Peter Laviolette Quotes (152 Quotes)

Trust me, it's not the ultimate goal.

His game, I thought, was right on the money, and he just didn't see the results. When your game is good, results usually follow, whether it's team-wise or individual.

There's nothing to say you're going to win a hockey game just because you're better on paper. I think the Swiss proved that.

We had an obligation to show up and play a hockey game. What has been the cornerstone of our team, our work ethic and tenacity, was not there.

They moved it around, and they got the back door chance they were looking for. Marty was really keen to know to know the guy was there and get over to cover the low one.

Obviously, it could have been worse. You don't even want to think of what the worst could have been.

Goaltending hasn't been a problem for us at all. I thought that Rick did a good job for us. When we had breakdowns, he made saves.

It's good to get out on the road a little bit. When it's over, trust me, it'll be time to come home, but we've got a great group in there in the locker room. I think the road trips once in a while are good for you.

When we looked back at it, our power play had as many chances as we had at even strength. Tonight we hit a few people and got a few bounces off things, but we were creating the opportunities. It was frustrating for everybody the other night, but we were still getting chances.

We have three starting goaltenders. They all start for their teams and they are relatively comparable. He's played well for the Philadelphia Flyers. It's an opportunity to get him in and see what he can do. It's a chance to rest other people.

Everyone's dealt with the same situation. What concerns me as a coach is one of the few teams that's not held back is the Latvian team. They're ready. They're time-adjusted.

When we came over, I thought we would have a balanced attack, maybe not one guy, an attack where each line could contribute on any given night. I think there's been a lot of opportunities to put the puck in the back of the net and we haven't, but I don't think it's because we have a lack of finishers.

Time goes on. No coach nowadays starts in one organization and retires in that organization.

We have no choice in it. It is what it is. It's frustrating because we've had a lot of good players that aren't available to us. I guess it says a lot about our team that we're still in the position we're in. Still, you'd rather have everybody healthy.

It doesn't revolve around one person. Not everyone can remain hot for all 82 games. It's a combination of having that balanced attack as far as offense goes, along with two goaltenders Gerber and rookie Cam Ward we trust and have played well.

Regardless of whether they were younger or older, we took guys playing the best at that time in the N.H.L.

Things were bouncing funny out there tonight, it seemed all night. It was a real good win for us because we had to work for it. We had to keep battling to get the two points, and I think those kinds of wins make you earn your stripes.

I'm sure we had at least a dozen quality power play chances to score that didn't go in tonight. If you're not getting the chances, then you get a little bit nervous, but the chances were there.

I'm proud of the guys for the way they played these five games coming back from that road trip. They showed a lot of character, a lot of heart, a lot of determination.

For me, they provide that energy, and they've gotten goals as a result of that energy. It's the way they play - the speed, the physical play, the tenacity and the never-quit attitude....

We had probably 25 quality chances to score and only put it in two times. That really hasn't been an issue this season, but today it was probably the difference.

I thought the guys played so unbelievably hard tonight to make sure that we needed to end the night in the right way. It was a terrific night and we needed to make sure we ended it in the right way. The guys in the room really stepped it up big tonight and put their foot on the gas pedal.

In the end, we needed everybody, from all four (penalty) killers at all different times during the kill, plus the goaltender, and the goaltender ended up being the best penalty killer in the last minute and a half.

If we keep doing things like we are, hopefully we'll hit our stride just as the time is right.

It's obviously his first crack in the NHL and his first crack in the playoffs, so I don't think you really know what you'll get. But he's calm, cool and collected in there, and I think he exemplified that in the playoffs. He was just very calm.

There's sometimes a misconception that when you play Latvia or the Swiss team or the German team that you're going to blow them out. These countries take so much pride playing for their jersey. The Czech game today, for example. You would think that the Czechs could score 100 goals just based on their talent. But it's just not like that. Everybody fights for their ice. Everybody fights for their space.

It's disappointing. We came here to win hockey games and it didn't happen. It's frustrating. But we know we're capable of winning a lot of hockey games, regardless of the opponent.

After the first five minutes, I thought the game was all us. They turned it on a little bit in the second period for another five minutes.

For me, we just weren't skating. To play our game, it's up-tempo, there's a lot of effort that goes into it, and we were on our heels pretty much the entire night.

When you get the best players in the world, there is going to be a lot of skills on the ice. I know we will have the skill to match that. I don't think any of the teams are going to be sitting back in a 1-4 (defense), they're going to be aggressive because they want the puck. These are the most creative players in the world and they're going to be looking for every opportunity to create.

We need to play a sharper game if we are going to have success against Philadelphia. We're not here to lose in overtime, we're here to win hockey games.

It's important to keep in mind that it's an exhibition game and the teams don't have their full lineups. But in saying that, exhibitions can set a winning culture or a losing culture. I think it is how you approach the game and the players have approached it in order to be successful. I'm happy with the fact we're being successful.

I don't think that they're down. We just remain confident that we're going to win a hockey game.

It was a frustrating night. Offensively we had a whole bunch of chances and a whole bunch of shots on net and came away with one goal. Defensively we held them to seven shots a period and probably in the range of four or five quality chances a period. It was a frustrating night. I guess the only positive you can take is you have to win four games, not just one.

I watched the video. Someone would have to show me how pursuing the puck is putting yourself in a vulnerable position. He did nothing but pursue the puck. Somebody got in behind him and steamrolled him into the boards in a vulnerable position. I disagree

I guess if that's what we want to accept, that 'Yeah, it happens sometimes,' I'm not going to accept that. We had an obligation to show up and play a hockey game tonight. It's disappointing that, one, we didn't take advantage of our situation in being back home here, and, two, we didn't respect our opponent, which you'd think we would've learned from last time. Hopefully Washington's got our attention for Wednesday night. I'd hate to see the same effort and same preparation again. It's unacceptable, it's inexcusable.

The speed and the skating just weren't the same. We tried to work through it, tried to muster up the energy and guts to get it done. It was just a little bit ugly and not our typical brand of hockey.

Mike has had a lot of success here in Boston, and he's a coach that thinks the game the same way I do as far as pursuit. I thought he's done a good job.

You have a bunch of guys from a bunch of different places, playing a bunch of different ways. You have to somehow corral them and try to bring them in as one. We didn't accomplish that here this week, but we did give them the information how we're going to try to do that.

That hurt us. We had a lot of quality chances to score, but (Hasek) made some big saves. We got beat by him.

Coming back from the no-goal call to come back and throw one in right away We were up because we thought it was in, and then to come right back -- Commodore made a really nice play. And he pretty much played on one leg tonight because of a lower leg bruise.

The expectations should be to come over and win a gold medal.

There's still more for us to give, more for us to do. It didn't go our way tonight, but there's still a lot of hockey to play.

We didn't respect our opponent, which you'd think we would've learned from last time. (Washington) works extremely hard we talked about that this morning. We either didn't realize it, or expect it.

We don't need the guys we picked up at the trade deadline to come in and feel like they have to carry everybody on their shoulders. We had a good offensive team. But where we've been successful is by having depth on our offense all year long.

We seemed to be in control at 2-0. I honestly don't think they had five solid chances. That goal seemed to give them life and they ran with it.

Ultimately, we took the guys that were playing the very best at the time, regardless of whether they were younger players or older players.

It's an accomplishment and our guys should be proud of that. They've worked hard to get to this point, but trust me. It's not the ultimate goal.

Sweden is a tough team to defend and I thought for the most part we did a good job. We need to keep working hard and good things will happen.

If you're going to chase down first overall and be the best in the league, it doesn't matter who you're playing or what night you're playing or what the circumstances are, there's got to be urgency.