Tonight’s Game
- Played a little fast and their breakouts were better
- Had intensity from everyone
- Grinded out a win and hopefully gives them confidence
- Have to make sure they push back
- When protecting a lead, don’t back up in the neutral zone, don’t let the other team skate
- Turned down some shots instead of taking the puck to the net
- Sometimes they defer and throw the pucks around; saw better aspects of that today
Elias Pettersson, Defenceman At Large
- Is a really big fan of the kid
- Not sure how many games he will play but will just get better
- Has swagger
- Goes into piles and blows people up; unafraid to do that
- Stops cycles
- A young defenceman you can really build off
Washington Capitals Goal
- Canucks video guy didn’t believe Lankinen had full possession so they didn’t challenge
- Only saw one angle
Hughes
- Not scared to go to the interior and that’s how he scores goals
- First goal was incredible
Going to the Interior
- Trying to dive into this
- Not sure if it’s a confidence thing
- Coaches have to keep preaching it and practicing it
- Need to really harp this, more than ever
- Last 30-40 games have been interior stuff; going to the net
- Deferring low-to-high too much
- Hopefully can build off Hughes goal
- Not a lot of guys can score that backhand goal, though
Hoglander
- Hoglander came to Tocchet’s office and they had a talk
- Told him to build off his identity
- Need to see this again in St. Louis
- Is getting a little bit better in his own end
- His forecheck is something they desperately need from him
Avoiding a Letdown in the Next Game
- It’s on the coaches and players
- Need to continuously preach the good things
- Remind them they can’t let the foot off the gas
- It’s a confidence thing but is a responsibility to be ready
- Need to want the puck and not shy away from tough situations
Blueger’s Line
- Blueger had a good game; moved his feet
- PDG was good on a forecheck
- That 4th line really helped; was unafraid to use them against the top line
- Thought it was too many men when Lindgren made the save on the empty net
First Two Minutes
- First shift was a tough start but once they held it, saw some guys breath a little bit and responded with good back-to-back shifts
- When they had 2 bad shifts, the 3rd regained their momentum; lately it has snowballed
- Stopped the Capitals' press
Road Trip
- Sometimes you want to be on the road and others you want to be at home
- Wherever they play, need to get some traction
How to Get to the Middle of the Ice
- Need to use your quickness
- If opponent is man-on-man, they will behind you so need the patience to have a guy on your back and take it to the interior
- Need to have some courage
- Don’t panic
Deferring to the Point
- When asked if he feels there’s too much deferring to the pointman “One million percent”
- Have talked about this all year
- Will have a game where they go “wow!” but haven’t been able to sustain it
- Have talked about tweaking their practices; focus on interior offensive stuff for 30 minutes and not even worry about the defence
- On the coaching staff to keep preaching it