We knew coming into this weekend we needed all the points we can get. We tied Manchester and we're trying to creep up on Portland. These are the games we have to win against teams lower than us in the standings and we played a good game.

I knew that we were down by 14 points and my team needed me out there. Halftime, I told them that it was time for me to wake up and go out there and win the game.

Everybody was focussed. We knew we needed at least 5 1/2 points and we gritted it out. This feels good and we'll enjoy the moment, but tomorrow is a new day and we've got to put this behind us and be ready to move on.

Our offense needed to step up and give our defense a breather, go down and put points on the board. And that's what we did.

We kept it simple early, played our cycle game and got to the net. That's our style, and if we don't do it, we're not going to be successful. Now we have to do the same Saturday.

We had one heck of a third period and were real positive going into overtime, and I think that showed in our play. Then we had a goal scored against us, which is a downer. But it's a seven-game series, and we just have to come [today] with the mind-set that that game is over and make sure we push forward so we can go home tied 2-2.