Alain Vigneault spoke with reporters following the Rangers win over Carolina (MSG & NYR Game Notes):
On tonight's game…"I thought there were some moments tonight where we stepped up our play. We killed a big penalty in the second period. Hayesy (Hayes) comes out of the box and we score our fourth goal. We were down to five defensemen early, so we had to buckle down. It might not have been the best of execution at times, but as far as our focus and mindset, we were in the right place."
On playing the Hurricanes…"They're a good team and they throw a lot of pucks at the net. They don't give up a lot. I thought we forced them into a few mistakes that we were able to capitalize on. We will take the two points and get ready for a big game against our rivals."
On Kevin Klein, "nothing more than JR (Rangers PR) probably told you. Strained a muscle in his abdomen and we will no more tomorrow."
On the play of Dan Boyle…"I thought he was real good, other than that turnover in the second period where he recovered and made a great defensive play. Our power play was good and I thought he made some good plays and some strong plays when he needed to."
On the play of Derick Brassard…"He's got to lead the ship. He's our top centerman right now. There is no doubt that his line, all three of those guys, seemed to be at the top of their game. They were playing against a big, physical centerman and a line that's real strong defensively and I thought they did a real good job of leading the way. Just like Stoll's line on that first shift, got it in deep, set a message to the rest of the group. We will take the win and get back at it tomorrow."
Henrik Lundqvist spoke with reporters on MSG following the Rangers win over Carolina:
On the game, "it's definitely a step in the right direction. Similar game to maybe the Boston game, you battle and they stick around and keep working hard and they are back in it in the end. The big thing here is just finding a way to win the game. Parts were really good and I think they are a pretty good team and they can create chances and keep working hard throughout the game, gotta give them some credit there but we found a way."
On going down to 5 D, "it's mostly more pressure on them obviously, you just want to make sure that you get short shifts so you don't get stuck out there for too long. If you can freeze the puck you do that, especially in the second period when it's tougher change. If they get stuck out there too long it's tough and they need to go back out after 30-40 seconds. I think they did a great job, played a pretty simple game and it's always challenging but they did a great job."
On it not being a perfect win, "it's sports, you feel great and like you are on top of the world and then you lose three games and start wondering about your game and thinking about what you can do better instead of just working on the process of doing what we need to do to win or to have a great period and then take it step by step. That is what you need to do, you need to break it down and believe in what we have here and in our system. A win is always big. Even though it's not perfect it's something that you can build off and feel good about."
On scoring early, "I felt like the finish was more important to the start. If you look at our games lately, that has been where it's decided, the last five, managing the puck and being smart. Same thing tonight, we had a great start, but they came back and it was a good test for us to play out the last five minutes and deal with a little pressure there. It's good stuff."
"A win is always big. Even though it’s not perfect, it’s always something you can build off of and feel good about.” - #NYR @HLundqvist30
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