Quotes of the day: Julien, Gallagher, Armia & Drouin

TORONTO — On the final day of preparations before their first-round playoff series gets underway against the Philadelphia Flyers, Canadiens head coach Claude Julien along with forwards Brendan Gallagher, Joel Armia, and Jonathan Drouin took to Zoom to field questions from the media.

Julien on getting everyone to contribute: 

“You can dissect the series against the Penguins however you’d like; at the end of the day, everyone will have to be good. What I’ve seen from Philadelphia since we arrived in Toronto – and if you look at their record before the pause – they’ve been one of the good teams. I see a very stable team, very good in all areas of the game. So it’s important for us to respect that, to be conscious of it and to be able to bring out our best, not just relying on three defensemen or one goalie or whomever. We need everyone to contribute.”

Video: Claude Julien on getting contributions from everyone

Gallagher on the success of the team’s young players motivating the veterans to step up: 

“Each player wants to be a difference-maker. If you look at the makeup of our team, that’s the way we’re built. There will probably be a new guy stepping up each and every single day, each game, if we’re going to have success. That’s what we’re going to need throughout our lineup, is different guys playing the role of hero. Every guy wants to feel like they’re doing their job, but that doesn’t mean that if you’re not scoring goals, you’re not contributing. There are so many different ways in the playoffs that you’re able to contribute to team success. That was what made our group feel so good about round 1, is that everyone felt like they were able to contribute in different ways.”

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Gallagher on the Habs’ strategy for beating Flyers goalie Carter Hart: 

“Not rattle him, but he has to know we’re there. He’s a very good goaltender. He’s a guy who I know looks up to Pricey and kind of plays a similar way. They’re both calm, poised, and their positioning is so solid that you have to be in front of him and make his life tough. He’s going to make the saves when he sees the puck, so you just try and disrupt him as much as you can and make it tough on him. Certainly, night after night, we’re going to need to make it as tough as possible on him.” 

Gallagher on the differences between playing with Phillip Danault and Nick Suzuki: 

“They’re different players, for sure. The one thing they both do very well is their intelligence of the game and their ability to see the ice. For both me and Tuna, that transition will be quicker going from Phil to Suzie than it would for anyone else, because you’re able to talk some things out. That’s what we’re used to as a line, is not so much the one-on-one play but using all three guys on the ice to create open ice for each other and create those scoring chances. And at the other end of the ice, work on defending and reading off each other.”

Video: Brendan Gallagher and Joel Armia on facing the Flyers

Armia on his game so far in the playoffs: 

“I know I can play a lot better. I’m just trying to work every night, and trying to do my best. I know I haven’t been scoring, but there have been a lot of guys on our team who have been stepping up and scoring – our young guys. I’m just trying to work every night and do my best, and I know I’ll produce something along the way.” 

Drouin on being the underdog team: 

“I don’t think we’re a team who pays attention to the predictions and that’s how you should approach a series. I think the 20 guys who will be on the ice will play and it’s not really a question of watching what’s happening around us; it’s about taking it one game at a time. If you don’t feel like you can win the series, I think you’re in the wrong place. You have to be confident you can win the series, that you can play well against a team like this one. We’re for sure the underdogs, in a certain way, but we were also the underdogs in the Qualifying Round. So nothing has changed for us, and we just have to play our way, our style of hockey, and we’ll be OK.”

Video: Drouin on embracing the role of the underdogs

Drouin on the newfound physicality to Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s game: 

“KK was definitely a difference-maker in the series. He looks more comfortable. When he came into the League, as every young guy, you’re kind of feeling it out, you don’t know whom to hit. But right now, there isn’t much thinking in his game, which I like. He’s using his big body, he put on a little muscle during [the pause], which is great for us. If he keeps playing that way, he’s going to have a lot of success in this League. He’s hitting guys, he’s going to pucks, he’s not waiting, he’s not looking around to see who’s going first; he wants to be the first guy down there. As our line, we talked about it: whoever has to be that guy who’s going, it doesn’t matter what your number is or how much money you’re making, you have to go get that puck and get into those areas. KK and Suze have both brought that to our team way more than they did before.”