I knew right away that Nazem had scored. I saw the mesh go up, and I wasn't sure if I was one of the only guys to jump on the bench, but I shot right up. After I jumped up, I kind of sat down and had a second where I wondered if it went in. I knew right away, and the emotions were crazy.
The goal reminded me of the one Patrick Kane scored for the Chicago Blackhawks against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 to win the Cup where nobody really knew at first. It was wild. That's a huge, huge goal for us. A huge win.
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Things didn't start well for us as they got off so fast in Game 4. We knew that they needed to have a push in a game that they definitely wanted to win. We knew they would have a push, so we had to refocus, regroup. But we knew if we got to our game and played the way we know we can that they wouldn't be able to keep up with us for a whole 60 minutes. It got to extra time this game, but I think it showed even in overtime.
The Lightning have been in situations like this in multiple playoff runs and they are veterans, but I think we have been in similar situations like this throughout the playoffs, and we learned from that. We've bounced back every time we've lost, and we know that it is not easy to come back from a loss. But it's a good sign that we were able to get back to our game in the second and third and overtime. It's a big win for us, and we'll use it as momentum going forward.
The reality is one more win and we achieve our goal. But it's all about staying focused now, there's nothing we can do. It's about how we get there and what it is going to take to get there. That's the message in the room. We know the fourth win is the hardest one to get, and we'll be ready to go.
For us, our second goal early in the third period was the turning point for us. Those guys (Andrew Cogliano, Nico Sturm, Darren Helm) going out there and having a shift like that was huge for us. In overtime, I didn't think we gave them any life, and that is how we got the win.
Nazem scored that goal, and he is just a gamer. He loves to be playing and he loves winning. You feel that in the room when he's back. He's a guy who everyone feeds off his energy. He's always around it. Getting that game-winner there, you can't make it up. He comes back, works that hard to get back. Comes back when we need him and had a great game. It's noticeable.
