I thought Tristan was clearly your best player this evening. Even though he gave up a couple in the third period, you had to be awfully impressed with what you saw from him: Yeah, absolutely. And I think you see the start of the game, the saves that he made just to really, honestly, keep us in it. Then going out there and Koivy getting the goal started to get us a little bit of momentum. But yeah, we got to clean up some areas there. There's just too much coming out. Big saves. But some of those, they're preventable.
A lot to unpack in that game – just how do you categorize or how do you feel about the win?: I mean, points are hard to come by. So, I think it's take the points. But I think you also have to be honest about the things that I mentioned, the things that we need to clean up. We can’t be giving up that many chances. Credit to the guys for you stick with it, you find a way, and that's important. But I think the group's been pretty honest all year. I think they have been. And I think it'll be the same. Day off (Friday) and then when we get back at it, being able to look at the game as a whole and look at those areas that we do need to improve on and make sure that we're addressing.
What were you able to do between the first and second period, because you did cut down the odd man breaks for first seven, eight minutes of the second period?: Yeah, I thought it was better. There was so much speed coming through the neutral zone there in the first period. So, there was a couple little things that we wanted to adjust, which I think it slowed them down a little bit. I think a couple times they were still able to get in, but it wasn't with the same amount of speed coming at us. And so, I liked the adjustment. Then from there, too, the special teams is another game where things just got disjointed 5-on-5 with a lot with the special teams. Those games, especially for guys that maybe aren't involved on the one side of it, can become tough. But you have to find a way to stay engaged and stay ready, especially when it's multiple kills in a row, or multiple situations where you're not going out there. It did slow them down a little bit, some of those things we looked at. And I think just in general, guys I think getting up and getting the gaps was a little bit better.
What can you say about the job the penalty killers did against after going over the boards I think it was six times total in the game?: We can't be killing that much... That's two games in a row now. That's a lot. That's something we need to limit how many times we're going over the boards to kill penalties. It was a lot. The guys did a good job throughout. Jars came up with some huge saves. But again, that's a lot.
What was your viewpoint or the rule at the end? Like, have you ever seen anything like that before? Were you guys aware of it on the bench? What was the sort of discussion?: Yeah, we were aware. Some of those ones are a little bit tougher to tell, but our guys do a great job there just kind of checking everything. They got to check the goal, they got to check the entry, and then anything else there that possibly could have been missed. And so, we had that right. That's a league-initiated review based on the time. We felt based on what we saw, we thought the call was going to go our way. Seen it kind of go both ways. You go through and you try to look at the calls in the past, too, just to have an idea.
What was the feeling seeing Ville get his first goal, something he's been looking for a while?: It's been coming, you know? You knew it was a matter of time. I mean, he's had so many chances. He's had some really good looks, he's put himself in good areas. And so, you knew it was a matter of time. But I think that's a huge weight off of his shoulders. And I think this will also allow him just to focus on playing, and you're not thinking about, when am I gonna get the first one? Like, it's done, you got it. And now, keep putting yourself in areas there where you're going to get the types of chances he's been getting.
Just what is it about this team that allows you guys to win these types of games? I mean, there's been a few this season?: Yeah, there has been. I mean, winning isn't easy. There's still a lot that you have to do in order to get it, and a game like this there, where I think we can still limit some of the types of chances... we can limit a little bit in terms of the back-and-forth momentum swings, and some of those are a little bit more controllable by us. There's going to be some things that we're definitely going to take away from this game. That's a really good team. It's one of the top teams in the league for a reason. And so, when you play these games, you want to be taking (away), ‘okay, against a team like this, there are some things that came up tonight that clearly we need to work on.’ And maybe it's even more apparent after playing a game like that. And so, pick up the two points, move on, rest, get a practice day to get better, and then we turn the page.
