POMMER'S BLOG: DOING SOME WORK

I think our last game was a lot better than our first one against the Islanders. We made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes in our first game, didn't play the way we wanted to and turned the puck over a lot. I think the second one was something we have to build off. It's definitely not the start we wanted but we haves four games here at home in a row and we have to make sure that we come off strong.

In the second game, we also didn't really turn the puck over as much and we played a little bit better defensively. It seemed like in our first game we all wanted to do everything on our own. It ended up costing us. Our penalty kill wasn't great and it got better in the second game.

When we play well, we have good puck control and tend to limit our opponent's special teams chances.

In practice this week, we have been working on defensive zone play a lot. That aspect of our game wasn't where we wanted to be and it cost us games. We want to be a tough team to play against in our own zone and make it hard on other teams. It is definitely something we have worked on and will continue to work on.

The season is so long that every break you can get is nice. Obviously, after losing two games in a row, it would have been nice to redeem ourselves right away and not have to wait four days.

But on the other hand, we were able to work on some things this week that we didn't like. I feel that we are ready to play now.

Atlanta is a team that has not won either. Thursday night is going to be two teams that want to get that first win. They are a team that has some guys that can put the puck in the net. An all-around good offensive team.

We just have to make sure that we play well and play our own game. I am sure that everything will come together. We just need to focus on what we've been working on.

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