Aaron Gagnon Quotations

Give them credit for a lot of blocked shots, but I know I had a couple that I tried to force and just missed the net. Those are the ones you have to bear down on and get them on goal.

We just have to battle through this stretch. We went through the same thing at the start of the year with guys out and a seven-game streak and were able to come back. Hopefully we can do that again starting this weekend.

We're pretty frustrated and mad right now, but we don't have any time to hang our heads. There's two big games left.

Players who are going to move on in their hockey careers show up in the big games. To be a great player you have to be a great player in the playoffs.

We played a strong game overall, but we made some critical mistakes and a good player made us pay. We can't give a player like Dubinsky that much open ice.

We got the first goal. That's all you can ask for.

We had a shot mentality in the first game. In the second game, we moved the puck around too much and we weren't moving it too well.

We all expected more, to go farther than this. It's happened. There's nothing we can do about it.

We had the start we wanted, but we had a bad second period and let them back in it. A lot of bounces didn't go our way in this whole series; but there's nothing we can do, so we'll have to live with it.

I started the season and two games in I am hurt. To go through an injury like that for six weeks was hard since most of it was a mental challenge more than physical to not let that pull you down.

I've been putting too much pressure on myself all season to go out and score all the time. I have to lose some of that weight. If I just go out and play my hardest, good things will happen.

The speed of the game stood out for me in terms of thinking quickly and making decisions. When guys get the puck on their tape it is off almost immediately and you have to learn to break to holes and understand that someone is going to be on top of you constantly.

That shows that when we've lost, we've lost by quite a few. It's good, though, because there are always a lot of one-goal games in the playoffs.

I know my skating is my strength, but a small guy like me has to be much better than everyone else. There are some areas I need to work on ? my overall strength and defensive responsibilities ? if I want to make it to the NHL.

I haven't played as well or as consistent as I would have liked and haven't really got it going. I'm not going to use the hand as an excuse. It's fine now.

I couldn't even hear myself think when I went out there, it was so loud. I knew I was going with that move right away -- I just tried to slip it under his pad and it was a big relief, to say the least.

I could see from the bench it didn't go in. It really helped us that it wasn't a goal, but we weren't really worried about it.

You can't give a good player like Dubinsky that much open ice and he made us pay.