Say What - 'I'm Enjoying Every Night'

Ilya Solovyov on the challenge of facing the Avs:

“For me, it's important to make sure I'm doing my job. Defend well. Of course, they have MacKinnon, Rantanen, Nichushkin. If we play well in the D-zone, with a good gap, don't give them too much time and space, we'll be fine.”

On the opportunity to play against top teams:

“I enjoy it every night. Last game, I played against Hughes. I played against him at the World Championship in Russia - U-18. We lost 8-0 probably, or 8-1. ... But I enjoy it every night. Minnesota, too, has Kaprizov, Zuccarello, who else? Hurricanes it's Aho. Every night I try to enjoy it, because I have a chance - and not every player has this chance. I'm just enjoying every night.”

Rasmus Andersson on how to defend Colorado’s best players:

“Obviously, their top four, top five players are insanely good. You've got to find a way to stop them and they don't want to play in their D-zone, so play them in their D-zone and stop them with their speed. We know their centremen want to come with a lot of speed through the middle. Good structure through the neutral zone and try to slow down their top players.”

On playing in a hostile environment like Ball Arena:

“You want to play your best every night, but when it's a top team in the division, you bear down a little extra. That's what we want to do tonight. This is a team building to come into. We've got to have a good start and then keep the momentum throughout the game.”

On creating offence from the backend:

“Just keep joining the rush, keep making plays. Usually the top players, they try to hang back a little extra, so try to beat them up the ice and try to create the odd-man rushes. Then, try to create a lot of movement in the O-zone and try to get lost a little bit there, and I think that's going to help us a lot today.”

Coach Ryan Huska on what needs to be better in Colorado this time:

“We've had some stretches where we've played well in here. We gave up two goals that you can't give up to a good team, so we gave them a little bit of momentum. But I thought we fought until the end. The one area that we have to be better in tonight than we were the last time we were here is powerplay, for sure. That was a big factor in the game. Tonight, we have to make sure we use it the right way.”

On transitional play/keeping a tight gap on Avs’ top players:

“That's our forwards, too. If we have a good, hard track from our forwards coming back consistently, (then) your D-men feel comfortable staying up (on their gaps). They know if they get themselves in trouble, they've got help coming. Those work together and against good teams like we're going to see tonight, we've got to make sure we're dialled in and on the same page in that regard.”