They've done it again!
The Columbus Blue Jackets won their second consecutive road overtime game, defeating the Washington Capitals 5-4 in OT. The win puts the Capitals in a 0-2 hole heading to Nationwide Arena on Tuesday night.
Here's the reaction from John Tortorella and company following the game.
John Tortorella
On what he's learned about his team in these two games...
"We get down, Washington has a couple of major pushes through the game. Yeah, we find a way. Certainly, right off the top, that is probably one of the best goaltending performances I've seen in quite a while with Bob (Sergei Bobrovsky). He gives us an opportunity to stay in the game, and when they surged, he made some huge saves in key times. It's great the guys still feel that have an opportunity to come back no matter what. They found a way.
On penalties hurting his team...
"We have to cure that. It's not like we're taking retaliatory penalties, but... It's something we have to get straightened out as the series moves forward. I thought we killed some penalties, some really key penalties, and I thought we had some breakdowns with our killing. And they score, what, three? Three goals. They're just too dangerous. We can't be doing it all that time. It's just impossible. They're too good. So that needs to be straightened out moving forward."
On the significance of playing in playoff games...
"I just told the guys... it's fun. I think it's fantastic for our team to go through all of this. Easy for me to say no, because we've won both of them, but I'll tell you guys, I still believe that. It's great experience for guys who haven't played a lot of games. We certainly don't use it as an excuse, as far as us trying to succeed in the playoffs, but they have to go through some of these things. These two games were - we win them so you're a lot happier - but some of the ebbs and flows, I think it's fantastic for our team to go through."
Ian Cole
On how this series isn't over...
"If we rest on our laurels, they're a team that can definitely come back in this series. We need to make sure that we're doing all the right things, and we're not getting ahead of ourselves thinking this series is over."
On the locker room heading into overtime...
"I think we did a really good job of being able to... obviously, disappointed they scored late, but the ability to be resilient, the ability to park it and just say hey, whatever happened earlier on in the game, none of that matters right now. The only thing that matters is what you're going to do next for this team to help us win. And you saw Calvy (Matt Calvert) step up big there and win the game for us."
Matt Calvert
On the win...
"Yeah, what a roller coaster. It was just one of those games, like the last one. Lot of fun. Guys responded. We're a resilient hockey club. And we got two big games on the road, and we're only going to build on that from here."
On the penalty kill...
"(It was) too much. We talked about being disciplined, whether we love the calls or not, you gotta go kill them. I thought we did a great job at certain times of the game, obviously gave up that one late, but we'll keep learning. They've got a great PP (power play), and we'll keep trying to get better, and keep that power play out of our net."
On the overtime winner...
"I just see (Brooks) Orpik going to get the puck. You're kind of tired in OT, but I decided to lay the body, and usually good things happen when you do that. I don't know if Andy (Josh Anderson) or Dubi (Brandon Dubinsky) got it, they threw it to Z (Zach Werenski), and Z's got a lot of talent. He made a great play, and I'm hanging out back-door. It comes to me and I only had one hand on my stick, and I was able to chip it past him. Great to see it go in but more important the big win and up two-nothing in the series."
On coming home to Nationwide Arena up 2-0...
"Our fans are hungry and waiting. We've seen a lot on social media, we've seen what they're like in the playoffs, and we can't wait to get home. Obviously you're looking for a (1-1) split ideally on the road, but we've got two, and now we've gotta go back to work for Game 3. I can't wait. We're going to use our fans and I can't wait to play in front of them."
Follow 1st Ohio BatteryFacebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube
