Quotes of the Day: Tatar, Julien & Evans

BROSSARD -- Tomas Tatar, Claude Julien and Jake Evans fielded questions about returning to practice in Brossard, the security measures in place, and postseason excitement on Tuesday.

Read a selection of the best quotes of the day.

TOMAS TATAR:It's a great experience. I'm sure a lot of these guys who will be in the playoffs for the first time are going to enjoy it. It's a different tournament, it's a different stage. It's a lot of fun to battle for a Cup. I'm sure guys are going to enjoy it. It's going to be good, fun, and hopefully we'll have a good battle against the Pens. They have a good team, but in the playoffs, you never know, and I think we'll be ready.

TOMAS TATAR:When you didn't play since March, you start missing the game. We were all excited to see our teammates again, which is awesome. To be honest I missed them a lot. It's good to be back.

TOMAS TATAR: I hadn't thought about that, but you're right, [the bubble] might be similar [to International tournaments] where you stay in a hotel with your teammates. Personally, I've always enjoyed those tournaments when I've had the opportunities, from Under-18 to men's tournaments or the World Cup. It's fun to be with the guys, to enjoy their presence and hopefully we'll have a lot of fun. You're trying to find the most positive things in all of these and to me, it's being part of the team and to be with the guys in the hotel, hanging out with them.

#GoHabsGo

CLAUDE JULIEN: I said it yesterday, and I'll say it again today: I like how smooth things have been going so far. And you have to give a lot of people credit. Obviously, the number one priority throughout all of this with the NHL is to protect the players and everyone involved. Our medical staff and training staff have done a really good job creating a safe and comfortable atmosphere here right now. The first two days have been great. The schedule has been working really well for us. Everything has been tightened up from video-watching to on-ice training. The less time the players spend here, the better and safer it is. I think the first two days have been way better than I even expected.

CLAUDE JULIEN:It's good to be back. I see players and coaches who are excited. It's like starting a new season. The fact that we're in the postseason makes things even more exciting. We know that at the pause, our chances weren't high. But we've qualified for the postseason, and we shouldn't shy away from that fact. A year ago, three teams with worse records than ours made the playoffs, and we didn't. In some ways, it's justice. We have a chance like everybody else to win a Stanley Cup, and that's what we're going to try to do.

CLAUDE JULIEN: What I'd like for Kotkaniemi, in the next few weeks, is that he continues to show us how well he's progressed. He's skating way better than he did at the beginning of the year. We knew he had a knee surgery and the recovery and everything … he was still a 19-year-old player, he had his ups and downs, he had his challenges. Everybody knew that. But I like what I'm seeing right now, he seems to have a good pace to his game and his skating.

JAKE EVANS:I love the roles I was put in here. I got some PK time and I love playing center, and wherever I can contribute to the team. Just getting those opportunities and getting some ice time was great. I think the biggest change for me was you obviously get a little less ice time, so you have to take advantage of that extra rest and also take advantage of those shifts you get and capitalize on those.

JAKE EVANS:We're all in different dressing rooms. There are four to a dressing room and everywhere we go, we're wearing masks. Even when we're getting dressed, we're wearing masks. The only time we're not wearing masks is when we're working out or on the ice. So it's definitely a different setup and guys are more spread out, but we're just trying to be very cautious and smart about our decisions. I think the team is doing a great job of trying to prevent this. It's a weird setup getting dressed with only a few guys and then hitting the ice with a lot of them. There are a lot of precautions being taken and I think the team is doing a good job with that.