Nashville Predators at Columbus Blue Jackets

Blue Jackets Head Coach Ken Hitchcock
Commenting on tonight's game …
"It felt bizarre. It was entertaining as hell and wildly exciting and that's probably what it's going to be for a little while - a few more like this and they are going to put us in the loony bin. It's exciting. We're never going to be out of a game with this team."

"I felt comfortable when we put Novotny, Murray and Modin we could get the game shut down. We overplayed Umberger's line."

Commenting on rookie forward Nikita Filatov ...
"He's got great skill and great speed, he's really dynamic. You have to fast track him without overwhelming him. He brings his youthful enthusiasm and energy, and all he needs his one crack at it and he’s going to score. He's played four professional hockey games and four goals – that's impressive."

Commenting on Forward Fredrik Modin …
"That's the Freddy Modin, the guy that we all knew from two years ago. He's feeling good physically, his timing is coming back and he’s starting to protect the puck. The tempo of his game is picking up and he was very good."

Commenting on Goaltender Pascal Leclaire ...
"He has a bruised thumb – he'll be fine but we're going to bring LaCosta up for tomorrow. (A broken thumb) has been ruled out."

Visiting Head Coach Quotes

Nashville Predators Head Coach Barry Trotz
Commenting on tonight's game …
"I thought we gave them three pretty easy goals. Two of them came on the power play. I thought we came back pretty well. Obviously the fifth goal was a big one. We didn't bury our chances early. We didn't play that well as a group of five. We battled back, but there's no consolation. I'm sure tomorrow the intensity will get wrapped up."

Columbus Blue Jackets Quotes

Blue Jackets Left Wing Kristian Huselius
Commenting on the second period…
"Yeah, I don't know, sometimes it’s kind of tough to go out in the second when you have a really strong first period, but you know we have to learn and get better because the second period counts."

Blue Jackets Defenseman Mike Commodore
Commenting on the Nashville "Hex" ...
"To be honest I really don't care. As far as I'm concerned I'm 1-0 as a Blue Jacket against Nashville. I know a lot of past times were tough and the obviously dominated the series and that counts for something for sure, good for them, but as far as I’m concerned this is my first year here and whatever happened last year and years prior."

Commenting on his scrap with Nashville forward Jordin Tootoo…
"Obviously he (Tootoo) is a competitive player, he is a bowling ball out there. He’s got a low center of gravity. He’s actually come a long ways as a player from what I can tell. He's a pretty decent player but obviously his big strength is taking the body.

Blue Jackets Left Wing Rich Nash
Commenting on getting a win in the home opener…
"Yeah, it seems like every game we’ve been having periods where we've been uh…slacking, having mental breakdowns and it happened again tonight but the main thing is we got the two points."

Commenting on what the difference in the game was…
"Special teams were good, Pascal (Leclaire) was great, Freddy (Norrena) was good when he came in but we just stuck with it."