Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 5-0 win over the New York Islanders on Wednesday night.
On the debut goal for Justin Holl and the first career NHL goal for Travis Dermott:
Well, good for those kids. You don’t get to score your first NHL goal very often — one time. It’s great if your dad is here to see it. I saw in between periods a few tears, which was kind of nice to see, as well. It’s not just an individual accomplishment. It’s a family accomplishment. They all should be proud. It was a good win for our team tonight and a good way to start a trip.
On whether he wants the dads in the crowd all the time:
It’s like anything. When your dad is here and your family is here, you always try to be good. I think it’s important you put your best foot forward. You want your parents to be proud of you. You know, I’m 54 and I still want my folks to be proud of me, so why wouldn’t these guys? It was a good way to start.
On Roman Polak and Ron Hainsey’s status for the upcoming trip:
Him and Hains were both [battling] upset stomachs, or whatever, and throwing up all day with their families. We thought they were getting regrouped this morning, but they weren’t getting regrouped at all. I don’t think they’re coming on the trip. I don’t know if we are flying them in the morning. I haven’t talked to anybody about that yet, but I don’t think they’re flying with the team right now. We don’t want them to be contagious and have more people get sick.
On why Polak is on IR:
We just had to be in a spot to have another D.
On having to roll with “next man up” on defense:
It is what it is. We wanted to have a look at Hollsy anyway. The opportunity hadn’t presented itself. They have to earn the opportunity, but we also have to have one. We thought he played well in the minors, so it’s just a matter of time. There are probably a couple of more guys down there that might get an opportunity, but there has got to be room for them.
After two good wins in a row, on whether the team is trending in the right direction:
I think what we talked about is we want to play way faster. We think we can play faster. When we play fast, I think it is a lot more fun for the guys. We think we have good quickness throughout our lineup. I think it’s starting to show again. We’re still not skating as good as we could… you know, we just came back and I think we had five days off again. The rhythm right at the start — we didn’t have any, but I thought we got better as the game went on.
On the importance of Kasperi Kapanen’s 1-0 goal:
Real big. They were better than us at the start. They had played last night and were a little sharper. It took us a little bit to get going. I thought we had good goaltending early. I don’t even know if they hit the net… they had three grade-A chances and missed them all, but Freddy was there and gave us an opportunity to get going.
