Wideman: "We believe in ourselves to the fullest extent"

On Dion Phaneuf's play during the post-season:

He's been great for us. I think you see he's able to get under the skin of opposing players, not only in this series, but all throughout the playoffs and all the regular season. He's a big part of our team and he's playing very well for us.

On their Game 3 victory:

I think we wanted to respond and the home fans have been great for us all season and throughout the playoffs. I think they deserved that last night. They were great. It was a good performance by the team but it's not something that we're hung up on. We're looking forward to tomorrow night and playing the same way.

His thoughts on the team's play in this series:

I think it's been a full team buy-in and full team effort by whoever's on the ice. All five guys are conscientious of the time and the situation, where the puck is on the ice and it's not a matter of who's scoring goals for us or who's making the plays. It's a full buy-in of a 200-foot game and we're playing defense first. Last night we scored five goals and hopefully we put the boring Senators thing to rest so we can move on from that.

On playing against the Penguins top forwards:

I mean, they're great players and they're guys that personally I have a lot of respect for. I know that they're extremely talented, they play hard and they have played a lot of playoff games so just don't get overwhelmed. You've got to focus and no matter if it's Crosby, Malkin, or anyone else, you've got to do your job and go into the team and to the organization and the fans to do the job as best you can.

On being two wins away from the Stanley Cup final:

They have a lot of fire power over there so the series is going to be tough. Whether you're up 2-1, down 2-1, whatever it is, it's hard to win games this time of year. The total focus is on the first shift of Friday night. Once the game was over last night, we move on and get ready for tomorrow.

On last night's team effort:

I think it started in training camp. It started with Guy telling us that everyone had to earn their job on this team and throughout 82 regular season games a lot of guys were able to contribute and get us to this point. I think last night was a good example that guys were paying the price and focused on defending first. There was a number of different guys that were able to get on the score sheet but at the end of the day, we won, and that's all that matters to the guys in the room.

On the atmosphere at Canadian Tire Centre for Game 3:

I don't know which goal it was but I think it was probably the third goal...that was the loudest I've ever heard the building. The fans have been great all year but I think they're really enjoying this and I know we are too.

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On being confident in this team's ability to make a run to the Stanley Cup Final:

To be honest with you, coming into this year with the group of guys that we had I knew that we had a special group but I knew we had underachieved last year. With the hard work we put in, the style of wins and the teams that we beat this year during the regular season, you could kind of feel that we were going to have something special here. I think I'd be lying to you if I told you I would have bet the house on it, but, no, we're a confident group, and we believe in ourselves to the fullest extent.

On this team's ability to stick together:

I think you look at some of the wins so far this year in the playoffs, the scoring the last couple minutes to tie the game and winning in overtime, I think that shows a lot of character. What shows more character was giving up goals late in the game and then winning in overtime and not getting rattled and not getting down. This is a team that we really do believe in ourselves.

On resetting after playoff games:

Yeah, you have to. Monday night sucked. I remember sitting in the hotel and we all had dinner together and it's not a good feeling. But last night was great. Once the game ends, there's nothing more we can do about it. It's over. The only thing we can do is get ready today and prepare and get ready for tomorrow and be ready for puck drop.