Daniel Alfredsson Quotations

We started off not bad in the first but after that I don't know what we were doing. We kind of started playing by ourselves ... and we got caught turning the puck over way too many times and couldn't really find our game.

We believe we have a good chance this year, and we're going to make the most of it. It's real exciting to be able to be part of the playoffs again, knowing that we're one of the teams that has a chance to go all the way.

We're a very skilled team. When we move the puck the way we're capable, we're a tough team to play.

We tried hard today, there's no question. We knew there's not a lot of time between tonight and tomorrow. It's not fun to lose anytime, but we have to be ready for tomorrow.

When the team plays well, good things happen for the individuals as well. I got some good breaks tonight and was able to put them away.

Maybe it's not as big a benchmark as it used to be a few years ago but it's nice and I think there's more to come.

Obviously, it would be good to have Dom in there. But he's injured and we're just happy with the way Ray's been playing. He's never been there before, but you've got to start somewhere. We feel very confident in him and he's going to be the guy for us.

Obviously, it's going to get tougher, I think, in the second half because of the schedule and the Olympics. So, I think, right now, we're making the most of a good schedule for our team. I think we have only four road games in this month, and then December is tougher for us. But definitely after the Olympic break, we have a tougher schedule. But the way we're going now, I don't think we should slow down and we just have to keep pushing ourselves every night and keep trying to improve to be better.

Right now, I think we're playing a team that's struggling and lacking confidence big time, and missing some guys. With the start we got it kind of made them feel like it was going to be a long night and we made sure we didn't let up on anything. We did a great job all night.

I would have loved to get a 2-0 lead, there's no question. We talked about it going into the third and it would have been a big advantage for us, but now we didn't so we've got to move on.

I would be very surprised if we were able to get an agreement. We're not going to accept a hard cap, but it's good we're talking.

I don't know why we would be over confident. We respect them and we believe that they're a strong team. We don't think just because we beat them four times during the regular season we should be taking anything for granted.

Buffalo's goaltending wasn't the best they had, and we took advantage of that. When you get off on the wrong foot, it's tough to get back, and I think that's what we did to their goalies.

Buffalo's goaltending wasn't the best they had, and we took advantage of that, ... When you get off on the wrong foot, it's tough to get back, and I think that's what we did to their goalies.

I don't think we hit our peak yet. I think we can get better.

From the beginning, we showed we wanted this game, and I think the Czechs felt that.

From the beginning our goal was to get to the final and play for the gold medal. It's always tough to go all the way, and we have had some good luck. Tonight we had a great effort from 20 guys.

He is in much better shape overall. He's a lot stronger ... he looks good.

He looks a lot faster and a lot more confident,

He loves the game. He loves practicing and he's a fun guy to be around. He brings a lot of energy when he comes to the rink. You can see that he enjoys it.

We took advantage of (a) power play we had at 5-on-3 and gave ourselves a chance to win with the nice passing play.

When he was out, you could really tell how much we missed him. He's one of the best defensemen in the world, I think, and probably very underrated. He jump-starts a lot of our offense, not just our power play, but obviously he's one of the keys on our power play as well.

We've got to play smarter, there's no question. We tried to keep it simple in our own end and when we didn't, it cost us right away.

He's a good goalie, there's no question about that.

He's going to play a big part on this team this year. I don't think it's fair to put too much pressure on him but we're looking for him to probably be a No. 1 centre and I think he has what it takes to do it and he certainly has the desire so it's going to be fun to watch him this year.

Hopefully, we can play one more great game.

He didn't say too much. I'm not sure why he didn't play today but I'm sure with the back-to-back games ... it's good for us just to have him around.

He can make things happen from nothing and from nowhere. He takes pressure off guys.

I think it's a different mindset this year. You see how the guys are doing it and you see the possibilities. And you're playing more offensively, so I think the mindset is a lot different in the league right now, too. I think you're getting rewarded for going on the offense, instead of sitting back.

I think it should be a pretty exciting series. There's no question, I think both teams have a lot of offense and I think the team that plays the best defense is probably going to win, but I think there should be some fast-paced hockey.

I think we had more energy than them throughout the night, ... I think they're in a bit of a funk now. But I think once they get going, they're going to be one of the top teams.

I think we know how to handle the bad ice. I don't have any concerns.

I think we were in a situation (with Martin) where we knew all the drills by heart. We'd do some different things, but you kind of knew what was going to happen day-to-day.

I think we're ready to play them when the puck drops, and we're expecting a battle for 60 minutes. When we do play 60 minutes, we're a tough team to beat.

I think under Jacques, we were very much a team that played extremely well defensively,

It is nice to see us following up after a big win against the Rangers and come out and play strong again.

I said even before this tournament that I thought seven teams could win this and I really believed that.

Our special teams tonight were the difference. Five-on-five, I think we were the better team. It's a tough loss.

Some games will have more chances, more goals. It's as long as we get the W (that matters).

I wore black all game and just changed to an old one at the end. I'm superstitious more about not being superstitious.

I think I'd never heard of him before camp this year, really, because there wasn't any (NHL) hockey last year.

I think this stretch has been really important. Not just for Ray but the team, as well.

That's the way it is in this building. They're a good team. If you're not 100% ready, they'll have you chasing the puck. That's what happened.

We couldn't even break out of our own end. We weren't supporting each other at all and we were turning the puck over way too many times.

We're definitely going to miss him. There's no question. But there's some things that are more important than hockey. He's going through some tough times and our thoughts are with him and his family, obviously. We'll just have to come through this as a team and work that much harder.

We're definitely going to miss him. There are things that are more important than hockey. He's going through a tough time and our thoughts are with him.

You always learn from winning. Winning creates good habits. At the same time, it's a total different game over here than it is in the NHL. And it's going to be an adjustment going back to the NHL again.

When you're hot, you want to keep playing. You don't want to have the kind of break in the schedule that we just had.

We've known for a while that Ray is going to be the guy. We're confident with Ray.

We have to look at this as a great challenge for us because they're going to be playing pretty desperate hockey. They've got their backs to the wall and they have to win. This would be a big win for us if we're able to pull it off.

We know that we have been playing well since the break and Buffalo has probably been the best team we have played in a while. We know that it was a big test for us and we came out on top. It is going to build our confidence even more.

You know the league has to be careful with what's happened recently (in New Orleans) and they're going to make the right call because they don't want to put anybody in danger. This is not something you can worry about because you can't do anything about it. As players, we would rather play.

We know this could be the last chance for this group to play together. We're trying not to think too much about it or make much of it. This is going to be a tough test for us.

We know they're going to be a tough test. They're a strong team, they've got a lot of speed. We've had tough games against them all year and this should be a good series.

We get the lead three minutes into the third and it's almost like we tried to protect it too much, that we were in too defensive of a mode. It's tough to turn the switch back on.

We made decisions in the past that were in the best interest of all the players in the union, not for ourselves, that's for sure,

We were just solid as a team and you could see that they didn't have much. They looked like a tired team that wanted to get home. I don't think (Huet) saw either of those shots. That's a good win for us. Now, we have to keep it going.

When you see it leading off CNN or Fox Sports, you know it's a big story.

We're looking up at Carolina. We want to catch them.

We definitely will miss him, no question, but some things are more important than hockey. He's going through some tough times with his family. We'll just have to pull together as a team and play well without him.

Probably not. Their depth and our play right now...it doesn't look too good.

I think it's just a coincidence that the North American teams are out. Most of us here have been playing in North America for a long time. Our knowledge of the big ice has been world championships here and there, same for the Canadians and the Americans. I don't see it as an advantage.

We knew Washington has been playing well. They work hard. Coming up with a win was big for us, no question.

We have been a good road team all year. We've been very consistent, but I think we're even better at home. I think we are going to show that Saturday. We have to if we want to win.

We kind of game them two of the three goals in the first period with mistakes we made. It's hard to play on the road that way.

We kind of expected him to be suspended. Kicking has no part in this game. I understand the suspension. It's tough. Things happen so quick, but you shouldn't kick anyone. I think he realizes his mistake and I don't think you will see him do that again.

Toronto played well. It was close right until the end.

The power play was probably the best we've had it all year.

We wanted to get off to a good start and this is a team we should beat.

We've had some injuries, we went into a slump and we've played some teams that are more desperate than us in some cases.

We all feel the pressure. Maybe Canada more than anybody and the U.S. less than anybody but we all feel the pressure.

We all smelled the fear of that game against Switzerland. Hopefully we can bring that out tomorrow as well.

We all knew coming into this building it would be a hard-fought game. It was a big boost for us going into the playoffs to win a big game like that.

The optimum would be to have him (Hasek) in net but he's injured and we're happy the way Ray has been playing. He's going to be the guy for us.

This was Ted's idea. He had the support on the (Aug. 31) conference call, but he wanted to make sure that everybody was okay with him being the executive director. Hopefully, we'll be able to put this all behind us.

We tried today, no question. We knew we were in the quarter-finals with not much rest between games, but it's not fun to lose any game.

We were ready to play from the beginning, that's the biggest thing we take from this win.

We controlled the puck pretty well. We got off to a good start start, and obviously that gave us the win. It put them back on their heels. That allowed us to play a lot smarter.

There's quite a few of us that are a little over 30 and who knows this may be our last big tournament together, we want to make the best out of it.

I used black tape the whole game, but switched to an old stick that had white near the end.

Things are going well, you know, and confidence is a big thing.

The second half of the game I thought we played really well. We were able to get the puck in deep and we were able to keep them in their end for long periods of time, forget that fact we haven't done a whole lot lately, and we just wore them down, I think.

Ted wanted this vote to make sure everybody was on board. He had the support of the players on the conference call (Monday), but he thought we should have the vote so that everybody feels comfortable with him.

Sometimes offense is the best defense. Like I said, I think we're playing with the puck a lot more, and I think because we're scoring so many goals, I think teams are respecting us and they don't dare to go on the offense as much as maybe they did before because they know we are going to make them pay if they make a mistake.

Right now, we've got a lot of confidence and we're finding each other on the ice.

Ray's been playing great for us and we have a lot of confidence in him.

Once we killed off my penalties, that gave us a lot of momentum. It's something I shouldn't have done, but I had such good position on St. Louis, there's no way I touched him. Maybe it's not the referee's fault, (St. Louis) dives and fools the referee. We were getting a lot of penalties and I just lost it.

That turned the game definitely in our favor. When we got a 4-minute penalty after that, I think we controlled the game pretty good.

This conference playoffs is going to be very tough.

They sprung a couple of guys once in a while, but we know Dom is there and he's going to make some great saves. Our defense has been overshadowed because we have such a great offense.

They seem to be in a little bit of a funk right now, ... They didn't seem to have a lot of jump tonight and we're going really well.

They put some good pressure on us. It started with a penalty, it got them momentum and we couldn't stop it. That's something we have to get better at, there's no question about it.

A lot of guys got a lot of ice time. It was nice to see everyone play hard. This was a big win.

A lot of us learned from Salt Lake, and we learned that if you're not ready, anything can happen.

They played well in the first period and got up 2-0 on us. We scored some big short-handed goals that really got us going. It seemed like we were waiting for something to happen and when it did, we took over.

They are a young team that works really hard and tries to be a spoiler. We played well and had our chances and the first goal was going to be big obviously and it didn't go our way.

They're just trying to showcase themselves. I thought we handled it well.

It's just one of those games, couldn't do anything right.

It's a big difference in the standings between us and them. They are working really hard and I thought for the most part we did a good job. You try your best and they do everything to clog it up in the neutral zone. Overall though, I thought we did a pretty good job being smart and getting the puck by them and making them take some penalties.

It was something I shouldn't have done but it was just that I had such good position on St. Louis and there was no way I clutched him. It was frustrating because we were getting a lot of penalties, it seemed like, and I just lost it.