Ken Hitchcock Win Quotations

Even as hard as we play, we're doing things to ourselves that end up being very frustrating. We make mistakes, and at the end of the day it winds up zapping our energy.

I've seen our fans just will us in playoff games. I think home-ice is something you need. It's very important. It's real difficult when you constantly have to win road games in the playoffs.

When you win with a player, you feel good about that player. From the red line in, Jon is one of the hungriest players in the NHL. He'll do anything to score a goal.

It's quality of life. The players already know the building is full, the building is loud, the fans are knowledgeable, the organization is committed to winning and the practice facility is second to none. Players talk about that stuff all the time.

I thought he was joking. I thought he's just screwing with me because he knew I was taking a break for a week.

It's something we'll have to deal with. Yeah, we wanted (home ice). Hopefully, it won't become a factor. We know we have to win at least one game in Buffalo and probably more.

We knew what was at stake here. We need to win these games if we are going to improve.

We put a lot of focus on not allowing scoring chances, but (also) spend a lot of time trying to use everybody offensively. Both our teams were very, very good offensively in junior. To win, you have to play defense, just like in basketball, football and baseball. But we would like to win 6-0, not 6-5.

The only thing I know is that we've always responded to losing in a really intense fashion. The response to winning has been our problem. I'm not sure why; that's probably a discussion for July or August. But it's been the M.O. of our team for a long time now.

I think the proving ground is when we play this way, we have success. It's a hard way to play. It's difficult and very demanding. The decision you have to make as a team is do you want to play this way and win or do you want to find an easier way to play and take your chances? They like playing and winning.

You throw all of that out the window. The fans know this isn't the regular season, our fans especially. I've seen our fans just will us in a playoff series. It's really difficult when you're constantly having to win on the road. Having a Game 7 in your building, to me, there is no better feeling in the world.

That power-play goal at the end of the second took the winds out of our sails.

Could I give you that on Friday night? We have to win our home games and take care of business there.

We did our job at home, we have to win in their building. We have to find a way to win a game in their building.

We weren't prepared to pay the price to win the hockey game at the start and when you give a team like Toronto a sniff, they're going to make you pay a price.

We?re winning games without Peter?s line scoring goals for us, and that?s a great sign. We?re winning games different ways. Sometimes it?s with speed and skill. We had to grit it out today.

He was outstanding. He gave us a chance to win and it was good stuff.

He was really good. He was outstanding and gave us a chance to win and it was good stuff. We had a really good start to the game and then we were killing penalties in the first period and that?s when we really needed him. ..In the end, we needed him again. It?s good for him to make him feel part of the group again.

I thought we got better as the game wore on. I think the concern is you don't want to waste a great performance by a goalie. You need your goalie to win those games.

We were banging around it so hard in the second that I felt, even though we were down 4-1, that if we made it 4-2 early (in the third), which we did, if we kept going we could still tie up the hockey game and maybe win it. We had a lot of good chances, but we didn't finish and then they scored the fifth goal.

We have to win our home games. We have to lot of work to do, but have to enjoy this one for a few minutes.

We have to win our home games and then have to win there. We still have a lot of work to do.

We have to win both, they have to win one.