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Mike Babcock addressed the media after his team’s 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night, the team’s 13th consecutive victory on home ice.


On the team’s performance and getting the win after Detroit gave them all they could handle:

You’ve got to give Detroit lots of credit. I thought Detroit played really hard and made it hard on us. We told our team before they were going to make it hard on us, they were going to be above us, and they were going to compete defensively. They were going to make it real hard. I don’t know if anybody believed me, but partway through the game, they did. I thought Howard played well in net for them.

They were real good. They’re a prepared team and they worked hard, and yet we found a way to win. On a night when you don’t have your best stuff, if you can find a way to win, I think that’s a real good sign.

I thought the Plekanec line was our best line by far. It was a good win.

On the play of the team’s fourth line of Andreas Johnsson – Tomas Plekanec – Kasperi Kapanen:

I thought the three of them were really fast. I played them against anybody. I didn’t really match like I normally do. I just let them roll out the door there and I thought those guys were really effective there. I shut them down there at the end in the third period. Really, there was no reason to. I’ll have to let that happen here as time goes just so that we are really prepared for the playoffs. Plek has got to be an important guy when we are ahead. That’s an important process for us to go through.

On Andreas Johnsson settling into the team and earning the coach’s trust:

He’s a good player. He’s quicker than I thought… No, he’s faster than I thought. I always knew he was quick when I watched him with the Marlies. I didn’t know if he had speed. He does. And he’s so intelligent and on the right side of the puck and he makes really good plays. He’s got good fast twitch. He’s good on the power play and good on the penalty kill. He’s a good player and we’re lucky to have him.

On the Nazem Kadri line getting the game winner after a rough game overall:

It wasn’t their night. Let’s clear that up. They did get the winner, though. It was a real nice play by Mitchy on the wall and a real good play by Patty. Naz buried it. But it wasn’t their night. We need way more out of that group. They’ve got to dig in and get going. They know that, though. They’re proud guys and they want to dominate every shift. When you’re not playing… when the other team works real hard, and you’re not working as hard as you can, they frustrate you. You get frustrated. That is just part of the process. That is being prepared and being dialed in.

When you have the top two teams in the league back-to-back, their record gets you prepared. You don’t have to prepare yourself. They get you prepared. But when it’s the other way around, you’ve got to get yourself prepared. Obviously, tonight, we weren’t quite as good at that. In saying all of that, they played hard.

On whether there is any frustration that the team can’t close the gap on Boston in the standings:

I don’t know why you’d be frustrated about anything. It seems like a waste of time to me. I don’t know. To me, that is not what it is about. To me, it’s about preparation for the tournament. You want to get in the tournament and you want to be prepared to be in the tournament. You want to do good things and you want to get your team better. Whether you’re playing Detroit or Buffalo or Florida, really, it’s about your last opportunities to prepare as a team. If you’re not prepared, you’re out of the tournament right away. You want to be set up and ready to go.

On Patrick Marleau’s play to set up the game-winner:

Obviously, good play, good speed, good power by him. A real good play on the wall by Mitchy. No one is talking about that. You’ve got to first make that play. Real good speed. They’re good, good hockey players. We need them to be as good as they are capable of being. They were on fire there for a while.

I’m not measuring whether they score or not. I’m measuring whether they do it right or not. They are an important group for us and important people. We need them at their best.

On the team’s 13 consecutive wins on home ice:

It’s nice. You want to win every night at home. I don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about that stuff. I just said that we are trying to get prepared. You don’t know how good your opportunity is. You never know when your time is coming. I’ve been in this league a long time and thought I had lots of good teams. I like it. Let’s get prepared and let’s give it everything you have. You never know.