Quote Roundup: Pens-Bruins
ON THE BRUINS
Schultz: "They're playing really well right now. One of the hottest teams in the league. We've got to come to the rink, be ready to outwork them. They're on a back-to-back so we've got to have a good start."
Schultz: "They're a good team. I think when you look at their team and the success they've had, they've had real strong goaltending, their special teams are both really good. They're both top-10 in their special teams. Their 5-on-5 play is strong. They're balanced, they've got a lot of young kids that bring a lot of energy and they're hungry. And they have skill. Their top line has been really good for them. You can just look at yesterday's game as an example. And so we know we're going to have our hands full. They're a team that's playing with a lot of confidence right now."
Dumoulin: "This is a team that I grew up watching, it's always fun to play them in Boston and always fun to play them here at home. Obviously this is an important game for us right before the break and hopefully we get the W."
ON FINISHING STRONG
Schultz: "This is a big game for us, especially going into the break. We want to go into it on a high note and get this win. Every game now is huge for us, a big two points that we need to get."
Crosby: "I think it comes down to building off of a solid game against the Islanders that's something we haven't done a great job of. We'll look to do it here and get some good rest and make sure we're ready for a big second half."
ON THEIR STATUSES
Dumoulin: "I feel good. It stunk having to sit out those last couple games and not be with the guys, but hopefully everything went well today. Talk to the trainers and will hopefully be back tonight. … Got (the puck) right on the top of my head. I was just boxing a guy out, didn't even see it. Kind of turned around and when I got hit, it kind of felt like a bell went off in my head. Obviously they wanted to take it easy with concussions now and stuff like that. Feeling a lot better now."
Ruhwedel: "Felt good, always feels good to get back on the ice with the team and not skate by yourself. I think we're right on pace with the timeline, the first few days were tough and then started to make some serious progress the last few."
ON IMPROVING AT HOME
Crosby: "We have to take advantage of being home, last month we really didn't do a good job of it, but up to that point we were pretty good. With the importance of the games and the points that are on the line hopefully that's something we can improve on."
Sullivan: "We'd obviously like to be as good as we've been on home ice. We've been a dominant team here for a long time. I just think it boils down to focusing on the details of the game and just staying in the moment and controlling what we can out there to be at our best. That's when our team plays at its best. I think our team has a certain comfort level at home, always has. I believe it always starts with the fanbase and the support we get here. We get such a boost from our fan base and I know our team is appreciative of that. We just have to make sure that we just stay in the moment. If we do that and we control what we can I think we'll be a competitive team."
ODDS AND ENDS
Sullivan, on starting Jarry: "He's played very well and I think he's deserving of the start tonight. I think at this particular point in the season it's important for us to make sure that we're focused on trying to win that game right in front of us. The question I always ask our coaching staff is which players on any given night are going to give us the best chance to win? And then we try to drill down from there at every position and the goaltending position is no different. Having said that, we believe in both of these guys. Matt Murray is an accomplished guy for a young goaltender and we know he's a good goalie. He's had his struggles as of late, but it doesn't change the faith that we have in him. We know he's a good goalie. We know he's going to pull his game together and be an important part of our team moving forward. Right now, Tristan is playing extremely well and we think he's deserving of the start tonight."
Sprong, on being the youngest guy in the locker room: "When I was down in Wilkes I was the youngest guy there too. We had a lot of older guys like (Tom) Kostopoulos and (Michael) Leighton. I'm used to being the young guy, it's exciting. Like I said though, I'm happy to be here and trying to help the team."
