Dylan Strome, Capitals forward

“Obviously a great hockey game. Two teams that are really, really close and in skill and compete level and everything, so unfortunate it didn’t go Canada’s way. Felt like they deserve (better), they played a good game. They were dominating most of the game, it felt like, but it seems like sometimes in those games you miss on some chances, and it goes the other way. One of those games.”

Dylan Cozens, Ottawa Senators forward

“It was an awesome game. It was super high-paced and really fun to watch, you know, a lot of intensity. Obviously really happy for our two teammates here, ‘Chucky’ (Brady Tkachuk) and ‘Sandy’ (Jake Sanderson), they’re great players, they deserve it. It was an exciting game. I was excited and a little nervous, I don’t know, I haven’t really felt like that during a hockey game before, but you know, it’s just awesome to kind of take a step back and be a fan, sort of, and just watch two great teams go at it.”

Bryan Rust, Pittsburgh Penguins forward

“I think every player in that situation, but especially (Crosby), wants to play in the game. But to know he wasn’t going to be able to help his team to the best of his ability or even to an ability that he thinks was acceptable, I think shows a lot of self-awareness and it’s an extremely high character play.”

Kris Letang, Penguins defenseman

“I’m pretty sure (Crosby) tried everything to play that game. At the end of the day, if he thinks it’s not going to help, he’s going to leave a spot for a guy that’s healthy and try to help the team. So, it’s selfless. It’s a guy that worries more about winning [more than] his self-image or anything like that.”

Dan Muse, Penguins coach

“I thought it was just an amazing game. I thought it was an amazing tournament. The No. 1 thing is, I think this was great for our game. Then for USA Hockey, both on the men’s end and the women’s side, obviously it’s just a massive accomplishment. … The game just continues to grow in this country, it continues to get better. I think the hope is all the young fans or young kids who are watching a game like that, maybe that kind of inspires them a little bit and gets them even more excited about our game, grows even more passion for it.”

Erik Gudbranson, Blue Jackets defenseman

“A-plus move, very classy move by USA Hockey to bring (the family of late Columbus forward Johnny Gaudreau) over there. Goes to show, again, how important Johnny was to the game of hockey, to us, to the Calgary Flames and people around the world. He would have been on that team too. As a Canadian, I would have been losing my marbles watching him skate around with the puck. Yeah, we miss him very dearly.”

Zach Bogosian, Wild defenseman

“It dates back to the 4 Nations with that game, and rolling over to this year and the Olympics, there’s probably a lot of people watching hockey that don’t normally tune in. Continue to grow the game that we all love and appreciate. Hopefully it just keeps climbing higher and higher and higher in people’s sports events to watch, because it’s a beautiful game. You saw it today. It was a little bit of everything in that game, and you can take all that right from hockey into life. It’s awesome to see.”

Jeff Blashill, Blackhawks coach

“It was great for hockey. It was an incredible game. Really happy for so many people in USA Hockey, (executive director) Pat Kelleher, (assistant executive director of hockey operations) John Vanbiesbrouck, and so many people who work in Colorado Springs and throughout the country. If you think about it, the work they’ve put in over the years has allowed us as a country to at least be basically on par with Canada, so when you win a gold, it’s not a miracle. So many of those people deserve so much credit. And then happy for the coaching staff, the players. Dylan Larkin‘s a good friend of mine, I talked to him via text a little bit the last couple of days and I know he was excited about this chance. And Connor Hellebuyck, he played unreal. On the other side of it, it’s a hard game to lose. Canada played great. ‘Coop’s’ (coach Jon Cooper) a real special friend of mine, so it’s a hard game to lose, for sure, but great for hockey.”

NHL.com senior writer Tom Gulitti, staff writer Tracey Myers, deputy managing editor Adam Kimelman and independent correspondents Wes Crosby, Craig Merz, Jessi Pierce, Darren Brown, Gerry Moddejonge, Zoe Pierce and George Richards contributed to this report.