Ryan Getzlaf, Cam Fowler, Kari Lehtonen, and both coaches…
Stars Defenseman Trevor Daley on now being down 2-1 in the series:
“We are right back in it. Instead of it being 3-0, you’re at 2-1 so it’s obviously a different series. We still get one more at home so we are going to concentrate on that one and do a lot of the same stuff, look at the video and clean up some of the areas. We are right back at it.”
Daley on the difference tonight versus the first two games of the series:
“I thought we did a good job of limiting costly mistakes, and those mistakes are going to be made out there, but (Kari Lehtonen) was there to cover us. He’s done that all year so it’s kind of expected.”
Daley on maybe getting under the skin of the Ducks:
“I don’t know, we’re not looking to get under their skin. We’re looking to slow them down and get in front of them.”
Daley on Lehtonen’s performance:
“Routine for that guy. He’s been great, he’s always great and it’s no secret in here. We know how good he is and tonight he came out and was great.”
Goaltender Kari Lehtonen on seeing the puck and getting good puck bounces:
“I think tonight when the puck was coming at me, it always seemed to hit something or bounce past me. In the two other games, I felt like all those kind of plays seemed to go the other way. Some nights it goes that way no matter what you try to do. I’ve learned that my game doesn’t get better if I start trying to over-do things and be more aggressive.”
Stars Head Coach Lindy Ruff on getting the game’s first goal:
“It was a pretty tight first period, a tight start to the game. There wasn’t a lot of trading chances. There were a couple of penalties and then (Benn) came out of the box and shot one off his (Andersen) pads and we were able to put it home.”
Ruff on the Stars’ physical play:
“We tried to play hard, we tried to play the man. There were a few scrums and I’m sure if you watch them, our guys got punched in the face a few time in those scrums. When you’re getting punched in the face eventually you’re going to punch back. Playoff hockey is emotional. We’ve got a good skating team and we can frustrate and part of being physical is you have to get there. I thought there were times they were strong down low on us. I don’t think either team crossed the line I just thought it was playoff hockey.”
Ruff on the play of Kari Lehtonen:
“He was calm, he was under control and made some great saves for us. He made some real timely saves and just looked really comfortable in net. We have a lot of players that don’t have a lot of playoff experience and I think some of that showed and I’d like to see us show a bit more composure with the puck. Kari’s play back there was a calming force for us… This team needed to experience a playoff win. Winning in the playoffs is different than winning in the regular season. I thought we held up pretty good and in Kari’s case I think tonight he made a statement. He was determined to be better than he was in the previous games and I asked all the players for that determination and to be better in some small areas and I thought we were tonight.”
Ruff on the win at home:
“I thought the atmosphere was tremendous. I got on the bench, took a look around and it just put a big smile on my face with the energy and the waving of the towels. It’s my first playoff game here in Dallas and I thought the crowd was tremendous. You could tell they had been waiting for a playoff game. They got a game they liked and they had something they could cheer about. We wanted a little boost from our fans and, as much as Anaheim got a boost from theirs, we got a boost from ours and it was great to see.”
Ducks Head Coach Bruce Boudreau on if the Stars crossed a line with their physical play:
“Well, I mean I think it was pretty obvious out there. We’ve warned the refs about them. It’s just something that I guess you do anything to win, but it’s not something that I think our team would do. We’ll take them and be as physical and be as mean as they want, but obviously they know there’s something wrong with his jaw, so they’re going after it.”
Boudreau on Robidas’ injury:
“It’s a huge loss because he was playing great. And of course, I think all the guys on the bench felt extremely bad for him. Here’s your teammate who’s just fought his way back from a broken leg. I don’t know what the extent of the injury is. I know it doesn’t look good and he’s probably out for a long time, but it looked like the same leg and everything to me. You have to feel for an athlete that worked so hard to get back and then that same thing happens to him.”
Boudreau on Lehtonen’s play:
”He played well. I mean we had probably I think the most chances we’ve had in the series before but we couldn’t beat him. That’s what Lehtonen does. I’ve coached against him for many years and have seen him play games like that and he can do it, but we’ve got to find ways to score. We had chances to score. We just didn’t get it done.”
Boudreau on Dallas playing their best game of the series:
“Well, I told the players that and I thought we did a lot of good things. We did a lot of good things but we didn’t score. It’s a real difference playing with the lead and playing from behind in this league and from confidence to taking chances. When we were pressing a little much there and it was giving them some odd-man breaks, but I thought chance wise and skating wise and territorial wise, that we were a lot better tonight than we’ve been in the first two games.”
Ryan Getzlaf on if the team was disappointed in losing their composure:
“Well, I thought they battled pretty hard. We’re in a tough building here and it’s not easy to play against these guys in their home building. We couldn’t get one past them; Kari played great tonight and we just couldn’t get one in there.”
Getzlaf on if the Stars are getting under their skin:
“Well, it’s one of those things, you’ve got to stay as disciplined as you can, but you’ve got to protect yourself too. It’s part of the game, and obviously I never expected them to target my face that much but that’s the way it goes I guess.”
Getzalf on if Dallas crossed the line:
“Well there’s class. You can play hard and do all the things you want, but me, personally, if a guy has a bad jaw I’m not going to hit him in the jaw. But everybody’s different.”
Cam Fowler on losing Robidas to the injury:
“It’s a big loss for us. My heart just breaks for the guy. He worked so hard to come back and become a big part of this team, and then there’s a freak accident and he goes down again. Really I’m just thinking about him and hoping that he’s doing OK. He was a big part of this team and was going to continue to play a huge role for us. It’s a pretty big loss.”
Fowler on how tonight’s game affects the series:
“Well we know the type of game they like to play. A lot of speed and a lot of guys that like to get in your face and finish checks. That’s playoff hockey at times. Both teams are going to maybe take one step over the edge, but I thought, for the most part, we did a good job of keeping our discipline tonight. I think the biggest thing is trying to capitalize on our power play. But we know what to expect. We want to play a physical brand of hockey and so do they, so I don’t think it was anything that was too unexpected for us.”
Fowler on if the speed of the game was a factor tonight:
“Yeah, it’s big. They like to play a transition game and they come at you pretty fast. For the most part I thought we did a good job of limiting their chances. They had a few breaks here and there, but Freddy [Frederick Andersen] made some saves and I think, unfortunately, we just weren’t able to capitalize on our chances tonight and that was the difference in the game. But you know what you’re going to get out of that team and you’ve got to take their time and space away, and we did an OK job of that tonight but we can always get better at it.”
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