SAY WHAT - NEW YORK, NEW YORK

PELLETIER ON FIRST VISIT TO MSG:

ON CONFIDENCE AT THE NHL LEVEL:

"The first two games, kind of playing just simple games, and I'll say the last game in Seattle, to play with Naz and Huby, it's crazy. Two superstars and for me, just trying to work hard and make things happen."

ON BUILDING CHEMISTRY:

"I think we had like two or three 2-on-1's. Should probably score on one, but it's good, we had some good chances and hopefully they're going to go in tonight."

ON DINNER WITH HUBERDEAU:

"He's been nice. Last night he took me and Mack (Connor Mackey) for supper, so it's great. We had a great steak, too, it was nice."

HUBERDEAU ON COVERING THE DINNER BILL:

"He did tell me, 'I'll get the Uber back.' Nah, you don't need to do that. He felt bad, but I was like, 'You know what, you're going to do it when you're older.' That's how it works. He was like, 'Aw, thank you, thank you.' But you can tell he's enjoying it, so it makes me want to do it even more. It's a guy that's a great person and you can tell he appreciates it."

ON MENTORING PELLETIER:

"Obviously, my first year I had a chance to live with Steeger (Kris Versteeg). It was fun, how funny of a guy he is. It helps as a young player getting into the league. You don't know everything, you kind of get more involved with the team, and you have young guys that kind of be on their own, (don't) want to intrude the older guys. So, I just feel it was the right thing to do - especially with him being French, I want to take care of him a little more, so I texted him in the summer. It was a new team for me, too, and know there's another French guy there, it's cool. And there's (Jeremie) Poirier and some other guys, you always want to take care of the guys from Quebec."

ON RETURNING FROM THE BREAK:

"You're always excited when you're not on the ice for a week and it's good, to take your mind off of it and kind of reset and come back. Now, the last stretch is the most important one. So, I think, going to the playoffs, we need to get some points now and it's good to be back with the guys."

ON EXCITEMENT FOR TONIGHT:

"We know what we can do as a team and we're kind of on the bubble right now and we know we have to get some points. I think if we make the playoffs, we're built as a playoff team, I feel in my mind. I think we just need to work, good sprint 'til the end and get to the playoffs."

BACKLUND ON THE STRETCH DRIVE:

"It's fun to be back together again. Excited to play again. It was a great break, but we're all ready to come back and have a strong push here.
"It's a huge trip for us. We need to play really well, right away here. When we go home, there will only be 28 games left. It's going to fly by - always does at the end. We've got to dig down here and have a really good last push here. It's going to be some fun hockey to play. Especially with where we're at, a little playoff hockey right away."

SUTTER ON TANEV

Tanev participated in the morning skate and looks to be ready to play tonight
"He started skating the day we were in Seattle."