Scott Thornton Quotations

We feel that if we way we play the way we played tonight against all the other remaining teams that we can definitely beat them all.

We've got a spare room, and he can come and go as he pleases. He won't have to worry about a hotel, and he'll get a few home-cooked meals from my wife. ... He's bigger than me, though, so I can't lay down the law too much.

Today, fitness is the norm, especially on a team like ours and the style we play, ... You have to be in the best shape you can just to keep up.

I think it'd be good for the fans, probably, if he came back. He was an important player on this team for a number of years. There shouldn't be a problem fitting in. There are a few guys he doesn't know, we've got a lot of new players, but he'd probably be pretty comfortable right away.

I think we're all curious how the final roster spots are going to play out, who is going to step into what roles. It makes for an exciting training camp to know jobs are available. The nucleus of our group is back. We should be able to pick up where we left off.

We have outplayed a lot of teams, just not buried chances. It's got to be just a matter of time.

We have outplayed a lot of teams, just not buried chances, ... It's got to be just a matter of time.

We've had games in hand all season it seems like. It's nice to have games in hand, but it's tough to evaluate where you are.

Usually you take a penalty because you're a little bit tired or lazy and you're out of position. Ron has been really stressing that for a couple of seasons, really. So the new rules are just reinforcing the theories he taught us over the last couple of years. It's not a real drastic change for us because of the way we played before -- sticks in passing lanes and good body position.

Time is running out. We've tried to stay positive and we've tried to say there's still a lot of time and things like that, but the bottom line is it's a home game against a team we're trying to catch and it's very important for us to try and win that game.

You have to play tricks with yourself to get motivated, ... It was another carrot to dangle in front of myself. Hopefully, it translates on the ice.

We miss him. But we all know he's got to get healthy, especially in his capacity and make sure he's really fresh when he gets back.

We had the heart and we knew that we could beat them. We showed that in the fourth quarter like that they had that 10-point lead to start the second half. We knew that if we just kept working at it that we could beat them and we almost did. It's just a really tough loss.

It was a little bit of a transition year for me learning how to play Ron Wilson-style hockey. It's different than anything I was ever used to. It's a lot of hard work, but I think I got a handle on it by the end of the year. This year I'm looking forward to a great start.

At times we worked hard, we had some individuals working hard, but we also had some passengers. We can't have that at this time of the year.

They have great fans who really get behind them. I'm sure they're more confident at home. But I'm not a big believer of that in the playoffs. I don't really care where we are or what's going on. When the puck drops you play. (Today) is obviously important for us to get back on track.

It seems to be the pattern out here in the West. A lot of teams play really the way we played a couple years ago. It should be a system we're familiar looking at so we just have to match the work ethic.

It's been a long time waiting for this. Obviously, last year's lockout was tough on everybody. You tend to get sick of the shinny hockey twice a week. It's nice to finally get through the exhibition season and get under way.

It was an important game and we lost. We worked hard, but there were a couple of bounces on a few shots that I wouldn't say were strong goals -- they were weak goals -- but we can't let that get us down. We have to come back Tuesday night (against Anaheim in San Jose), and it's going to be even more important.

It was a missed opportunity. We put a lot of pressure on him, there was a lot of commotion, but we couldn't get our sticks on rebounds and the puck seemed to bounce the other way.

He brings a lot of respect to our team. I think other teams are going to have to back off a little bit more, and then the combination of him and Patty on our power play is going to be great.