BOSTON BRUINS PREGAME QUOTES BOSTON BRUINS VS. FLORIDA PANTHERS Wednesday, January 26, 2011

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1 BOSTON BRUINS PREGAME QUOTES BOSTON BRUINS VS. FLORIDA PANTHERS Wednesday, January 26, 2011 BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIEN On if this is the kind of effort he was looking for after the last game and going into the All-Star break Yeah I think tonight I saw our guys giving a pretty honest effort. Again, maybe not a perfect game, but those kind of things you can expect at times. The schedule it hasn t been an easy one in this stretch and I think sometimes mentally it catches up. We made some mental errors but we were good enough to win and we competed hard enough that we deserved to win. On how difficult it is to stay focused the game before the break Yeah, exactly. It s a challenge in itself, and what you got to remember too is that the team that you re playing tonight, is really desperate to make the playoffs and they re going to give you their best effort and they re going to compete hard and we knew they were going to compete hard from start to finish. When you look at it, they re in a more desperate situation than we are, so it was a matter of matching that desperation and making sure that you re able to play at you re level and at the same time, like you said, the break, as you mentioned this morning, doesn t start until after the game. We had to be focused today and, again, our guys did a good job of that. On what he thought when he saw David Krejci go down on the ice, but was able to come back Well, when he first went down, the last thing you want to see is not come back. We re already minus one pretty good centerman so you certainly don t want to lose that second one. But he came back and he finished the game and he seems to be okay. There s no doubt these next five days will be good for him and probably a lot of the other players too that are playing a little banged up. It s, I guess, a break that we needed. We certainly didn t need him going down and not getting him back. On if he feels they have established a true team identity, given their recent success We re getting there. I think we still want to improve, we know we have to get better. Probably, you know again, we talked about consistency. Every coach is going to stand in front and say, Oh, I want consistency out of my team. You know? I just finished the fact that we tend to forget sometimes the schedule, the travel and everything else, and it catches up to you. These guys aren t machines, they re not robots, they re humans. So I think that the bottom line is that we want to get a little bit of consistency but more in our play. The challenge in this last stretch will be the mental challenge about having that consistency night in, night out. Again, you look for the 20 guys in your lineup to be at the top of their game. You re pushing for that and striving for that, and as long as you got that you re winning some hockey games. If it moves around a little bit, that s fine, but you hope that you get everybody going at the right time. On players who performed better than he expected they would in the first half of the season and players who he expects more out of in the second half I don t know. I mean, we re going to stand here and sure, I ll agree that Timmy [Thomas] s has been a great player for us. He s been consistent and I think Zdeno [Chara] has been another one of those guys. You know, the guys that you rely on every night. Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] is one of those guys. I think if I start mentioning names, I m going to forget some. I think we can all stand here and know that there are certain guys that I think once they find their game, they re going to produce more. There s been a lot of talk about Nathan Horton not scoring goals. Well, I can stand here tonight and when I see the effort that Nathan puts in the game, I can live with that. Obviously I would like to see him score and I think everybody would. But you know, you got to recognize when a guy is not scoring goals, but you also have to recognize some of the good things he does and tonight he did some of those. I m not saying that he s

2 done that every night, but tonight I thought that we was a decent player. You know, you hope that he s going to start scoring and get his confidence back because it s going to help the team a lot. But I don t think we can stand here and keep beating him down when he puts the effort like he did tonight. He competed tonight, and if he does that I think the results will eventually follow. On how Milan Lucic has played the first half of the season Well I think Looch [Milan Lucic] is at a stage in his career now, he s still a young player, but he s got enough experience here now that it s going to be his fourth year but here s one of those guys that s building consistency in his game and what should I expect from him? I should expect him continue playing a physical game, we should expect him to continue to produce because he s capable of doing that. But I think what we ve seen in the first half is what he s capable of doing for us as we move on. He s also one of those players that I think has always come up big and in the big games such a playoffs and that stuff. He s one of those guys that really rises to the occasion so you hope that continues as well. On Gregory Campbell possibly moving up from the energy line Well that s just it, I think it s exactly what you said. You don t want to tinker necessarily with things that are good for you and I think his line has been as consistent or the most consistent of our lines this year and I know he s been with [Shawn] Thornton and whether he s had Paille, Marchand and others on his line, that line s been a pretty good line. So you can live with that, but as you saw in the third period when we shortened our bench and we went with a little more experience he was in the middle between Wheeler and Ryder. On if he foresaw Brad Marchand having this kind of contribution to the offense Well you know the one thing about him, and I mentioned that this morning, and in our press conference is that you could see him shooting the puck well in practice, it was there, it wasn t happening in the game. So I think it was a matter of encouraging him and I know that we had many discussions and talked to him about taking that shot when he has the opportunity. I thought early on he was trying to make too many plays and sometimes passing up those shooting opportunities and I think he s getting confidence now at picking the right times to shoot the pucks or hold on to it. And he s making the right plays so am I surprised? Not really, I think we knew he was an energy guy and production wise we knew he could produce. Now he told me at some point he was going to score 20 for us this year and I think he had two goals and we were getting close to that halfway mark, right? And I told him he had to pick it up and he answered the call pretty good, he s really done a good job lately and obviously you know playing with Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] and Rex [Mark Recchi], guys that seem to compliment him well has given that a pretty steady line. So definitely he s one of those guys that you have to be pleased you know in the first half, how he s responded and what he s given us. BOSTON BRUINS GOALTENDER TIM THOMAS On going into the All-Star break with a win It is always good to go into one of these breaks on a high note and feeling good about yourself. We get a few days off here to relax before we pick it back up. Hopefully everyone can go into this break feeling good. On the Panthers attack in the third period They had some chances in the second too. I was waiting for that. You rarely go through a game without being tested at some time. I was waiting for that push when it came. On if he is excited for the All-Star game or he needed a break I am excited to go to the All-Star game. Five years ago it was a pipe dream that I would ever be in a. NHL All-Star game. I understand that it is hard for some guys especially when you go to the Stanley Cup finals a few years in a row. I am personally very pleased to be going.

3 On goaltenders having to work extra hard during the All-Star game Depending on the situation. Last one turned into a pressure packed situation in Montreal. It is still fun. If anything it made it more memorable and enjoyable. I would like it to be a little easier this time. It probably won t be. On taking the pressure off for a few days I plan on this weekend being a mental break as much as possible. I will be taking a break too even though I am at the All Star game. What is physically required of me is not very hard. I will try to make sure I am fresh when I come back too. On staying focused tonight before the break That was our goal tonight was not to start the break too early. We came out and played a really good first period. In the second and third we played good at times but Florida was able to pressure us at times. I think we did a fairly good job. Speaking from personal experience I couldn t help but think about the break a little bit. I was trying to focus on the game and making sure I was ready to do my job and my work, but it is human nature. On thinking about the break before the game I was thinking win tonight, feel the good feeling. Then you can really savor the feeling for a couple of days because usually we travel or get ready for another game. So yeah I thought about it. BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD MILAN LUCIC On reaching 20 goals That was a big question coming in from myself and a lot of people if I was able to get to that mark, and it came a lot quicker than I thought but most importantly it was a big goal to help the team win here. And it s great that we re first in the division heading into the All-Star Break. On how his goals have changed over the course of the year I m just taking it one at a time, just looking at every game here and just try to create chances and opportunities. I ve had some real great linemates this year, and I feel like I ve been skating better, and I ve worked on my shot so I think that s a big reason why I ve been able to produce. And looking forward it s the same thing. I ve just got to take it one game at a time. I shouldn t change anything and keep pushing for more. On if he s enjoying things more after the adversity he faced last year Yeah a lot more, definitely. It was real tough going through what I went through. Being out for so long, and especially even when I came back, that high ankle sprain was still bugging me so to work as hard as I did this summer and to get rewarded for it thus far throughout the season is great. And definitely like I said before, I can t stop here. I ve got to keep pushing for more. On taking his ups and downs in stride Yeah they [goals] didn t come right away, that s for sure. But they ve come in the last five games here. So like I said, all the credit to my linemates here, they ve been finding me and I ve been able to get open for them. And I ve been working on my quick release this summer and also a lot with Geoff Ward and Jarvy [Doug Jarvis], just working on one-timers and getting myself in scoring positions and getting a good, hard, quick shot off. On how important it is to get David Krejci going also It s real important. He s a big part of our team and when he s going, he s unstoppable. He s a guy that plays big minutes; even strength, penalty kill; he s out there in key moments and when he s going, he s

4 really helping this team out. And I think this year we ve been able to feed off each other a lot and I think we gotta keep doing that in order to keep being successful. On seeing David Krejci go down It was a relief that he did come back after losing Savvy [Marc Savard]. Obviously that was a tough loss, you don t want to see another key centerman going down. So it was great that he was able to tough it out and recover and keep going. On how important it was to get that milestone before the break It s great. It s obviously something that I talked about coming in, and that was a goal for myself and I reached it as quickly as it s a good step for me and I just I couldn t be happier right now, but definitely not satisfied. On if his personal goal has become bigger You know what, yeah like I said one game at a time, one goal at a time, so we ll see where I can get to this year. On if practiced that long, sweep shot a lot Yeah like I talked about, just good, hard, quick releases, whether it s a one-timer or a slapshot snapshot even if it s a sweeper like that because you ve got to try to make your wheelhouse as big as possible. So I just had it there, I was looking down, just shot it as hard as I could and I couldn t have put it in a better spot. BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD BRAD MARCHAND On his goal tonight I think a lot of it has to do with Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] and Rex [Mark Recchi] just kind of floating around up there and they re hitting me with a wide-open net. So, it s pretty easy when you re playing with those guys. On why he decided to do a wrap-around on his goal I kind of panicked. I had a wide-open net to shoot at, and I just didn t shoot. He came out of the net and I kind of panicked and I was thinking, I better score or else I m gonna get rained on. I think it banked off of one of their sticks and bounced in. On his confidence level right now Yeah, I think it s up there right now. I m feeling pretty good. But, playing with Bergy and Rex, you get lots of opportunities and I ve been getting some lucky bounces. On how he feels about the team heading into the All-Star break We re feeling great right now. You know, we had a ten-game swing that we kind of wanted to run after. We ve got seven of our last ten, so we re feeling pretty good. We have a great squad heading into the All- Star break, and we need to make sure we come back hungry and ready to go. On how the Bruins played a defensive game after taking a 2-0 lead Yeah, we kind of sat back a bit. We can t usually do that, we have to keep pressing. When we have a 2-0 lead, we want to press and get that third goal. That s a big difference maker. It s either 3-0 or 2-1, that s a huge difference. It was a little tough there, they had lots of opportunities. Timmy [Thomas] stood on his head though, played great. On the third period scrum he was involved in

5 Yeah, I think it was Bergy he first gave a shot to and then he pushed Rex. Those guys need a little more respect than that, so I decided I d give them a piece of my mind. On if he doubted that his goal would count No, me and Rex had a great view, we were both right there and we both knew it was in. It was nice to see that it was allowed, but we both knew it was in. On if he saw an opening when he did a wrap-around When I first got the pass from Bergy, it kind of caught me off guard with how much net I had. You know, I just didn t shoot it. As I was coming around, I knew he would kind of sit out of his net a little bit so I just kind of wanted to throw it in front and it bounced off a stick and went in. On how it feels to be known as a scorer more than an agitator Yeah it was I don t think anyone even thought that I might score ten this year. It was nice to kind of have a little offensive player here and there, but I don t care what anyone says. It s just, I have to go to work here. Whatever happens, that s how it goes. On if he thought at the beginning of the year that he would score ten goals I thought I might be able to score ten. I knew I could make it. Last year I know I could ve had a bunch, and they just weren t going in, they weren t bouncing the right way. This year, I knew if I kept getting opportunities they were eventually gonna go in. BOSTON BRUINS DEFENSEMAN ZDENO CHARA On the result of the game We had a two-goal lead. They had some chances; we had some chances. And then they got the late goal in the third and from that point I think they were putting a lot of pressure on us. And they created some chances and came down to obviously them forcing, pulling the goalie and trying to score that last goal, but I thought they did a pretty good job trying to box him out and winning the game. And it s nice going into the break, we played solid, solid hockey. I thought especially the last ten games. So it s nice to come into the break with a winning record. On how important the win was going into the All-Star break Well we kind of set that ten-game segment before this All-Star break, and we end up with this win we end up seven and three. Obviously it would be a different story if we would lose. That would be six and four, and I think that this team has obviously is capable of better than six and four, so we put a lot of emphasis on this game and a lot of stress to win this game. We really wanted to win. We worked really hard. I thought we skated really well and it s too bad we couldn t get more goals especially early on where we created a lot of pressure and a lot of we had a lot of shots and some chances, but we find a way to win the game. On if they are set up well for the second half of the season Well I mean you can t get comfortable and it s obviously a long stretch before the end of the regular season. We have thirty-two remaining games and the schedule is tough. We have some long road trips, we have some teams that obviously are ahead of us and a lot of teams are going to be creeping in from behind so it s going to be tough. We can t let up. We ve got to continue to play the way we ve played lately and even better and get ready for the playoffs. If the emotional side was there today Yeah, we did play hard. We had some good emotions from guys. We really tried to focus on that, to be emotionally attached to this game and skate well, be physical early on, so I thought we did a pretty good job.

6 On playing after a long travel Yeah the schedule is tough. You know obviously like the last ten games, we played some really tough teams and when you really consider the travel we had, obviously the time zones, it wasn t easy. But we find a way to win these games. And it s tough to win them, it s close, but we take those two points no matter how we do it. On if the difference between this year and last year is finding ways to win games Yeah I think that you could look at it that way, or maybe we really tried to play the same way even if we are winning games by one goal or obviously if you are behind one goal. We have to obviously force more and be more offensive thinking more offense. But even if we are kind of one goal ahead, and the other teams are really putting a lot of pressure, we try to still be calm with the puck, make plays and really just good decisions with the puck. I think that s the biggest difference. BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD PATRICE BERGERON On the compete level being high It was a great game. Their team competes hard and never stops. We knew that coming into the game. I thought we did a good job of staying in the game all night. On Brad Marchand s goal... I was going to shoot. I kind of faked the shot and saw him on my left side. He was wide open so I gave him the puck. I thought he was going to shoot it right away but he decided to go around the net. On Marchand waiting to shoot the puck... He waited and saw the goalie there so it was a good play for him to come around the net. On the importance of David Krejci He is a great player. He is a big part of our offense. It is pretty to watch when he makes those plays. That is his game and he did a great job tonight. On how he felt when he saw Krejci get injured It was scary at first. But that is who he is. He is tough. I knew he was going to come right back if it wasn t that serious. On their position going into the All-Star break We ve improved as the year has gone on. I think our consistency has gotten a lot better. There is still some room for improvement, but that is just how it is. You have to improve and get better as a team. It is a long season and you can t look too far ahead. I think we have been doing that so far. On going into the All-Star break That was the main focus was to end on a good note tonight. Heading into the break I thought we had a good effort. Obviously we wanted to bounce back from that L.A. game. I was very happy with the win. On the performance of Tim Thomas I guess we are used to it now. Timmy has been great all year making those saves every game. We are just happy to have him on our side. It has been helping us every night. On the play of Brad Marchand He has been great. He has taken the chance he s been given. Every night he has been doing great things offensively and defensively. The way he competes helps the line a lot.

7 On if Marchand s confidence is building as the year goes on I think as the year goes on he is more confident each and every game. He is building that confidence for sure. We are [here] to help him but so far he is doing a great job on his own. BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD DAVID KREJCI On what happened when he hit the boards It wasn t my shoulder it was like my whole arm getting tweaked going for position and it was a little uncomfortable for a few seconds so I stayed on the ice. You know it got a little better so it s sore but obviously nothing major. On if he knew he d be able to come back to the game Well like I said I waited on the ice a long time and when I was skating off it felt a little better you know I didn t know if it was the shoulder or something. But when I was skating off the ice I knew the shoulder was fine so I was pretty sure I would come back. On if he went all the way to the locker room I was in the hallway, just had the doctors look at it, what it is exactly and that s about it. On Milan Lucic playing better It s good, especially when he s on my line. You know I m trying to create some chances and he did pretty good to get his own goals, but he could have more goals. I m happy where we are so far and I don t want to stop that. We need him as much as we need myself to create the chances for him so if we can continue that then everybody will be happy. On if he feels he has good chemistry with Milan Lucic Yeah he s scoring goals when he came back from injury, I don t know how many games he s played, but he s scored some goals. That s all we gotta keep doing, keep it in our own end and create some chances and we did pretty good to bury them so that s good to see. On if skating better with the puck is a confidence thing for him Well I gotta make things happen. When you have a couple bad games I look at it, I look at what I did wrong. Sometimes I don t skate and I go at one speed and for defensemen it s easy for them to read me. So I try to go from fast to slow and change speeds from slower to faster and make something happen. So I did that a few times today and the last couple games we got some chances, we got some goals so it s good. On if he s skating like he did when he played in the Olympics I feel a little better now, my last few years the end of the season was always better. I believe this is going to be a good half of the season for me and I just don t want to talk about it, you know you talk about lots of things you just have to go out there and prove it. The second half is going to be way better for me. BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD SHAWN THORNTON On the players in slumps, and if they break out what could happen I try not to dwell on the negative. I know you guys love to. If you could beat somebody down, I m sure you d kick them as hard as you could. We just won a game; I m not sure if you re aware of that. But that s I think seven and three in the last ten [7-3-0 in Bruins last 10 games]. So if we can win seventy percent of our games for the season, I don t really give a [darn] who s scoring. On playing after a heavy travel day Well you know we found a way so, we won. Honestly I thought they battled pretty hard. We did too, the effort was there. A couple mistakes, maybe gave them some chances, but they re going to happen in

8 games. I thought there was definitely an excuse there with a nine-hour travel day yesterday and a long road trip, and coming back usually the first game back from a road trip is an easy one to make an excuse for, but nobody did. Everyone showed up to play tonight, so it s good for the guys, a little gut check there, and they did. On the one penalty tonight I think the refs just wanted to get out of here [laughs]. No, the guys did a good job moving their feet I mean we were skating there s not going to be too many calls out there so I think both teams did a good job of moving their feet and not taking any lazy penalties. FLORIDA PANTHERS FORWARD DAVID BOOTH On playing against Bruins Goaltender Tim Thomas Tim Thomas has been exceptional this year, he s one of the best goalies in the league. When he sees the puck he s going to stop it. You have to get rebound goals against him and that s kind of what we needed tonight. On having some scoring chances in the second period Yeah, good goalies will save those. We need to get those second and third chances and we didn t. We played hard to the end and we re going to get those wins. On the injury to Florida Forward Shawn Matthias It s tough and that s part of the game. It s tough to see a guy like that go out because he s been working hard. He was starting to play really well. That s going to be tough, so now we re going to have to get up even more. FLORIDA PANTHERS FORWARD CHRIS HIGGINS On Tim Thomas... Yeah, a frustrating guy to play against because he is not the most orthodox goalie, he kind of just throws himself in front of the puck. It gets frustrating sometimes, but they are a pretty solid defensive team, they don t give up too many chances. We had a couple good ones and Thomas came up with some big saves, especially in the third period. On if it s frustrating the Bruins have won four straight games against the Panthers... Yeah, it is. You know, you like to gain a little confidence against a team, you know get a win or two under your belt against them, these guys seem to have our number. Hopefully we get a bounce or two the next time we play them. On if he had a clear shot in the last few seconds of the game... No, I was just trying to push Thomas in to the net there. Yeah, I was trying to spear him in to the net, but I didn t even know where the puck was I was just whacking just to try to keep them from blowing the whistle there, so. On Wideman having a good shot at the end of the game... Wides [Dennis Wideman] had a really good shot there. Wides had a good shot and it didn t drop. I think it just stayed up in his equipment, so I was just not trying to have the whistle blow, yeah, more than anything. FLORIDA PANTHERS HEAD COACH PETER DEBOER On the play of Boston goaltender Tim Thomas Yeah, well you know, I can t fault our effort or the way we played on the road; back-to-back situation, the end of a trip, the all-star break with a lot of built-in excuses not to show up tonight and I think we battled

9 right to the buzzer. I was proud of our effort and how we played. Both goaltenders were outstanding. It was a good hockey game. On the status of injured Panthers forward Shawn Matthias Yeah, it doesn t look good. We ll see when we get a better picture of it but it doesn t look good. On the play of the Panthers after the goal by Florida defenseman Bryan Allen Yeah, you know, nice doesn t count for a lot, unfortunately. You know, again, a handful of missed opportunities there to tie the game with two, [forwards Chris] Higgins and [Stephen] Weiss, pointblank right after the goal. Put a little pressure on there, and then I thought [Florida defenseman Dennis] Wideman had a real good look with the goalie out but we unfortunately just couldn t buy one. On the flurry of shots on Thomas, right after Matthias was injured Yeah, we had some chances. Like I said, I thought both goalies were very good and Thomas obviously had our number all year. On if he felt the play of the Boston goaltenders was the difference in all four meetings between the teams this season Yeah, I mean, I don t know about the difference but I think we played with them all four games. It could have gone either way and he s obviously a big part of their team so you have to take your hat off to him. BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIEN PREGAME PRESS BRIEFING AT 11:40 A.M. On how he liked Tyler Seguin at center in the last game I mean I don t think we generated much offensively last game and so it s hard to really judge a player when your whole team was a little bit flat in that area, but you know on that one that second goal that they scored, [he] over-backchecked a little bit, and that s better than being lazy on the backcheck, right? So those are young mistakes that are things you can live with and you work with, but again he s learning the game. He s fine, and he s being given an opportunity and we have to give it to him and be a little bit patient in that area. And hopefully things start coming around for him. He s got a couple of wingers that got some experience on each side of him so hopefully that ll help him as well. On if he s satisfied with Tyler Seguin s progress up to this point He s coming around we keep saying he s eighteen-years-old. So let s I don t know what kind of progress certain people expect, but I think from us it s him starting to get a little bit better. And the one thing is, he s certainly understanding the game much better, and you hope that his talent kind of takes over and gets better as we move on here. But as I mentioned last week it s going to get tougher because a lot of teams [are] battling for playoff spots and the second half is a bit more of a grind and he s going to have to work through that as well. On if playing well without Marc Savard earlier this year makes his absence easier on the team Well that, or also the fact that every team goes through some injuries. So I think it s a matter of us making sure we re ready to battle through without him like we did before and like we ve done in the past without [Patrice] Bergeron and those kind of guys. We ve been through those situations before, and every team does. And it builds character. I think it gives guys opportunities. I think a team can grow even more from those situations if it s handled well. And when a guy comes back, then you recognize that it s a bonus. But you know teams have to play through those things through the course of the year. And we ve been through it this year without Savvy [Marc Savard] and went through it last year without him when that happened so it s not like it s unfamiliar territory for us. On an update on Marc Savard

10 I think Peter [Chiarelli] mentioned I guess at some point this morning, he s gone back home [to Peterborough, Ontario] and he s just gone there to rest and that s all you can do when you ve got a concussion. And we ll take it from there. I don t think there s any daily, I guess, report we can give more than you got to give him some time. On balancing the work load between the seven defensemen Yeah I think that s the thing with our situation is you know, we had Stuey [Mark Stuart] out for quite a while and then the six guys did a pretty good job and then did a really good job actually. And you gotta make sure you don t penalize those guys just because Stuey comes back but at the same time Stuey s a good player for us and we gotta hopefully keep him going as well, so we re going to try and balance that out. And then to be honest with you tonight we re probably going to make a game time decision on who s going to be in, who s going to be out. On if Mark Stuart has been a healthy scratch Yeah last two games he was healthy scratch. On if he s going to have to bring a player up from Providence after the break Well right now we ve got 12 forwards and a lot of that will depend on management and the salary cap and all that stuff and whether is makes sense or not. So that s probably going to be dealt with as we move on here but as we re speaking right now, it s no. On if he saw Brad Marchand s success coming when he saw him last year and in camp We knew about his grit. I think he was a guy who competed hard and last year if there was anything, I thought in his first year it was him having trouble maybe sustaining that grit and that type of game night in and night out, which is a normal I guess progression for a first year player. And he s been able to do that this year and actually he s gotten better at it. As far as his production, I always thought he had a great shot, just watching him in practice the way he shot the puck. If there was anything I really encouraged him to shoot a lot more even in those exhibition games. We talked about it in Washington and he went out next shift and shot one and scored top shelf, kind of like what we saw in practice. So I think he s getting more confidence in that area and not only that, he s made some great plays. You look at the two on one goal that Recchi scored [in Colorado] when he passed it to him, that was a great pass. And I think he s building confidence and knows that he can give a little bit more to his team as he gets more experience. And I think the grit is there, it s still there but yet productively he s gotten better. #1/26/11#