Say What - 'He's The Backbone Of This Team'

Markstrom on getting the win:

“It's a team win and I thought (they) did a great job of letting me see the pucks and seeing the shots. Every rebound there was, there was one of our guys there to clear it out. Big goals and then it got close at the end, but we hung in there and everybody did a great job blocking shots and clearing and the penalty kill was big, once again.”

On his massive late-game save off Josh Anderson:

“I don't know who had the puck behind the net, but maybe I left the post a little early. I was going to go to the other side thinking he was going to wheel (around) the net. Then they popped it in the middle and then I bailed on the post and saw he was trying to shoot it. It's one of those things where they got one bounce on the goal and it was nice for me to get a bounce.”

On his play of late:

“I feel good, but it's about winning hockey games. Especially stringing a few together - that's important with the start we had. We have to look forward. We have to enjoy this one, go home and get excited for the home stretch here.”

On closing it out with a big third period:

“I thought it was really good. It was really important for us to get a win here and leave this road trip .500. It's not good enough, but it's what we could do with this trip today. It was a big win to finish it off and we've got to look forward and get ready for Thursday.”

Zary on how the game played out:

“It was good. Pretty back and forth. Obviously, low scoring. I think we played our game for the majority of the time and when we let go a little bit, Marky was excellent tonight. Unbelievable. You saw that stop at the end, that's what wins you games right there. I think overall it was a big game. To come into the Bell Centre, in this environment and get the win is huge.”

On the play that led to his goal:

“We talked about a faceoff play. Posp made a good play over to Andy and I was able to slide back door and find a little soft spot. Andy made a hell of a play and I just had to stand there and ... I was able to shovel it in.”

On what they did well in the third:

“I think it's the stick-to-itiveness. We kept playing our game and when something went wrong, Marky had our back. I think that was huge for us to have a lead going into the third, keep it, play with it and get a win.”

Kadri on a ‘character-building’ win:

“To fight back to .500 on this road trip means a lot. Obviously, you want to always do better. But to not let it get away from you is a major character-builder. For us, they're a skilled, high-pace team. That's exactly what we saw tonight and we had to skate with them.”

On the success of his line with Zary and Pospisil:

“We want to play with the puck and I think that's the key. Out there, you can't be timid or discouraged when things don't always go your way. You've got to stay persistent that's what I'm trying to preach.”

On Markstrom’s heroics:

“We don't have to tell ourselves twice with Marky. He's always going to be there and he's the backbone of this team. Obviously, if we want to be successful, he has to play well but we also have to play (well) in front of him and steer some traffic away. But he played incredible tonight.”

Coach Huska on what stands out from this win:

“Our goalie was our best player. I thought Marky had a real good night, especially late in the game when they were coming on. He made some really big saves for us. But I liked the way Kads' line played. I thought they did some really good things for us offensively. They were the one line I thought had some chances in the offensive zone. Those would probably be the two main things for us.”

On the importance of getting a win before going home:

“We wanted to go home on this trip .500 and we had an opportunity to do that. I think the players were ready to play. This is a quick team that we played against, we felt. We had to skate. I thought as the game went along, we started to pick up the pace in terms of what we did with the puck and some of our decision making. It was a good win. It allows us to go home in a good mood.”

On the play of the kids:

“Good on them. They've done a really good job. Both Zary and Pospisil have done an excellent job for us. Zary and Kads have some found chemistry and we were wondering how it would work with Pospy on that line - and he did really well. I thought that was our most consistent line.”