Henrik Lundqvist Post Game 3 Quotes

Henrik Lundqvist from Carp:

“We’re definitey in this. We have a chance. We’re still down 2-1 but I think a big thing for us is that we can believe we can do it. We believe in each other and that’s where it starts.”

On feeding off the crowd:

“Absolutely. It’s just a great feeling to be back here and play playoff hockey in front of our own fans. It’s been two years. That’s why you work hard all year. You want to be here and feel ghat excitement, atmosphere. I love it.”

“I feel a lot of pride to be here right now. You work hard all year to be here. I took it very personal last year when we didn’t make it. I felt I could have helped the team more.”

Asked about his five-game playoff losing streak:

“Thanks for reminding me. (laughs). I actually didn’t think about it. Now I know. ... I try not to get too involved if we’re winning or losing or how we’re playing. I just have to focus on my job. Because it’s hard for me if I get too involved if we’re scoring or not scoring, winning or losing. I get too emotional and I start making bad decisions. I need to focus on just stopping the puck and hopefully that will be enough to help the team win. So I try to break it down and not focus too much on my past or current game. The game is too tough for me to think about, what are we going to do?”

“I know I have to play well, and I know I have to be on top of my game to help the team win, especially against this team. They don’t give up much. It’s not a surprise to me that I need to be sharp. But it feels a lot better, though, I’ll tell you that, when you win, and you feel the support from everyone.”

On if there’s a feeling of fear of a letdown when the Caps tied it 2-2 late:

“You might get that feeling for a couple of seconds, then you just have to get it out of your head. My thought was to get it to overtime. When they tied it, ‘OK, let’s get it to overtime, regroup before we go out there.’ That was my focus. ... When they tied it, they got a lot of confidence and got going. So for me personally, I said, ‘Calm down, get it to OT, and we’ll regroup and go out and win it.’”

“It definitely was a test for us. A couple of things went against us tonight. They got that late goal in the second, and then we felt we were up 2-1 and didn’t get it. So mentally it was a test for us. But we passed. We did a good job of staying focused and in control and fighting. That’s so important in these games, that you don’t lose focus and get too frustrated or too excited. You need to be cool.”

“I think it was a similar feeling after the first. We had a big opportunity 5-on-3 and didn’t get a goal, so it was important for everybody to say, ‘Let’s stay together and be positive and play even better in the next period. There’s a lot of pressure in these games. It’s important you stay together and stay positive. We pretty much talked about the same things after the first and the second: ‘We got this. Keep going and we’ll get a chance or two.’”