Postgame Media at NYR | Hagel, Paul, Cooper 🎥

All right, Hank, seven straight wins for your group. You had one win in the first seven games of this season. Does that feel like a distant memory? Yeah, it’s kind of funny to look at now, but uh yeah, I think obviously we’ve been playing great. Um a lot of guys coming up uh filling some big roles, buying into the system, and just finding a recipe that uh makes us win. And that’s kind of what’s happening. But uh there’s still, I don’t know, 54 games, whatever it is left, so there’s a lot of time left. Um, obviously you’re going to run in streaks, but uh without a doubt, there’s going to be some adversity again down the road, and I don’t know when it is, but uh if you continue to um buy into the system and do what uh what works, um you’re going to have success, and that’s what’s happening right now. Plenty to like about your game today. What stood out to you as, hey, we won because we did XYZ. Yeah, I think I think we had tons of chances. Uh it’s a onegoal game going into the third period. Um could have been more. Um we had a lot of a lot of chances and we never got down. We just went into that third period, continued um playing our game, executed, skated fast, played simple. Um everything we talk about and um huge PKs there uh at the end and and we were able to get the win. Start that you guys had you were all over them at the start. They couldn’t generate anything to get the goal on top of that. kind of know what goes in off of one of their guys, but just that what was how key is that when you have that start and then you at least can see something tangible. Yeah, I think so. I think sometimes in games that’ll be happening where you’ll uh uh be putting all the pressure on and then one goes in the back of your net. So, um glad it went on our side and obviously we were able to build off it continuing throughout the game and continued to play the exact same way through that 15 minutes. Obviously, we’re coming into a tough building. They were going to have pushes at times. we’ve seen that. But, uh, when you just buy into the game plan in the DZone and what we talked about and how we’re gonna protect the house and protect our Dzone, um, and you continue to do, um, do that. Um, you’re just going to weather the storm and I thought we did an incredible job at that cuz, uh, like I said, tough building to play in and, uh, we were able to do that. The second goal you scored, were you a little surprised the puck was just still right there for you? Yeah. Uh gladly the the Dman went to the left side so I had the time to pull it out and and put it up. But uh yeah, it’s nice to play for Rob. I we’ve seen that we’ve seen him make passes like this whole thing. You’re in the game. You’ve played with him for so long now. It can be easy to take play like that for granted because he does those things. But what is that, you know, like to have that? Yeah, it’s special. Obviously, I mean, you’re he’s the best at it and I’ll continue to say it. I mean, the work he puts in and the stuff he does in the summer, there’s no doubt he’s making plays like that to expect the puck at all times. Obviously, I’ve had the opportunity to play with him quite a bit and we’re kind of finding something right now and um kind of just continue to build on it and um be leaders in the dress room and um obviously it’s working on the scoreboard and and uh on the score sheet. Seven straight wins for your team. Doesn’t seem to matter if you’re home, on the road, who’s on the ice, who’s in net. what stands out to you when you think of those games over the stretch? Yeah, I just feel like uh we found our team identity and we’re building on it. Um, you know, we found the what it takes to win and just buying in every single game and if you don’t want to buy in, those are the games you lose. So, I thought our team’s been a great job of just coming together as a team and every single game uh stepping up and you know, we don’t look at the the win streaks or what’s going on. We just take it one game at a time and focusing on uh winning habits and and winning structure. your goal. Take us through what you saw the whole how how you read that whole situation. Yeah, I had the puck. Uh saw Cooch there, passed to him and you know, he’s always going to find a hole. You know, the one thing I’ve learned playing with Cooch is even if he’s not looking at you, even if it looks like there’s no hole, he’s going to find a way. So, I just kind of opened up in front of the net and he made a great pass and he went through his legs and then from there I was in tight. So, I’m just trying to lift it over the pad 6 in and end up on the net. Simple. Go to the net, put your stick on the ice, go find get open when you’re with Cooch and if it’s in front of the net, get in a spot where you can get get something off. Surprising that he’s able to do it. I mean, you’ve seen it now years. Yeah, I think when I first came to the team, it was surprising for sure, but then you see him in the summer, you see how much he works on his game and how much practice and repetition he puts in and you kind of just know he’s going to you’re going to do he’s going to do the unexpected. You know, there’s no hole there. He’s going to find a way. So, um, yeah, at this point it’s just, you know, it’s cooch. Nick, you obviously have a little bit of a different perspective. This is your sixth game back, but there’s a lot of new faces that you’re now just playing with for the first time. What do you think of all these new guys? Take your pick of who and how they’re kind of fitting in. Yeah, they’re doing great. Um, you know, everyone’s fitting in. Uh, we got a team where it’s next up mentality. And I mean, you see that here, whoever’s in the lineup, um, just come in working hard and we always say if you’re going to make a mistake, make it hard. And uh I think that’s been been the the key here is uh there’s no laziness out there. It’s everything’s going hard. And if you make a mistake, do it going hard, putting pucks in. Um not making mistakes, you know, going backwards and and cross seams and and and stuff like that cuz that ends up in the back of your net. So, you know, simple hockey, hard hockey, and just winning all your battles. All right, Coupe. Uh seven straight wins for your team. You had one win in the first seven games of the season. Does that feel like a distant memory? uh if it was a distant memory, we’d be higher in the standings than we are. It’s uh pretty congested in the uh Eastern Conference. And so, um you know, we’ve had to go on this run just to put ourselves in, you know, a little bit of breathing room, which you don’t have, like I said, in this Eastern Conference. It’s, um it’s really tight. So, we have to make up for, you know, our slow start. What did you see at the start of this game for your talk about a slow, you had a fast start today. um what did you see at the start and that and what were you guys able to do to continue to carry that through? Uh we’ve honestly we’ve got a really good vibe going and and uh I think we picked up you know that the game yesterday we did not have a good first period and we addressed some of our issues of what we were um kind of shooting ourselves in the foot and we got better as that game went on and then thought we had a really good third yesterday and we just brought it right into uh today and um these backto-backs are tough. Uh we knew they had it too. Uh and they had a goalie that was playing both games. So we thought like hopefully we could jump on them early and you know fortunately we did. And you know when you have all these guys out of your lineup right now, what’s what’s the key? What’s the message you give to the guys that have jumped in and and even the guys that have been around for a while? Well, it’s it’s interesting dynamic to be because you’ve got a group of veterans in here that are are kind of leading the way and then you have a bunch of players in here that are being given an opportunity and you’re not, you know, the misconception is, you know, next man up, well, you got to fill Headman shoes or McDonald’s or points. That’s not your job. Your job is to do the best you possibly can in the structure we have for you. And and I think everybody’s really taken that to heart. Nobody’s trying to play outside of what they are. And this just been and everybody’s on the same page. And so we don’t we’re not, you know, rowing up against the uh you know, the tide or whatever. Like we’re we’re we’re all in kind of unison right now. And you know, in 82 games that doesn’t happen, you know, the entire year, but you take advantage of it while you can and while you have it. And Boy’s been doing great. And Hegel’s been on a big heater. Yeah, he’s he’s I was actually talked about on the bench, but the the one thing is I I don’t even know when he scored his first goal. Maybe game like seven or eight in this year and but he was getting chance after chance after chance. And so it’s hard to get through that frustration knowing that puck’s not going in for you. But when you create keep creating as much as he is, um this is what happens. And now they’re coming in bunches. And it was unfortunate. He probably missed the easiest one at the empty netter, but uh for the hat-tick, but he’s uh been exceptional for us.

Brandon Hagel, Nick Paul and Head Coach Jon Cooper speak to the media following our 4-1 win over the New York Rangers on November 29, 2025.

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