Niklas Kronwall, Kris Draper Post Game 1 Quotes

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Niklas Kronwall, Kris Draper Post Game 1 Quotes

(May 8, 2008)


NIKLAS KRONWALL

KRIS DRAPER

NIKLAS KRONWALL: I've always enjoyed that part of the game sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't.

Q. Can you feel the rush of the crowd?

NIKLAS KRONWALL: No, not really. I'm just, I think all of us are so focused, at least my emotions.

Q. Do you have a type of phrase how you feel about your teammates at times?

NIKLAS KRONWALL: I think it can. At times definitely.

Q. Early in this game, did you see guys, give you guys a big edge early?

NIKLAS KRONWALL: Absolutely. Like I said, especially in this series, especially with a good team like Dallas. We were able to capitalize.

Q. A couple of big saves by Ozzie and keeping momentum on your side?

NIKLAS KRONWALL: Absolutely. Giving us a chance to win. He was rock solid out there and he's coming off of some huge saves.

Q. Niklas, a lot of talk about the break, what did you do to stay focused and be sharp right out of the gate?

NIKLAS KRONWALL: We had a couple of days off, rested those days. And when we started skating here Monday and we just wanted to work right away. And we knew that we were going to have to do a good job today to beat these guys. And we knew that we have to skate a lot and get the puck down deep and that's what we did today and we got fortunate.

Q. This team is very opportunistic. When you get a shot you take advantage of it. How key is that to your team's success?

NIKLAS KRONWALL: That's huge. Main points again you have guys like Pav, and Nick and Rafalski and Holmstrom, and there's plenty of guys always, getting us a chance to win. It's been good so far and hopefully we'll continue.

KRIS DRAPER

KRIS DRAPER: Enjoy it for a little bit here and get back to business and get ready to get focused for Game 2.

Q. People were worried about rust. You guys showed none of it whatsoever, did you?

KRIS DRAPER: It was a great start for our hockey club. And we had the weekend off and we had great practices, Monday through Wednesday, and guys working really hard off the ice, doing everything we could to make sure that we were going to be ready for the start of this hockey game.

The one thing you know about Dallas is in a previous series they've had unbelievable starts and set the tone in the other team's building. And you have to respect that.

But we wanted to come out tonight and do everything we could to win one hockey game and we were able to do that. And, like I said, it was a great effort. Our power play was unbelievable for us. And once again Ozzie just playing tremendous.

Q. Who is tougher in front of the net, Franzen or Holmstrom?

KRIS DRAPER: Pick your poison. They're both unbelievable. Mule, this is something that he's worked on. Obviously Holmstrom is the best in the league at it. And the mule's making a run at it right now and he's a confident guy, big strong guy and you love seeing what he's doing right now at this time of year.

Q. Been able to play with Maltby again. It's been a long time?

KRIS DRAPER: It's great. He brought some energy. You knew he was going to finish checks. And this time of year he's always proven to be a tough player to play against. It's great to see Maltby get in the lineup.

Q. Looked so easy from our perspective. Couldn't have been as easy.

KRIS DRAPER: Don't kid yourself. All we've done is won one hockey game. And that's exactly what we set out to do tonight. We're not going to get ahead of ourselves. We are happy with the situation we're in. We know Dallas is going to come out at us Game 2. It's over, done with.