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SCOTIABANK NHL CENTENNIAL CLASSIC: MAPLE LEAFS VS RED WINGS

January 1, 2017

Jeff Blashill

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto - 5, Detroit - 4, OT

JEFF BLASHILL: Well, it would have been the same -- I thought the first 10 minutes, they carried the play. I thought we were in our D zone too much. I thought the next 30, I thought we played well. It was back and forth a little bit, but I thought we played very good hockey, and then I can't even say it was 10 minutes in the third. It did seem like a handful of shifts, and we didn't execute the way that you need to execute to win. You know, and then I thought our guys hung in there. I thought the fourth goal was disappointing because I thought it was -- you can't -- you want to score but you can't cheat for offense, and I thought you can't give up that kind of rush like that. But as it was, our guys hung in there, and obviously battled back.

Q. When the Leafs were railing you, you called a time out. What was the message to the team as far as what you needed to do to get back in it?
JEFF BLASHILL: Well, I just said we had played good for lots of the game, and they just scored three goals in a real quick span, why can't we? Let's just go back to get to playing. Now, it didn't work because they came down and scored there a little bit later. You know, I'm not -- I just felt that the emotional -- there was about 10 minutes to play, I'm giving up nine minutes, I think, of challenge opportunity, which I don't like doing. I normally don't call timeouts like that, but I thought it was spinning away from us a little bit.

Q. Does this ultimately feel kind of like a punch in the gut, the way you were able to come back and still were able to salvage --
JEFF BLASHILL: You know, I don't know. It's disappointing losing. It's really disappointing losing in overtime. It's probably disappointing after you've fought your way back to not win it, but at the end of the day we found a way to a point. This league is about getting points and we need to get them about as consistently as we can, so we need to take from this game, make sure we accentuate the positives, make sure we learn from the negatives, and then move on to Anaheim and try to get points there.

Q. Mantha has a nice points streak going, scoring a lot of big goals. Are you just seeing the confidence right now, and how much do you think he's also benefiting from playing with Henrik?
JEFF BLASHILL: Well, I think anybody that plays with Henrik benefits because Henrik is such a smart player that not only does he help you when you've on the ice, he helps you when you come back to the bench and he coaches them in ways that a coach could never do. Henrik's influence on our team is significant, there's no question about it. Now, with that said, I think Mantha's confidence is growing. When Anthony moves his feet, Anthony is an excellent player, and I think now a couple games in a row where he's really moved his feet, I think three games in a row he's really moved his feet. When he skates like that, he's 6'5", he can skate, he can shoot, he can pass, he's got good offensive thought process. He's a heck of a player. So the challenge now is to do it every single night. That's the hardest part in this league. The superstars in this league do it every night, and he'll just have to continue to work towards that, but I think he's really, really playing good hockey right now.

Q. Just talk about the decision to start Coreau, and how would you assess his performance?
JEFF BLASHILL: Well, I thought -- we need to have -- first of all, I've got lots of confidence in the three goalies in our system that played for us this year. Obviously Jimmy is hurt, and I thought Jared played a real good game in Ottawa. I thought it was the best game that he had played of the three, and so I thought it was the right move to put him in, and I thought he played great early. I thought he made some -- he didn't have to make big-time saves, but they had lots of opportunities. I thought he held his ground real good. I thought he made a couple of big saves in overtime there to keep it even, and then I thought in that little stretch there, he wasn't quite as strong as he had been the other parts of the game, kind of mirrored our team. But I think it's a good step forward for him. That was a big moment for a guy in his fourth game in the NHL, and I thought overall he did a real good job.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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