MORNING SKATE NOTES
- It was an optional morning skate for the Mammoth
- Head coach André Tourigny confirmed defenseman Nick DeSimone will play against his hometown team, the Buffalo Sabres. Olli Määttä remains out
Suffocating Defense
The Mammoth’s defensive effort can be suffocating and eliminate team’s time and space. In fact, Utah is allowing the fewest shots against per game (24) in the NHL. DeSimone and Coach Tourigny discussed what elements make up the team’s strong defensive play.
“Just killing plays early and not letting them get their offense going and just trying to move pucks quick and get out of our zone,” DeSimone shared. “Try to feed our offense. Play in their zone and work them. Break them down. I mean (the) best defense is just playing offense. Try to play our game and get pucks out of our d-zone as fast as we can.”
“Using our speed,” Tourigny explained. “One big strength of our team is speed. So when we play with a lot of speed defensively, we close quickly on (the) puck carrier, we’re very quick on supporting the pressure … I think that helps a lot and puts the opponent in a lot of pressure, a lot of stress to make their decision.”
Shutting Down Opponents Shorthanded
Over the last six games, the Mammoth have killed off all 10 of their penalties. In addition, the team has allowed two or fewer power play chances for their opponents over the last seven games. Coach Tourigny broke down the recent penalty kill success on Wednesday.
“I think we're really stingy on our entries,” Tourigny explained. “We deny the blueline really well. Even if we give some entries, it still triggers our pressure. We maintain pressure and we're really good at doing those things. We've been better on our clear as well, on our share. Our clear under pressure, I think we share the puck a little bit better, in tight and that kills a lot of time on the other side when we can get those clear."
Full 60
As the Mammoth keep pushing to bring their game through the momentum swings through games, being predictable to each other will help the group bring a strong effort for a full 60 minutes.
“As long as we’re predictable to each other and play our game, each and every shift,” DeSimone explained. “Trying to set the next line up for a good shift, whether it’s puck placement or a short shift. (Those) are the kind of things that we’re trying to key in on.”
