Brian Gionta
Brian Gionta
Brian Joseph Giontais an American professional ice hockey player and the captain of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. He goes by the nickname "Gio" from his teammates and The Rochester Rocket, dubbed by the media. Although small in stature compared to most other players, he is known for his tenacious play...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth18 January 1979
CityRochester, NY
against bottom desperate drop game playing slow start top
We don't start the same way against those bottom teams. Against these top teams, we're playing them desperate right from the drop of the puck. We're playing down to other levels. We start out slow and let them take the game to us.
carries happen obviously top
He carries the play. He makes things happen and obviously when he's at the top of his game, the whole team's going.
brings needs respect rest sets team
What he brings is that threat. The other team needs to back off a little because they need to respect him. That sets everything else up for the rest of us.
atmosphere careful ceremony felt home kept playoff whenever
Whenever there's a ceremony like that, if you're home or away, you always have to be careful not to get too stale. But it sparked a lot of emotion, and that kept us going. It felt like a playoff atmosphere out there.
keel staying waiting
We're staying patient. We're staying on an even keel and waiting for our chances.
chance division knew third throw
We knew what was going on. Down 3-1 going into the third and with a chance for a division title, we had to throw everything on the line.
start stick
We know we need to start scoring. We just have to stick with it. We know we're doing the right things.
business care concern games happens high left main montreal taking trying winning
Our main concern was winning games and trying to get as high as we could. Obviously, we've been taking care of our own business and we can do that again. We have one game left in Montreal and if we win that, we'll just see what happens from there.
chances goals number
We dominated. The number of chances we had didn't show in the goals.
games ourselves previous worry
We got away from (playing our style) the previous two games. We just have to worry about ourselves right now.
desperate played second third
We played a little desperate in the third period. We didn't play with that desperation in the first and second period.
board dominated drawing great learned periods smarter
We'll go to the drawing board and tighten things up. I thought we dominated two periods and everyone was great for them. We learned a lot. We got here, and we learned something - learned that we have to be smarter in how we play.
honor
To be up there with him is an honor.
erase losses matter records three tough
Three one-goal losses are tough to swallow. We need to erase that. It's single-elimination now. It doesn't matter what our records are.