Quotes of the day: Chiarot, Primeau & Ducharme

CALGARY - The Canadiens practiced at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.

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Following the on-ice session, defenseman Ben Chiarot, goaltender Cayden Primeau and interim head coach Dominique Ducharme spoke with reporters via Zoom.
Here are a few highlights from their respective chats:
Chiarot on players pacing themselves down the stretch to be prepared for the start of the postseason:
We're all trained. We're all in good shape. We've been skating for many months now. Unless injuries mount up, which is part of the game, I think guys are prepared for the grind. Our coaching staff does a good job of making sure we're rested enough to be ready to go when the puck drops. Realistically, though, you just have to be ready for the two to three hours of a game every second night. That's all we prepare for and we need to be able to handle that.

Chiarot on the challenge of playing consistent hockey:
It's about the grind of a schedule, guys' energy levels going up and down, but there's another team on the ice, too. They get paid to play hockey, too. They're a good team as well, so it's not always going to go your way. The other team is going to have a good night and things are going to be going their way as well. That's kind of where the consistency part comes in. But, if you can do the same thing night after night after night, do it the right way and do it hard, generally it's going to fall on your side. You work as hard as you can to be consistent, but there are going to be nights where the other team just has their best game. That's just part of playing in the NHL. Every night's not going to be your night, no matter if you're doing all the right things and preparing properly. There are always going to be other good players out there.

Primeau on improving his game since the cancellation of the 2019-20 AHL campaign:
I'm feeling a lot better than I did at the end of the season last year. Having that long break was big in terms of trying to get some strength. I felt like that was something I needed to work on, along with puck handling. I worked on both of those areas. It was good to have the time off for an extended period of time. It was longer than we usually have to be able to work on that kind of stuff.

Primeau on his relationship with goaltender Jake Allen:
He's a bit quiet as well, but he's such a nice guy. I'm fortunate to be surrounded by a bunch of great people. I've had some great goalie partners over the last couple of years, and he's no exception. He works hard on the ice. Off the ice, he's always doing the little things. Being able to pick up on some of those off-ice things as well has been huge, too.

Ducharme on cancelling the day off and practicing:
These are mandatory days off, but the players came to see me to tell me that they wanted to practice. There wasn't much to do aside from spending the day at the hotel. The players also recognize the importance of spending time on the ice. Instead of just hanging out at the hotel, they wanted to skate. It's a positive sign when our players take the situation to heart. Things haven't always gone our way this season, but every practice is a chance to improve. They realize that. It's a decision that had to come from them because days off are in the collective bargaining agreement.

Ducharme on the plan for utilizing Primeau:
We'll see tomorrow, but eventually he's going to be playing. Is it tomorrow? Is it the next game? Will it be the game after that? We'll see. Cayden is a really solid goaltender. He's been having a great season with the Rocket. We're really happy with the way he's progressing. We're also happy to see the way he's doing here with us in practice. We're confident with Cayden.