Grabbing two points against a Metropolitan opponent in the Philadelphia Flyers going into Christmas break is a tremendous boost of momentum going forward for the Blue Jackets. Here is the reaction from inside the locker room.
John Tortorella
On going with Pierre-Luc Dubois in the shootout: "I asked him the last game, Luc, I asked him 'Luc, have you ever, are you any good at [penalty shots]?' He goes 'I'm 0-for-6 in the Q,' where he played Junior. And I said 'Okay.' So... I was going with him tonight, three.
"So you can stick those analytics."
On gaining some momentum going into the break: "We were all about [last week's five-goal loss to the Bruins], and I'm thrilled to get five out of six [points]. I thought we had a chance for two last night. Some of the people that have gone out of our lineup coming into tonight's game, I'm very happy the way we played."
On scrapping a win out like this: "As I always tell you guys, I think short term, as far as what's going on right now, but also with the youth of the team and the building of the team, long term. I think this stuff, not only finding a way to win games now, short term, but more beneficial for as we move forward."
On the power play: "I will not talk about it the rest of the year."
On Artemi Panarin's response to a hit on Cam Atkinson: "I saw that hit, but I didn't see what [Panarin] did."
Nick Foligno
On the Flyers: "That's a team that's desperate for points right now. They're finding themselves."
On Dubois: "Huge goal by Luc, he just keeps checking off all the boxes of things he can do."
On finding ways to win: "That's what it's all about. You're not gonna have a healthy lineup all year long, and you've got to find a way to get it done."
On Panarin's response to the Atkinson hit: "That's not expected out of Bread at all, that's the kind of person, player and teammate he is. He's gonna make sure no one's taking any liberties."
Pierre-Luc Dubois
On his shootout goal: "I didn't score in my [QMJHL] career, didn't score even midget, so I didn't have a plan going in. I just wanted to go in, see what the goalie was gonna do, and I was lucky enough with that winner.
"I didn't expect it. Torts just came up to me and said 'You're going third.' So I had a couple minutes to think about it, but real happy it went in."
On the game in Pittsburgh against the Penguins coming up: "It's gonna be a fun Christmas. I think we got three days off, I'm gonna spend it with my family, but always gonna have the 27th in the back of my mind."
