Perry: 'We have to match their intensity'

WINNIPEG - The Canadiens skated at Bell MTS Place on Wednesday morning ahead of the series-opener versus the Jets.

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Following the on-ice session, forwards Corey Perry and Nick Suzuki spoke with reporters via Zoom, along with interim head coach Dominique Ducharme
Here are a few highlights from their respective chats:
Perry on the Canadiens' biggest challenge in Game 1:
We're coming off Game 7 and they've been sitting around waiting. We have to match their intensity and be ready. We have a good group in that dressing room that realizes where we are. We're just going out and playing hockey. It's all about just doing your job. That's what we keep telling everybody: "Do your job and the next guy beside you will do his."

Perry on the team's preparation for the Jets:
We've gone over their lineup, their systems, their penalty kill and their power play. We didn't really have the time to sit back and really analyze it. But, we've seen enough of them over the course of the season, so we're pretty comfortable and pretty familiar with how they play.

Suzuki on the strategy for Wednesday night's contest:
We want to play fast. We want to play as blocks of five, coming up the ice together. When we get away from that, we struggle. When we're at our best, we're moving the puck well and we're a close, tight-knit group on the ice. We just always have to find ourselves going back to that.

Suzuki on the potential impact of the Jets' lengthy break before starting the second round:
I'm sure they're going to be pretty amped up at the start, especially with the small amount of fans that are going to be in the building. We've been playing a lot, kind of like how our schedule was in the regular season, so we're used to that. We just have to match their energy coming out at the start.

Ducharme on Winnipeg's intent to get a lot of traffic around goaltender Carey Price:
They're going to play their style of game. We have strong guys who are capable of protecting the front of the net. They'll have to pay the price to position themselves there. We want to do the same thing at their end of the ice.

Ducharme on the differences between the Jets and the Maple Leafs:
They have a different kind of depth and they're also different from a defensive standpoint. They don't have the same assets up and down their lineup. The Jets have two lines that are dangerous offensively. There are some similarities between the two teams and some key differences, too. The most important thing for us, though, is to control what we can control. We need to play our style. We want to build on that.