With a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators, the Columbus Blue Jackets have extended their winning streak to seven games. As the push to lock up a playoff spot continues, here's the reaction from coach John Tortorella and company following the win.
John Tortorella
On team depth: "[Markus Nutivaara] to me looks like he believes he belongs here, where last year he just kinda followed. Still played well an injury, but I think he's trying to take control of his game. I thought he played really well tonight. [Ryan Murray] played well tonight had a huge block in the first period. You're always lookin' for those guys as you go through the season."
On benefits of winning close games: "It's another one goal game, I think we've played over 30? 32 or so? I think that's our 21st one-goal win. I thought it was the most comfortable we looked protecting a lead in the third period.
"I thought we sucked the first period, quite honestly. But we gathered ourself and I thought we played really well throughout the rest of the game."
On Alexander Wennberg's bloody nose and blocked shots: "That brings in that type of camaraderie as your winding it down, the regular season here, trying to find a way in, those things help."
On Boone Jenner: "I trust him. I think he evaluates his game the proper way. I think he puts a lot of pressure on himself. He's behind the eight ball as a big man, a guy that really has to work at his skating, to miss camp and to have that injury before camp? We knew it was gonna take him awhile. We didn't think it was gonna take this long, but I think out of all of 'em he's handled it the best."
On his role as the coach at this stage of the season: "I think there's a lot of times through that 40, 50 games of a season that you're pushing players, you're hugging players, you're kicking players, you're trying to help 'em with confidence, you're trying to teach 'em.
"At the deadline I had a meeting with the team. Gave 'em the depth chart as a group as far as where everybody sits right now, and I told 'em 'I'm not gonna do too much explaining as far as who's in, who's out, I'm not gonna try to help you do this, I'm not gonna give you a chance to find your game.' That was all explained.
"We're with them now as a coaching staff. We're just trying to help 'em, and push 'em through the gate, and allow 'em to play."
On David Savard: "I think Savy has just played better. We know what he is. We know how good a player, how good a shutdown guy. He had a couple great blocks tonight."
Ian Cole
On how they played against a physical team: "I think for the most part we did a good job of getting through their tight neutral zone checking, not turning the pucks over, and when we did we certainly came back hard and collapsed the glass pretty well."
On Wennberg's block and resulting bloody nose: "It's an unbelievable block from him. We need wins. We need as many as we can get. We need to stockpile 'em, we need to bank these points, and that desperation is certainly something you saw in that case for sure."
Boone Jenner
On how to create offense against a good defensive team: "I think just puck decisions. You gotta put it behind 'em and work to get it back."
On building success: "We're inching closer to where we want to be. We want to be playin' in April."
