The Columbus Blue Jackets lost a heart-breaker 3-2 in double-overtime to the Washington Capitals. The win gives the Capitals life, as they now trail the best-of-seven series 2-1. Game 4 will be at Nationwide Arena on Thursday night.
Here's the reaction from John Tortorella and company following the game.
John Tortorella
On his thoughts on the loss...
"I thought we played much better tonight than we did the other night (Sunday, Game 2). It's a hell of a series. Three overtimes. We get some rest tomorrow and get ready to play our next one."
On his team's overall fitness...
"Oh, I don't know if... Our team is in shape. I don't know if you can go all the way back to (training) camp. I think sometimes your team is in shape because you're getting some rest at this time of year. The first overtime, both teams, there was quite a bit of pace there. To me, you're running on adrenaline. To me, t's not conditioning, it's adrenaline. The players are just going over the boards, and the intensity of it, that just kicks it in. That's just a hell of a game.
On his team's overall play...
"I'm not going to pick apart the team. I think we played better tonight than we played the last game, and we won the last game. The NHL, and playoff hockey, it's a strange animal. We'll be ready to play our next game. No one's down on our club, we're happy about how went about our business, didn't win it tonight."
On his team's ability to respond to deficits...
"We've been doing it for quite a while. Again, you don't wanna write it up that way, but we're very comfortable in that situation right now. We just keep on playing. Bob (Sergei Bobrovsky) keeps us close when we are down, he made some good saves to keep us close, and we find a way to tie it. I thought we had some really good chances in that first overtime to win it. Hit a few posts, I think three of four posts, it's the way it is, guys. We win a couple, who knows where the games go. Same thing tonight, they find a way, we don't. Move by it, get ready for our next one."
Pierre-Luc Dubois
On the overtime sessions...
"You look at all the games we've played this series, all overtime. Never know how it's going to end, (I) kind of had a feeling tonight, second overtime, it was going to end with an ugly goal like that. Unfortunately we didn't get the bounce, but gotta come back from this game."
On his first career playoff goal...
"Yeah, it was a fun moment. My mom was here, so that's great. But I mean that's not what I'm going to remember this game for. I'm just going to go to bed tonight and tomorrow's a new day."
Nick Foligno
On the loss...
"Yeah, it's playoff hockey. That's the way it's going to go in this series. It's been tight games, so we're not going to hang our hats and feel sorry for ourselves. We're in a good spot, that's why we stole two in their barn. So we've got a chance to learn from this one and make sure we're better on Thursday."
On how the series has tightened up...
"We respect them. We don't fear them, but we respect them. We've got to make sure we're a little bit better. I thought we did some good things but we can always do a little bit more when you lose a game, so there's some things we're going to get back to the drawing board, tomorrow. And just make sure we're ready to put our best foot forward on Thursday, and give ourselves a real good chance to go back there (to Washington) with a good, commanding lead and put this one behind us."
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