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BRIDGESTONE NHL WINTER CLASSIC: CANADIENS v BRUINSJanuary 1, 2016Mike CondonBrendan GallagherMichel TherrienBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Montreal – 5 Q. Brendan, comment on the multiple plays Max had to set you up there? BRENDAN GALLAGHER: Yeah, that's something that if we tried 100 more times we might not be able to do it. And just kind of a perfect event, perfect day, went our way today. Pretty special with what he was able to do. And I had the easy job. Q. Mike, being from Massachusetts and playing in front of your family, can you see it was the most magical game that you ever played? MIKE CONDON: Yeah, probably the most special. Had a lot of friends and family here tonight. And, yeah, Bruins, Habs, Gillette Stadium, New Year's Day, I don't think you could script it any better. Q. Did you sense the moment when you made that glove save with a tenth of a second left in the second period? MIKE CONDON: What do you mean sense it? Q. What it could have meant to your team, coming in at that stage, preserving a three‑goal lead? MIKE CONDON: Yeah, 3‑0, they get a goal there at the end of the second. They had the momentum. I'm not sure if the power play would have carried over. But, yeah, they would have 2‑0 going in there and they just scored a goal, a lot of momentum there, so, yeah, and I guess it made a big deal. Q. Brendan, how did this return fit into the way you visualized your return to action, especially on this stage? BRENDAN GALLAGHER: I mean, the way the night went, couldn't really ask for anything more. I just think it was a great team effort. We all had so much fun. You can't undervalue the smiles that everyone had coming into the rink. Starting yesterday at practice, everyone chipped in. It was a great team effort. For me coming back, I said I wasn't going to come back if I couldn't contribute, and I was happy to be a part of it tonight. Q. Mike, I know you kind of talked about wanting to block out a lot of the outside stuff before the game. But were you all at all able to kind of soak in what you were just able to do? MIKE CONDON: Not until the game was over because I was just trying to keep my head on the ice the whole time, but when the final buzzer rang I looked around, just tried to take as many mental photos as I could and just to try to remember this feeling and it's certainly a special one. Q. Mike, can you share any of those mental photos with us, number one? And number two, is there anything you saw before, during, after the game even with your laser‑like focus and the opposition, is there anything you saw that high school teach ‑‑ anything that jumped out at you during the game? MIKE CONDON: Mental photos, I don't know. I haven't really got to look at the camera roll, I guess, yet. Right now it's just been crazy after the game here. So not much I really remember or stopped to think about and I tried to keep my eyes out of the crowd. I'm sure there's plenty of people I could recognize in each section but I tried not to look too much. Q. Mike, you had some nice signatures on the back of your mask. Can you comment maybe on the fact that it might have given you some good omen today? MIKE CONDON: Yeah, I'm pretty sure anything that Tom Brady touches turns the gold. So I was pretty happy. Hopefully got some mojo on my helmet there. I'm a huge fan of his, huge fan of this organization, and I'm just happy to pay respect to them on the ice. Q. Did you meet him or did it happen while you were gone that he came and signed the‑‑ how did that? MIKE CONDON: At the end of the skate yesterday. I didn't really get the chance to meet him. He was under pretty tight security. I don't think they would let a Montreal player into the Pats' locker room. Q. You guys had a tough month of December, you had a long trip on the road. Would you say this is the perfect scenario for the team to kind of forget December and start fresh for 2016? MIKE CONDON: Yeah, new year, big win. Yeah, hopefully January is a lot nicer to us. BRENDAN GALLAGHER: You're doing a great job. MIKE CONDON: Yeah, big win, two points, can't argue with that. Q. Brendan, did it feel like riding a bicycle again when Chara tried to rip your head off? Did it feel you were back doing your regular job? BRENDAN GALLAGHER: I was anticipating that would happen. It was nice to be back. I had so much fun along with all my teammates. Like we said, it was a great team effort. There were a couple times where a big pushed us and they were pushing hard into the second period. The save Condo made with .1 seconds to go, that's a big momentum swing. And Patch scoring, made it 3‑1. And those are just moments, when you look at our team, those are things we can build off of. Early on in the year these are things that propelled us into the start that we got. And 2016's off to a pretty good start. Hopefully this just continues. Q. Mike, from a personal standpoint, what can you gain from a win like this? MIKE CONDON: Every win is huge. It doesn't really matter the stage. I'm just trying to do anything I can do to help the team right now. My confidence always stays the same no matter what game it is, no matter what the team's going through. Just happy we could get two points today. Q. Brendan, you had very solid first period. You seem in total control during the first period. You gave them only three shots. You had 14. What was the mindset of the team in the locker room before the first period? BRENDAN GALLAGHER: We talked about enjoying the moment. But we also talked about at the end of the game we didn't want to just be participants. We wanted to come away with a win. We did that, I think. To a man everyone showed up. Everyone competed. And it wasn't hard to find energy, it wasn't hard to find the motivation for us to come out and play. And we just played the way we've played all year and we had success. We used our speed, we made their defense work, go back and get pucks. And as the game went on we were able to create turnovers and put the puck in the net when we needed to. Q. Mike, was this scenario anything you envisioned, not only playing in this game but getting the start? MIKE CONDON: Not really, no. The first step was just making the team. And that was hard enough as it was. When you've got a guy like Carey Price this game is obviously marked off for him. But hockey is a crazy game. Anything can happen. So you've just to make sure you're prepared for the opportunities you get. Q. Brendan, yesterday you said that you wanted to be part of the solution. You weren't just the only answer but you wanted to be part of the solution. What about your game and the team's game? Can you take forward that can be part of the solution for the struggles? BRENDAN GALLAGHER: Just, I said all along as soon as I was hurt I wanted to get back for this game but I didn't want to come back for selfish reasons. I think I only wanted to come back if I could help the team win and be a contributor. I think everyone did that. Nobody tried to do too much. Nobody did anything they're not normally asked to do. But shift after shift we went out and we got the job done. From Mike out to the forwards, everyone did a good job. Everyone contributed, and it was just a fun night to be a part of. Q. Brendan, when Mike makes a save like the one he did towards the end of the second period does that give you guys a sense that, okay, he's not going to let much in today? And what did it mean to you guys for him to put that performance together in this game? BRENDAN GALLAGHER: I think I even saw Coach smile a little bit. During a game that's rare to see so it was certainly something you don't expect him to make. Not a chance you want to be giving up too much, but when a guy can give a save like that gives us that confidence going into the third period. Playing in front of him you feel he's got your back and he certainly did that tonight with a huge performance. I know it meant a lot to him and pretty special to be a part of. Q. Mike, Brendan said he wasn't the answer, he just wanted to be part of the solution, but was he the answer? MIKE CONDON: He certainly provided a spark. He does a lot of things right. He's a very annoying to goalies, I know that from past experience. And made a great pass there to Patch, and great hand‑eye coordination on the other goal there, too. So huge welcome‑back game and a spark that we needed right now. Q. Earlier this week in Tampa Bay you gave Max Pacioretty a chance to shoot in the shootout and he said he was really struggling, he was shocked to get that chance. How do you feel he's reacted since having that opportunity to win the game, and how much pressure do you think has come off his shoulders? COACH THERRIEN: Well, he's a player first of all. Patch, I've got a lot of confidence in him. Like tonight, the fact that Gallagher was back, Brendan, we had so much success in the season putting those three guys together. And we always start planning that in their last game the third period, I don't know if you noticed, but we put Plekanec with Patch, and I've had a good feeling that Gallagher was going to be there for today. So we always set the table for Galley's comeback. But you've got good chemistry. They like to play together, and again today they were really successful. Q. Does this win, do you think, on this stage, after the camera's following you guys for a month and all the pressure of the last month, can it give you guys a boost, do you think, heading into the first half? COACH THERRIEN: I hope so. It was a lot of distraction to the team injuries‑wise, too, when we got ‑‑ we knew that was a big game for both teams and we want to perform well. We didn't just want to participate in the Winter Classic. We want to win. And it was important that for the standing. They were right behind us. It's going to be tight to the end of the year and can't forget the last three games that we played against teams in the division picking up two wins, a big win in Tampa Bay and a big win against the Bruins. Q. A lot of times players will say, you have experience, too, that when you win a game like this it feels bigger than winning just a regular season game. Does it feel bigger? Can it make you, to play off Pierre's question, forget about December, really? COACH THERRIEN: I think we have to build on that. This is a great souvenir for players and all. We've got ‑‑ players are surrounded with their family and their friends and you want to remember that day. And the best way, first of all, to remember that day is to win this hockey game. We didn't want it to be a nightmare. We want to make sure that we're going to have good memories and build on that big win. And this is exactly‑‑ this was an emotional game, exactly what we did, but we have to build on that, a big game for us. Q. Can you talk about Mike Condon, just how he's stepped up, especially here in his home state? COACH THERRIEN: We knew it was an important game for us. First of all, like I said before yesterday, he certainly deserves to get the start the way that he played his last two games. And we knew that, first of all, he was going to be ready. Anytime a player is coming back home, it's a special place for him. And we all are happy about the way he performed. All players was surrounded with their family. And the kid did show a lot of confidence, show a lot of‑‑ he works extremely hard and feel extremely happy for him for the way he performed especially for him back home. Q. Yesterday you mentioned how having Brendan back puts everyone in the right chair, I think is the term you used. Did we see the ultimate example of that today when you see Davey scores a goal and Byron gets two? If you can describe how it makes your job easier running your lines out and how you're able to manage a game when you have that situation in place? COACH THERRIEN: First of all, my job is never easy. (Laughter). But that's okay. That's good. That's the reason why I decided to be a coach. But on the other hand, there's always chemistry that you're looking for. And one thing that we know with the line we put together at training camp and we start the year we get that chemistry as a team. And we're pretty successful so that the fact that we get Galley back, we're able to get that chemistry with even, not only the Plekanec's line but with David Desharnais' line and Chucky, they're doing some good things, too. Because on the fourth line they did a great job tonight, Mitchell and Byron and Flynner. So I like the combination with our lines, the way we were able to set it up. It was tougher lately. But the fact that Galley is back certainly is going to help. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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