Rob Blake Quotes (39 Quotes)

It wasn't about the Stanley Cup the year before, it was all about the gold medal. That's been the talk the last three years, and now this year. When you go home in the summers, the gold medal is remembered more. The difference now is defending the gold medal.

I don't think there's any rhyme or reason for it. There's enough talent out there with that group of five (players) where you've got to make those plays.

Definitely. We're going to be fighting down the stretch and we have that western swing with . . . the teams we are battling with. You want be in a position for those three games coming up to be real big.

You go there to have a good dinner, maybe catch a show. It's a good little team thing. When I first went, I was excited, and I'm sure some of these guys are looking forward to going.

You don't even worry about what happened at the end of the season. Our whole focus is on Dallas this week. We'll go over their game plan and our game plan against them. As far as the regular season, that's forgotten and we go on.

You never want to give a team life. We know how good they can be.

Honestly, it's not a distraction to us whatsoever. We're going over there for two weeks to bring back a gold medal.

(The Red Wings) are the one team in the league that challenges you with puck possession. We didn't match them today in intensity.

Because we're in the West, we play Edmonton and Calgary and Vancouver a lot and there's always a lot of media around in those cities. But when we go to Toronto, the media is doubled.

In the third when we opened it up and we started to pinch and create chances, it took just one opportunity for them and they buried it. That's the dynamic of this team.

I've got to start getting the puck to the net a little more, ... I usually have more shots than I do right now (14), that's for sure. I can pick that up, jump in the play a little more. I think I'm lacking a little offensively.

I think people understand there's a business side to the game and that's been put in the past now. It's time to move on and the excitement of the game will live again.

You've just got to get in and play, ... I came back (in 1996) and it took a bit of time to get things going.

You never want to see an injury like that happen.

That second period, as much time as we spent in our own zone, it was tough to generate things.

I think our power play can be more consistent. At times it's real good. In a couple other games, it's let us down. You know you're going to have three or four opportunities every night, and that has to be there.

When you win some games in a row, the panic gets out of the way. We know David's going to shut it down for us now.

It's nice we only see him once a year during the regular season. He's a great player and he's done tremendous things for the Colorado Avalanche franchise over the years. We were excited about going in and seeing him. He's a big part of the Avalanche history and always will be.

We understand how important this is.

Before, it was pretty set in stone. Adam and whoever he would play with basically took the top line, ... Now, we share those minutes. That's the way I think we have to do it. I don't think one (defensive) set can handle it.

Throughout the top four lines, I think we're very deep now.

The last month of the season did help us prepare for the playoffs. But, the guys still have to understand what's at stake in the playoffs and that the intensity will go up even higher.

At the beginning of the season, he said we wouldn't worry about a contract until the season is over.

He's our guy, he's our leader, we're 100 percent behind him. He's not any different now. He walks into the room just like he did four years ago, puts the players at ease and away we go.

For those of us who play in the U.S., it was good to be reminded of the sense of passion for the game in Canada.

That makes it even more special to play them. It's nice that they're coming. I think the people around here and anybody that is from Canada originally and moved out here, the Leafs carry a lot of weight with them.

We knew they were going to give it their best. They have a lot of character and a lot of veterans over there. We weren't up to the task. They are right back in this series.

I think the last 25, 30 games, we've been battling to find our way into the playoffs, and once we succeeded, I think the emotion was tough to bring. But now we move on against Dallas, and I think you'll see we won't have trouble bringing emotion.

It's always the same. Yeah, we got the first gold medal in 50 years or something like that. But the pressure to win and the expectations to win will always be there.

That's the way the game is being called. The stick is up or there's a hook or hold, it is going to be called. You can't argue. You go and kill it.

His presence will still be there, even if he can't be there in person. He's the greatest player in the world, and his presence and name means a lot to Canadian hockey.

We had a quick one early on but the second one was a major one, it lasted a minute. The big difference in their 5-on-3 They made the play.

They're a very veteran team. They understand they've been in the last two games. A bounce here or there and the games could have been different. Knowing that they have got guys that have been around a long time, had guys that have won Cups and guys with a lot of leadership, that's why we expect their best game.

Are your articles always this bias (sic) and weak, ... or are you just not very knowledgeable when it comes to sports

They've always had a history of being in the right places, and they cause turnovers. Their 'D' are very good at moving the puck quick and they have a lot of speed up front.

We finally had to battle to win a game. I think we've been getting away with just outscoring teams and it's kind of caught us the last two weeks. We haven't been working nearly hard enough to win games.

This team in the past hasn't taken advantage of some of the leads we've had in a series. So we have to force the issue, not sit and wait and see what's going to happen. (The Stars) are a veteran team with guys who have won Cups and their best game is going to be (tonight).

We didn't get the puck in the net. That's the bottom line. Three out of four games, it's tough.

We just have to hope we're in striking distance near the end (of the season).