Gallagher on Gainey: 'It was a passionate speech'

BROSSARD - The Canadiens held an off-ice workout at the Bell Sports Complex on Wednesday.

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Interim head coach Dominique Ducharme spoke with reporters via Zoom.
He was followed by forward Brendan Gallagher and defenseman Erik Gustafsson.
Here are a few highlights from their respective chats:
Ducharme on playing road games with thousands upon thousands of fans in the stands come the next round:
Every time fans enter the Bell Centre, we feel that energy. Do we wish we could welcome more fans into the arena? Absolutely. I'd say the 2,500 fans we have make themselves heard, though, and that gives us energy. If we could have a full house, it would be unbelievable to experience that atmosphere. We know what's happening with the pandemic. Whenever we can add a fan, it's a plus for our team.

Ducharme on preparing his group without knowing the opponent in the Stanley Cup Semifinals just yet:
We're focusing on ourselves. The most important team on the ice is us. Every team has strengths, weaknesses and a style of play. The most important thing is us. We're focusing on that. We'll have two or three on-ice practices before the series starts. We want to work on some things and make sure that we're 100 percent prepared. No matter the opponent, it doesn't change the way we play. That's the most important thing.
Gallagher on Hall of Famer Bob Gainey addressing the team on Wednesday:
He talked about experience. There aren't a lot of organizations that can fall back on alumni with the amount of experience that this one can, and we were fortunate to have one in the building today. He was able to speak to us about some things that he went through during his career, some things he's seen. He talked about how important it was going to be to start Game 1 and really implement our style of play. It was a passionate speech. It was nice to have him here. Those are things that we're going to be doing this week to make sure that we balance rest, but also stay mentally and physically sharp. We don't want our game to fall off from where it was when we finished the series against Winnipeg.

Gallagher on returning to the semifinals for the first time since 2014:
I can remember being a young kid at that point and having the old guys on the team telling me the exact same thing. They tell you how hard it is to get there, but you're naive and you don't really believe them. You think you're in such a good situation. But, it's hard. You look back at those seven years since then. We went through a lot around here, some good, some bad, some tough times, some adversity. It took a lot to get back here. You don't know when your next opportunity is going to be, so you need to take advantage of these things. We have a good group of guys, a good mix of veterans and youth, that are very excited with this opportunity, and I think we're going to take advantage of it.
Gustafsson on adjusting to less playing time since joining the Canadiens:
It's not a challenge. I'm just trying to take advantage of the opportunities I get on the ice. I'm trying to do my part. We have a lot of good guys on the team, a lot of big and strong defensemen that take care of the big minutes. I'm just happy to be out there and be a part of the team. I'm trying to do what I can on the power play. It's just fun to be a part of this team.

Gustafsson on his main takeaway from Gainey's speech:
Just how important the first game is. Coming off the Toronto series, we only had two days until the next game. Now, we have a couple of days off and a lot of practicing. That's just a mental thing. We have to be sharp in practice and just be ready for Game 1.