Sharks Locker Room: Meier Gets Real About Sharks-Bruins Gap, Quinn Doesn’t Want To Keep Talking Labanc Scratch

Going into tonight, the Boston Bruins (76) had double the points of the San Jose Sharks (37).

So it was no surprise that the Bruins shut out the Sharks 4-0 tonight at TD Garden.

Timo Meier explained why he fought Brandon Carlo and got real about the gap between San Jose and Boston. David Quinn gave Matt Benning and Nikolai Knyzhov updates, and didn’t really want to keep talking about Kevin Labanc’s scratches.

See Timo Meier’s interview here

Timo Meier, on how fight with Brandon Carlo started:

It was a battle and he was holding onto my stick. I tried to get my stick loose and just skate away. I saw him coming after me. He had his gloves dropped, so there was no way, I just had to get in a fight with him.

Meier, on if he was trying to fire up the San Jose Sharks after a tough loss yesterday to the Columbus Blue Jackets:

Yeah, coming into this game, we had to be fully committed, give everything we got. Obviously, you try to lead by example there.

Meier, on if he didn’t like Carlo’s hit on Tomas Hertl and if that was a cause for the fight:

No, it was more of a scrum there. He was trying to get my stick loose. He wasn’t too happy about that, so I had to answer the bell.

Meier, on how he fared against Carlo:

I’m not a small guy. Pretty big boy. So I just tried to defend myself, throw a couple.

Meier, on what makes the Boston Bruins so tough:

They’re roll four lines, they’re physical, they hold onto pucks, they break out well. Kind of all the things we don’t do well. You can tell they’re a playoff team and we’re not. This should be a lesson.

See David Quinn’s interview here

David Quinn, on the San Jose Sharks’ loss:

It’s a really good hockey team. No mystery why they have the record they have. Obviously, we weren’t on our game [in] a lot of areas. Hung around a little bit, but just two goals to get beat one-on-one. Just didn’t really give us, didn’t get much going tonight. I thought they were pretty thorough.

Quinn, on the Meier fight:

Listen, that was a big boy fight. He came ready to play tonight. It’s the first I’ve seen him do it, and he looked pretty good doing it.

Quinn, on if he’ll play Kevin Labanc on Tuesday:

Too early, I haven’t thought much about that at all. Something, we’ll obviously get some time to think about before we play our next game.

Quinn, on what went into the decision to scratch Labanc tonight after the loss yesterday:

We’ve gone through this. I don’t want to keep talking about it. It’s just a decision to give that group another chance.

Quinn, on whether or not Nikolai Knyzhov has been re-assigned to the San Jose Barracuda:

When I left, he was just gonna go practice with them. Maybe there’s been a change since then? I haven’t been updated on that.