The Columbus Blue Jackets closed out their regular season with a 4-2 loss against the Nashville Predators Saturday night, and move on to play the Washington Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Here is the reaction from John Tortorella and company following the game:
John Tortorella
On the game: "There was some rust on some guys early in the first period. Took too many penalties, including the coach, put our team in a bad way, they got some momentum off of that, but I thought as the game went on I thought we competed hard and played well."
On Brandon Dubinsky: "The second half of that game is probably the best he's played. That's an important thing for us as we start this [playoff run]. He makes a great outlet pass to [Markus Hannikainen] before he scores the goal, I thought his legs were movin', I thought he was physical."
On the importance of getting Josh Anderson a couple games back before the playoffs: "Just to get him into the speed of the game, it's important. I don't think his game is totally there yet, but to get couple of games prior to playing in the playoffs was important."
On mindset changes before the playoffs: "It's just a whole different animal as far as what you have to do."
Brandon Dubinsky
On the game: "We played a pretty good game. Obviously we gave a couple power play goals to 'em there in the first, got down three nothing to a really good team, but overall I was pretty happy with the way we played the game."
On depth for the playoffs and new guys contributing: "Injuries happen in the playoffs, so you never know how much depth we're gonna need, and we got a lot of it here, up front and on the back end."
On the playoffs: "It's all zeros now. Doesn't matter how tough the regular season was, especially for me individually, everyone's tied at zero now."
On the Capitals: "They're well balanced right through the lineup, they got good goaltending, a lot of firepower. It's gonna be one of those series where you gotta be disciplined."
Eric Robinson
On his NHL debut: "It was an incredible experience. One of the most fun times I've ever had playing hockey."
