John Tortorella Quotations | Page 2

We didn't play well ... all the facets. We couldn't get out of our own way.

We had some great opportunities. In the first half of that game, I thought we had some good opportunities. I think that's the key of the game. Both teams had some opportunities, they scored on a couple, we didn't.

We were a little nervous in the first period.

We'll see him five more times, so we have to deal with it. Our big point was to get shots off. What I liked was, nobody on the bench got frustrated.

What we've been trying to do is be a tougher team to play against. I thought we played a good, solid road game.

We knew we had to bring some more offense (in the third) and we take a bad penalty.

We came back three times. It was tremendous as far as that's concerned. But as far as our concentration level and what we have to do to continue to get better, I thought we were a sloppy team.

We'll just continue to plow away. And maybe some good things will happen.

We're all going to miss Rammer, there's no question about that. But we have to go about our business. He has always been a very steady influence to everything and we'll miss him.

We're tired. We could've used the day off (Tuesday). It will be nice for them to get the day off. They can use it physically and mentally.

We're tired of the 25-per-cent rule. We need an occasional goddamn save.

We're not looking to make a lot of major changes. We would like to add some depth on our blue line along with 29 other teams in this league. But we're not looking to make changes to the core.

To me, that's the really good thing here. It's the mentality of the team: they just keep on going. ... We're having problems finishing our chances, but it's not getting anybody down. We just try to keep on going.

This time of year, with so few games left, I still think we need to do some coaching we can't just let them run and not teach in certain areas, but in these situations you need to get the points no matter how you do it. Then we'll worry about the other stuff after.

We had a chance to win. We doubled them in scoring chances and we don't score.

There are always different ways of getting their attention as we get going here. I think they understand how they have to conduct themselves. It's making sure that they really dial in.

We've got to be loose, and we are loose. We know if we don't win, we're done, so there's no sense in being uptight about it.

We've got to be loose, and we are loose.

We need to capitalize on some of our chances. That's what changes the game, special teams. The first seven or eight minutes of that period, that's the game. No matter what the score is, that's the game right there.

We need to capitalize on our own power plays. That's what changed this game - special teams.

Both teams really look forward to playing against one another.

We need to score more goals. We had opportunities to put the puck in the net and weren't able to get the job done. I've said we're not going to beat this team 1-0 and we lost in the third period. We just have to take advantage of our chances.

You are not going to beat that team 1-0 and trying to get that second goal is important. We couldn't do it. You kind of knew that it was going to come back and haunt you sooner or later.

You can't be doing the things you were doing four years ago right now. You have to show them the respect that they have grown. And they have grown.

This team should feel like we can play in these games. They've played in enough important games and they should feel good about themselves when they enter them.

This was closer to what this team plays like. It's been missing a bit. That's more of the personality of our club, but you have to come back and do it again.

This was a game as a measuring stick for us early in the year to see where we're at. We deserved that result.

We've played well at times, and other times we haven't. It's having the right answer. If we don't have it, then we're in a major hole.

We tried to win it. So we'll take the point and go from there. In all facets of our game, I was pleased.

We just wanted to get two points (for the win). But we wanted to win it in regulation.

We just tried to get through it, and we found a way. It's unbelievable. It's a great feeling.

We just froze. Atlanta has some good offensive people and we couldn't change the momentum. The way we played the last two periods, we're fortunate to get two points.

We look so stagnant on our power play. It looks like no one wants the puck.

We're going through a tough time here with injuries. This situation, things piled up. Three main guys on our team all together. I really respect how our team stayed together and played a game as a team.

We're worried about his skating, we're worried about his speed and he knows that. But we feel that he can give us something that the kids simply can't give us right now in that type of role. And he's been a solid citizen down there in the AHL, which goes a long way. He never complained, helped the kids and did everything he could down there to do the right thing as a pro, so he's getting another whack at it.

You look at a lot of the other studs in the league this is the time when your best players need to step up and Marty, certainly the past couple of nights, he has been our best player offensively. I don't want to single anybody out because I think we have played well as a team, but you have to give him a little bit of credit. His game is different than it was in the middle of the year.

To me it makes no sense that this league, with six games, to come off something like that and allow some teams a few more days than other teams to start it again, it just baffles me. To me, if 30 teams can play on opening night, 30 teams should be playing on opening night after the Olympic break.

Boyle had a huge game. He knew how big this game was. He wanted to make big plays and he did.

Even through some of the rough spots, the team has shown resiliency. You got to hang your hat on whatever you can right now to try to build some confidence. Tonight we finished the job.

Everybody is chipping in and we're playing very well at this point in time as a team. That's the most important thing. To win consistently in this league, you need to play as a team and that's the way we've been doing it the last little bit.

Are we the underdog? Your darn right we are. I don't think anybody gives us a chance to even with a game. To me, so be it. We know what we are about. The expectations of our club during the regular season, of we are supposed to do this, we are supposed to do that, what's going on with this team, what's happened to our team ... I think as we enter here in this series, we have no pressure on us. We are not supposed to be here, according to a lot of people, and we are not even supposed to win a game.

Earlier this season, he had lost a little bit of bite to his game. I think he is showing signs of (getting back to his game).

Eric Perrin kind of (ticked) me off a little bit. We gave him an opportunity and he just jumped ship for more money, I believe. But that's the nature of athletes, I guess.

First off, we're happy with the six that are playing; we feel we have six really good defensemen. (But) I think we need more depth there.

I still can't figure it out, how quickly it happened for us.

Is he going to be a 50-goal scorer? No. But I think he's going to be able to chip in some goals by his willingness to play in the areas. He'll score some goals because guys can't stop him and handle the ice that he has.

I understand they have had success against us, but I think the past few games we've played them, a turn here or a turn there and it could be a different result. We're looking forward to it. We're right where we want to be. ... They're the ones that for the past couple months: 'No one is going to be able to touch them.' So we want the opportunity first.

I've tried to work with him this year. I remember I told him a few weeks ago, I said, 'Arty, don't worry about anything, just go and hit as hard as you possibly can.' He proceeded to go out and take four penalties. So, it's kind of a give and take here. But we want him to play hard. And the book on Arty is that he goes up and down as far as his readiness to play. But remember, he is a raw talent. And still a very young man, and you have to live with some of those bumps.

It was totally the opposite from the effort of the San Jose game.

It was an exciting game. I thought we struggled early, all of us right on through the lineup and I felt the whole team kept themselves together.

The thing that bothers me the most is I just thought we shut it down. Was our goaltending good? No, it wasn't good. But we cannot start looking at the goaltender and (if) he lets a lousy goal go in then shut it down. If we're not getting the saves, we better win the game 6-5 or whatever it has to be. But to shut it down, that's the wrong way to go here. And that's what disturbs me the most.

I've already made that decision, he's not going to play all the games this year. We felt this is a really quick hockey team. It was a good time to get a different look.

Ryan Craig has shown us that he can kill penalties, and he has scored a couple of goals. He's good around the net. He's able to do the little things around the wall. He can play center. So he brings a lot of different things to us.

Right now, we just have to focus on winning one game to prolong (the series). I guess that's the best way to put it ... we just want to prolong it.

No, we'll rebound. They should feel good about how they played. It's our seventh game in 11 nights against a quality team and we've got to just find positives as we go through here and there are plenty of them tonight.

As far as fans and those that aren't with him every day, that's all they probably talk about is his offensive stats and how he can move a puck. But people that are with him, teammates and coaches, he brings a lot more to the plate than that.

As I've always said of Brad, he is a student of the game and always will be. That's why he continues to progress. I think his maturity at such a young age allowed him to grow into more roles on a team. That's important, the preparation. 'Are you satisfied with your play or do you want to continue to get better?' I don't think Richie is satisfied yet. And for us to be where we want to be, we can't have him satisfied; he needs to continue to get better.

That's not saying he doesn't have the ability, but he gets everything out of himself every night. And when he's not going, it's not working for him, you know the effort is going to be there.

That's just a bunch of wood burning. There's no one hurt. There's nothing serious that happened. His insurance will take care of it. Whatever the insurance doesn't take care of, I am sure he has enough money to spend and take care of it himself.

You're telling me you want (the team) to get up there and get aggressive, but when a goal is scored like that, they're going to be tentative. That has to stop for us to get any type of consistency here. Or we're done.

Your best players need to be your best players and almost dominate games. Or your goaltending dominates a game. You just need some dominating performances, and if you're going to have dominating performances, it's going to come from your best guys. And if you sprinkle two or three of those in six games, and you find a way to win four or five games, that's when you start getting that swagger back.

This is a sprint right now. That's the way we're approaching it. By no means are we set. Too many crazy things happen as far as this race is concerned.

This is right where we want to be. I understand that they have had some success against us but I think in the past few games we played them, a turn here, a turn there it could have been different. We are looking forward to it. We are right where we want to be as we start our first round. For the past couple of months no one was going to be able to touch them. So we want the opportunity first.

Think that has a little thing to do with it tonight? Yeah. We can't have four goals go in our net on 10 (scoring) chances.

And I hope he plays well. If (Burke) plays well, he's going to go again. This is what we have.

A lot of pucks are going in our net and that ends up knocking you back.

A lot of pucks are going in our net and it ends up knocking you back a bit.

They know it's costing us. I go back to the people we have, eventually that thing has to turn around. I just believe that because we have good players. Right now, we lack so much confidence when we're up a man it's almost like we're waiting that something bad is going to happen to us when we get on the power play.

They made the big plays tonight and they won the game. We have to play better.

This is the time we need to stay together and just get through it and find ways to get one win, and then hopefully we can regain some of our confidence and get going in the right direction.

(They) have not been spectacular, not great, but solid. That gives the team an opportunity to win. That's what we need.

As with 29 other teams, defense is always a concern. I know Jay is looking. We do have a budget, as all of the teams do, and we have to find the right piece. It may come up to the last day of the preseason to see if something is there. Maybe it doesn't. All we can do as a coaching staff and as a team is whoever is here when we open up against Boston, we are going to try to play under a strict team concept and do the best we can.

Absolutely, but in today's game, where are we going to go with the (salary) cap? I am (upset) at what is happening there because I thought our team played very well tonight. And this has gone on for quite a while. Is there other options out there? We can't do (anything).

A big part of the power play is getting to the middle of the ice with the puck and not just playing on the wall, playing along the boards where (opponents) can be aggressive.

It's a series. We got it done up there one game and we don't get it done down here.

It wasn't working. We may revisit it at a certain time, but we'll leave it alone right now.

It was cheap. There is no honor in it.

It's a win, it's two points, but more important is how we did it. It's not what you do last year, it's what you do right now. That's what I think we re-established for tonight's game.

It's an ugly two points, but you have to win them.

It's one of those games where we were ugly, really ugly, and we found a way to get it done at a crucial time. They all come out in the wash, though. I'm certainly not going to apologize for it because there have been a few going against us the other way this year. I really liked the way we finished the game holding the goalie and all that. But it was ugly, we'll take the two points and get out of here.

It's one of the craziest games I've ever been involved in. I've never seen so many freakish-looking goals in my life. But we found a way.

It's an important goal because I thought we stunk in the first period. I think we watched them. I thought we lost a lot of battles. To get that goal in the last minute of any period, it's always tough for the team that's scored on.

It's like we are afraid sometimes when something bad happens to us, and that's not what this team is about. We have to rely on some of the experience that we have gone through. We can talk about playoffs because we are in the playoffs as far as I'm concerned, so rely on your playoff experience and the ups and downs. A couple of years ago we lived in that world for a couple of months. That's why I believe this team will get it done. It may not be pretty, but it will get done.

Danny is battling. Danny is competing. I think Danny is thinking too much.

That's out of respect for David. A captain is only a letter. That's a bit overrated at times, too.

That's the deal we made. A verbal deal. If you shoot the puck, you'll stay there. If you don't, we'll put you back down on the wall somewhere.

That's a calm influence from the goaltender on out, and that does feed out through the team.

That little (extremely obscene word). He's been so much maligned this year. His heart was as big as the building.

That little (expletive). Let's face it, Marty was dead on tonight as far as his intensity and how he wanted to try to put the team on his back.

It's (stinking garbage). The (stinking) guy should be playing in the (stinking) East Coast Hockey League and he takes out a (stinking) National Hockey League (player). He'll get suspended, but who (stinking) cares? Everybody wants him on the (stinking) ice anyway. It's (stinking garbage).

It's simply about playing as hard as you can and being a tough team to play against. Through 20 men right on through to our goaltender, I thought there was a ton of desperation and fight.

It's not an X's and O's game, but you need the mentality to keep going. We may have problems finishing our chances, but it still has to be a matter of going about your business.

It's not a fighter. It's not a tough guy. It's not an idiot. It's a guy who is willing to bring a presence and in certain situations step up and stick up for his teammates and create room. But he also has to be a good player to play within a lineup.

Eighteen scoring chances to 10. We can't have four goals in our net on 10 chances.

Still, our top two lines have to be our best lines. You can sense they're struggling, but they care. They know their roles. We just have to keep our edge and not give in.

Sure I am (concerned). We're in a tough situation here. I'm not going to sit here and (lie) to you.

It's deflating to see 16 shots and four of them in the net, let's call a spade a spade. He's trying like hell, (but) we need (an) occasional save.

It's better than (the) Florida (game). We got two points instead of one.

Not good enough. Our key guys didn't produce. Bottom line.

It's very important we keep our edge about ourselves as we fight through this. There's a lot of hockey to be played. We can't look at the standings. We need to work each and every day and just try to find a way to get points.