MTL@PHI Quotes of the night: Drouin, Domi, Chiarot, Tatar & Muller

TORONTO - Tomas Tatar and Jesperi Kotkaniemi enjoyed multi-goal afternoons, Max Domi had three assists, Carey Price earned his second shutout of the 2020 postseason, Shea Weber played monster minutes on his 35th birthday, and Kirk Muller won his first NHL playoff game as a head coach.

Read on for some of the best post-game quotes following a convincing 5-0 Habs win to tie the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at one game apiece.

With head coach Claude Julien on the sidelines, emotions were running high in the Montreal locker room and Jonathan Drouin affirms that the players were extra hungry to get the win for their bench boss and the man filling in for him, associate coach Kirk Muller:

"We for sure wanted to win for both of them. There was lots of energy on the bench before the game, it was incredible. You saw it from the start: we scored the first goal, and kept building off that. The way we were skating, the way we were on the puck... it was impressive to see. This was one of our best games."

Finding himself on a line with Drouin and Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Domi topped all skaters with a three-point night (3A), recording three shots, one takeaway and one blocked shot. The Winnipeg native credited his chemistry with Drouin and the solid play of their young Finnish center for their success in Game 2:

"It's no secret, Jo and I are very close off the ice and spend a lot of time away from the rink together. We love playing together. It was a lot of fun to get out there with him tonight. KK was outstanding. When we have all four lines going like that, we're a very tough team to play against. That's what we had tonight."

Habs captain Shea Weber rang in the big 3-5 by playing a team-high 25:25 in Game 2, finishing with a plus-2 differential. He now has five points in six playoff games in 2020. Chiarot on his D partner's ability to maintain his All-Star form in his mid-30s.

"It's nothing new. This is something he's done his whole career. We're talking 14 or 15 years of being one of the best defensemen in the NHL. He's a guy who does everything the right way every single day. That's why he's our captain and that's why he's still one of the best defensemen in the game even at his age. He takes care of himself and does all the right things and you see that on the ice. He's so effective for us."

Tomas Tatar on getting the monkey off his back by scoring his first and second goals of the postseason in Game 2, including the game winner.

"You're getting these opportunities in games before, you just weren't fortunate to find the bounces and it kind of gets stiffer and stiffer every game. Obviously, it was nice to find the net. We really played the right way from the get-go. We jumped out of the gate really hard and it was an all-around team effort. At the end of the night, it doesn't matter who scores, it's just all about us and how we play and I think we were really satisfied with tonight's game."

Muller said he didn't check his phone during the game, but when he looked at it after the win, he had some encouraging words from Julien waiting for him, and the Habs associate coach returned the favor on the podium:

"I checked my phone after the game, and he was one of the first guys to congratulate us on the big win. To Claude, this win is for you and the family."

With a two-goal effort on Friday, Kotkaniemi joined some elite company in moving into a tie with Henri Richard for the fourth-most postseason goals before turning 21 in team history. Muller looked back on what had been a trying season for the sophomore center, and how far he had come since returning from the pause:

"All the kudos to KK. No one wants to go down [to the minors]; these are very proud players. But he did, and he learned from it. It shows a maturity level. This is a really tough League. When you're young, you have to learn some things. But it made him a better player and you can see it: he's faster, he's stronger, his play is showing it. He took it, he learned from it, he got to be a better player, and he's had a really big impact on our hockey team since we came to Toronto."