In Their Words: Bruins vs. Islanders, 10/24

Lots of stuff happened in last night's 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Here are some reactions to it all.

Boston Bruins

Claude Julien on the Bruins' first two periods...

Yeah, it took us two periods to start playing and then the third period was the period we all liked. It’s unfortunate that it took us that long. You can’t win hockey games just by playing a period in this league. Tonight we tried, guys were really good at coming out in the third and really pushing hard, but unfortunately ran out of time.

Julien on Patrice Bergeron's goals-against struggles...

Well, if we’re just talking about one guy, Patrice, with all the hockey he’s given us, his line right now, I think there’s a guy, Smitty, that still is behind. He missed the start of camp and he’s still trying to find his stride. I thought Brad played much better last game, so things are coming around with him, personally. You need three guys for a line to work well.

Lucic on leveling former teammate Johnny Boychuk...

I thought he was stepping up a bit, so I just braced myself and yeah – I kind of steamrolled him a bit. But he’s – two physical guys, it’s expected to happen. We talk about friendships and stuff like that, all that type of stuff is, there’s a lot of time when the game’s not played. So, you want to play with an edge and play your game no matter who you’re playing with. So, that’s the mindset you’ve got to have.

Seidenberg on the defense's recent fragility...

It’s never easy when you lose big parts of your D’s – even as a tem – it doesn’t matter if it’s a forward or a D. In situations like this we’ve got to keep it simple, help each other even more and just be more on our game. Tonight that wasn’t the case. We just sleepwalked through the second period. We didn’t want the puck, and that’s why at the end we lost the game.

Chris Kelly on playing against Boychuk and Chad Johnson...

I don’t know that’s a difficult question. You just play. You see a different color jersey shoot the puck, you try to score against Chad and you hit Johnny just like every other player. It’s our job to be professionals and go out there and play hard. There’s time for friends after.

Dougie Hamilton on his responsibilities without Big Z...

Yeah, I think everyone was a lot better in the third obviously. I don’t know why we can’t play that way the whole game, I don’t know if they kind of went into a shell or whatever, but we started skating and chipping the pucks and working them. I think everyone was moving the puck well, so it’s nice to see that, but obviously we need a 60-minute effort.

Bergeron on the lack of puck control...

We’re taking the extra second that we don’t have to get the puck out – and it doesn’t get out. Once we do that, we’re on our heels and we’re not making plays and it ends up in the back of our net most often than not. So, when we’re playing good hockey is when we’re crisp, sharp, and making the simple plays.

New York Islanders

Chad Johnson on his first game back.

I felt good.  I was excited.  I think it was the most nervous I’ve been since I think my first NHL game.  Just knowing the amount of pressure because you know everybody on that team.  It’s like playing your family in some sense or your brothers.  I definitely had some nerves to start but I just tried to use as much as possible and compete and I’m just happy we got back on track here with some wins... It was definitely special.  Johnny has obviously been here more than I have, I was just here the one year but I still built some good relationships with the team and the organization and some of the fans so it’s special for me to be able to come back and play in front of the crowd and in the rink and it’s fun to be able to do that.  I know Johnny enjoyed it too.

Johnny Boychuk on returning to Boston...

It was an interesting night. You’re playing against that team, and you grew up with them, playing, for the last six years, you see them and you’re the opposition now. Looch steamrolled me, so I’ll get a nice chuckle out of that when I see him. They’re a good team. We came in here, we were determined, and we held them off in the last five minutes. They had some good chances, but the other ex-Bruin made some great saves for us, and kept us in the game when we needed it.

The most difficult part was...

Maybe in the anthem, just feeling the atmosphere and being back on the ice. I tried not to look anywhere but just concentrate, and be prepared for the game. That was the most difficult part, but after the first couple shifts, then it’s time to get going.

How long it took to get used to being on the visitor's bench...

Until Looch hit me. That’s when I realized I was playing against them. It was a good hit by him, I was just trying to hold him up, but with his strength and speed, he just steamrolled me.

What this win meant for the Islanders...

Well I mean that’s such a good team to play against, for us to come in here and for us to come in here and win, it shows what kind of team we have. We just have to keep doing that, keep doing the simple things, and look forward to the next game.