If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you know that we love the shows where the Rangers talk with the coaches to discuss the x’s and o’s of the game. We were big fans of “Behind the Bench” with John Tortorella, and we are equally fans of “The AV Squad” with Alain Vigneault. MSG was kind enough to provide us with some quotes from tonight’s all-new episode at 6pm, just before the game tonight. The show give us a behind-the-scenes look at the past two weeks in Rangerland. Due to the timing of the Henrik Lundqvist deal, that will have to wait until the next episode

In this episode, AV talks about getting the team to be more consistent, but trying to avoid moving his lines around too much.

“At this point, I’d rather believe in the players, give them more opportunity, give them another chance on the ice as far as showing what they can do. Maybe sometime you give them a little less ice time because you’re not satisfied with what’s going on, but we’ve got to work ourselves into the team that we believe we can be.”

AV also tells host Bill Pidto that the recent win over Vancouver might have tasted a little sweeter than the rest.

“Maybe there was an extra smirk against Vancouver, an extra smile, but that was about it.”

The episode also includes a Film Room session with assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson as he talks to the defense about opportunities to be more offensive and a Mic’ed up segment with Anton Stralman from a recent Rangers practice. The show’s Driven segment features rookie goaltender Cam Talbot talking about what drives him to be successful now that he’s made it to the next level.

Cam Talbot Quotes

“When I got the call I didn’t really believe it, to be honest with you. It was so early in the season and Marty has been so good for so long, so it surprised me a little bit that they would make that change so quickly. But at the same time, I was really excited for the opportunity and I’m just trying to make the best of it.”

“I’ve been working my whole life to get to this level and I’m not going to stop until I’m at the top of my game.”

“You pretty much have to hate to lose more than you love to win. You have to have that mentality. Everyone wants to win, but it’s the guy that hates to lose the most that is going to end up ahead. So that’s my mentality, go out there every night and battle, battle, battle and give the guys a chance to win whenever I can.”

“It still hasn’t really sunk in yet. I’ve been around a few weeks now, but it’s still pretty surreal to me…I’m from a small town and now I’m in one of the biggest markets in the league, playing for one of the best teams in the league, so it’s still an unbelievable feeling. I’m just letting it sink in and enjoying the ride.”

AV on Talbot

“He’s played extremely well for us and he’s given us a chance to win in every game. He seems to be real confident in his abilities. As an organization, you need some of your young players to come in and contribute in a positive way and Cam has certainly done that. He’s been able to help us follow the original plan…considering this is an Olympic year, we’d like to keep Hank’s workload to around 60 games in the regular season so come playoff time he would be fresh. Cam has certainly so far, with the way he’s performing, enabled us to follow that plan.”

Naturally, we will be watching at 6pm (I may be on a bit of a tape delay, but I’ll be watching nonetheless). You should too, and let us know what you think in the comments.

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