"This is probably the best game that I played and I was forced to do more. In years past, I've always had Nate [Robinson], I've always had Will [Conroy]."

"I'm a big fan of Dee Brown. He's the heart and soul of that team and he's the first guy we've got to stop."

"We just totally turned the page on that Thursday game. It was important not to come in here and worry about making shots, and we did a good job of that."

"I don't think it crossed my mind we were going to lose that game. I'm still kicking myself. For the first time in basketball, I feel sorry for myself."

"He's the key to their team. If he can't get going, it'll be a tough night for everybody."

"We didn't give them our best game, that's for sure. We turned the puck over, made a lot of mistakes. (But) Rick played tremendous. He made the saves when he needed too."

"It's mind boggling. You're thinking about it and you are shaking your head saying, 'How did we do this?' We don't say there are 11 games left, let's win them all. We needed a lot of help from everybody but we still needed to win 11 games. I think it's amazing."

"To me, he was always a safety valve, knowing that I had one of the best competitors in the game in front of me. To be the captain of three Stanley Cup teams, you don't do that by chance. It's because you've done something great in your career."

"It's a rivalry and they're playing hard. We're not happy they're not doing well against the rest of the league. They're taking points away from us."

"It's kind of nice to have (a shutout) on (Stevens') night. We played a tough opponent. It was a playoff atmosphere out there. It's a great day for Scott and it became a great day for us at the same time."

"We're trying to survive and get in the playoffs, so these wins are huge."

"I think being up, being down, trying to be consistent in the playoffs is probably the hardest thing, because it doesn't matter if you lose 2-1 or 7-1 — it's still one game. The bottom line is to advance."

"It's like preseason now. I guess maybe a memo was sent down to call games tighter again."

"It went our way for three games. It could go the other way for three games, also."

"[More insulting still, the New Jersey Devils declined to stay in Ottawa between Games 1 and 2 of their Stanley Cup semifinal series against the Senators last week, flying home to spend 48 hours in the relative Babylon of East Rutherford.] If you look around, ... there's not much to do around here."

"I played 25 minutes and 35 minutes in two games. I shouldn't be tired. I'm tired of getting scored on."

"It was fun to play the game again. It's going to be the same for every team. Everybody is in the same boat. It's like riding a bicycle, you go back to it and it's like you never left it."

"The team has the confidence to throw me in the net every night and that makes it a lot easier when you know you're going to get over 65 starts every year."

"I could have stayed in. It was my choice. When the team is struggling, why be in there for the sake of being there?"

"We have no excuse to not get back to where we were at or even better. I think the competition will be greater from now on because of the stretch drive. Some teams are going to try to secure playoff spots. Some teams are going to try to get back in the mix. Some teams, like us, are trying to stay alive and move up with the big guys."

"We're going to have a good competition and that's what you want."

"I don't think you can blame the new guys for the way we've been playing."

"My skate got caught and I twisted it. I heard it twist and I couldn't get up. All my body weight fell on it. I had to be really hurt to leave the game. We were still in the game at that point."

"[The NHL testing] just started in January, so it's OK. It's flushed out of his body, but from now on, the guy's got to be careful. Everybody is educated now. It's not like you don't know. Now, you have to know. That's your responsibility as an athlete. I think his was just an unfortunate situation that happened to him that's really isolated -- I hope."