MTL@WPG: Quotes of the day

WINNIPEG - The Canadiens skated at Bell MTS Place on Saturday morning ahead of their matchup against the Jets.

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Following the on-ice session, defenseman Ben Chiarot, forward Jake Evans and interim head coach Dominique Ducharme spoke with reporters via Zoom.
Here are a few highlights from their respective chats:
Chiarot was asked to evaluate his partnership with captain Shea Weber thus far this season:
When we're defending hard, being hard to play against and moving the puck up to the forwards, that's when we're at our best. When the team's not doing well, it's a reflection of everybody. It's not one pair or one line or one guy, it's everyone that needs to be better when the team's not winning. Me and Shea are no different in that aspect.

The 29-year-old blueliner stressed the importance of always approaching games with a positive mindset, even when things aren't necessarily going as planned:
At this point, it's so important, playing every other day, you can't be reflecting or feeling sorry for yourself on the losses. You have to move forward, you have to be positive and move forward to the next game and not carry the last game with you. Especially after a couple of losses, it can weigh you down and slow you down. What's important for our group right now is moving on, just focusing on the next game and not thinking about what's happened over the last 10 days or two weeks. We have to remain positive and come out and just play like we know we can because we know we have a good team.
For his part, Evans reflected on being scratched for Thursday night's contest versus Winnipeg:
You want to be playing every time, but I completely understood. The explanation I got was just that it's a fresh start and just a new way of doing things. One of the biggest things that we talked about the night before the game was being a good teammate, so that was a big thing for me. I understood and I just wanted to work hard to get my chance to get back in the lineup.

The 24-year-old University of Notre Dame grad also discussed how he deals with competing for playing time:
My approach every game is to play like it could be my last, and if I have a bad game, I could be out and never get that opportunity again. It's never really been about who's coming up behind me or who could be taking my spot, it's about me and not throwing away an opportunity like this. I think a lot of guys on this team could actually play center, so it's never really been in my head that there's someone that can play center. It's always focusing on my game, and if I'm playing well, I hope to get those opportunities.

After watching Joel Armia score twice in the Canadiens' most recent outing, Ducharme talked about the Finn's true capabilites:
Army's got world-class qualities as a player. He's got good size, his skill sets are really, really good. It's about being consistent. We started working together, me and him. There's a few things in his game that when he's consistent doing them, and when he can do that every time, then it's going to reflect on being that good night in and night out.

Ducharme stressed the significance of morning skates as well in terms of implementing new tactics:
We approach morning skates like we approach practices. They're not as long and they don't have the same intensity from a physicality standpoint, but there's always a reason why we're doing something on the ice. It's directly related to small details in our game, or structure with or without the puck.