Travis Green Media Availability – Apr. 27

Travis Green Media Availability – Apr. 27

Well, coach, if we can, uh, can you just start with the importance of today in a reset day where there’s treatment and just a mental and physical, uh, break from everything? Yeah, it’s important for sure. We talked to our team about it. I don’t know if we touched on it or not in here last night. I know Brady did. So, it is important to get your mind off things. With regards to special teams, that was an area you guys were really tight in last night. Was there a detail you filmed you cleaned up on that or was it just uh the luck of the draw? Well, there’s lots of little details that happen throughout a series and you’re adjusting all the time. So, I thought our penalty kill and our power play did a good job. What did you know about Tyler Cleven uh when you took the job as head coach of the Suns? He was a good young defenseman coming into the league. Uh again, talked about Clev last night. He’s developed a lot over the course of the season and uh he’s going to be a good good defenseman for a while in the league. Uh players in in situations like what you guys are in right now where you’re down three over the course of history when it happens, they try to take these games one game at a time to try to get it back to seven. In your role as head coach, what’s the key to ensuring that guys continue that focus and don’t go a game ahead and think, “Oh man, let’s get it to six or we’re going to make it go to seven.” I think you just answered it. Just to make sure we talk about it openly. It’s one game at a time right now. Everyone knows that. Everyone’s going to tell them that it’s not that complicated. Worry about the next game. Do you think if you could like if you achieve the goal of winning the la last game, do you think if you could win the next game then maybe you can plant a seed of doubt? You’d have to ask them that. I’m worried about us winning the next game. Alex the lines a little bit the top you know your top six putting cousins up with Kachchuck and Drew and down with B and Zin I just curious about that process like what your thought process was and I know you flipped them back and forth throughout the game but what kind of made you decide to do that? Uh there’s certain things that uh I do when it comes to changing lines. I’m not obviously not going to say why. Uh but there are certain moments in the game that I feel like we need to make a change. Whether it’s a defensive zone faceoff, I feel comfortable uh with any all six of those guys playing together. I put DP up there as well. Uh you know, whether it’s a matchup faceoff or how we’re playing during the game. I’m just curious. You guys are leading the playoffs right now in hits. It seems like that’s been a focus for you. How much do you think that can kind of take that can be an advantage for you as the series progresses? Well, it’s a big part of the playoffs. Uh it’s no secret that the hit totals are higher. I think I don’t know where we were in the season for hits, but I would guess relatively high, so it’s not surprising. Uh Toronto’s got a skilled team. They’re probably hitting more than they did in the regular season as well. That’s just part of playoff hockey. Um, you mentioned last night there’s so many firsts that are happening because so many of these players are experiencing playoffs for the first time. For you, how rewarding is it watching just the self-growth of each player from game to game, maybe even period to period? It is. Uh, it’s not surprising. That’s just part of playoff hockey. uh until you play in them, you know, you can you can be told. It’s like a lot of things in life. You can be told about things, but until you go through them, uh you don’t really get it until until you do. And uh I think that’s what we’re seeing with our group. Before playoffs, David Pon mentioned it’s uh you know, there’s a a matter of guiding them, but also they just have to write their own story. How do you play with that balance of giving them certain advice, but then also kind of letting them learn things on their own? Well, I think that’s just part of coaching. You talk about, you know, things that we need to do better, things that we need need to do well. Um, and I think structurally or technically there are certain things that they’re used to, but the emotional part of the game is uh is different and there’s a lot of highs and lows and staying even killed is important. And how much belief are you sensing from the group just in one game at a time uh given the fact that you guys got a win last night? Yeah, I’m sensing that our team feels good that they won. I mean, they should. Uh, we’ve had three overtime games in a row. Uh, that’s emotional. That’s emotional for both teams. Um, you feel a lot better when you win than when you lose. And, uh, you know, part of coaching is getting your team ready to play the next game, whether you win or lose. Coach, what did you see from your team’s game from game one to game two in Toronto? Sorry. Did you Was there a discernable difference in how your team played from game one to game two? Just a comfort level perhaps change? Um um I mean it feels like a while ago, but yeah, I thought game one we were looking back. I thought we were a little nervous in game one. Like I said, game two we weren’t as nervous. When you guys entered the playoffs, you guys openly embraced the underdog label. How has that influenced your preparation? Not so much your routine, which you’ve said that you kind of keep the same as you in the regular season, but how has that affected your mental approach to this series? Well, we I mean, we are the underdog. I mean, everyone knows that. Uh, so I don’t think it’s been a hasn’t been a big part of what we’ve talked to our team about. Um, everyone’s telling them they are. and uh you know but we also have belief within our room that you know we we can beat anyone that in the league and uh at the end of the day you got to go out and play the games. Sorry just one more for me. We know at different points of the regular season where Lena Smark will have stretches where he doesn’t play as well but he bounces back. What have you seen from his teammates and how they rally around him when things don’t go well and they try to prop him back up? Yeah, I I don’t they’re not treating Lenus like any other player. Uh he’s he’s played well, you know, he hasn’t we haven’t given up a lot of shots. I talked about it this again the other day as well and Lenus last night. Uh you know, he’s he’s a really good goalie and he’s the first game maybe he didn’t like his game as much and he’s the next two he was fine. Last night he made some big saves down the stretch which isn’t surprising at all to us. He’s uh he’s a great goalie and he’s he’s going to be great for us next game. Alex, um it seemed like in you know, you look at the analytics like in the last game you guys were able to get generate higher quality chances. What What do you think you guys did better in game four that maybe you weren’t able to earlier in the season in the series? Yeah, I think we’ve generated a fair amount. You know, there playoffs are tight checking. Uh, you know, I feel like I’m repeating myself a little bit. We We’ve generated enough chances to score. We just haven’t put the puck in the net. And you got to give the other team credit as well. They’re they’re playing, too. They’re playing the game to win and they’re blocking shots. And we’ve got to stick with it. And you know, it’s not that we’re not going to change things, but there are certain things that you do different throughout a series from game to game that you think you can make a subtle change to help and and that’s going to be no different right now. How much has it been for you to be able to to roll out Sanderson and Z a lot in the series, especially matched up against the Matthewine? Like how much of an advantage is that for you as a coach? I think every team in the playoffs has defenseman that they put out against good players. It’s uh I mean that’s just that’s part of the game that you don’t usually make usually not playing at this time of year if you don’t have defenseman that can play against other teams good players. They’ve got they’ve got their share of guys that can play as well. Coach DP of course gets the goal in the third period. Just what did you see in general maybe from that fourth line? Big shifts. Like their game. Yeah, I’ve liked their game. energy, smart, playing hard. Um, after game three, you mentioned that game three maybe wasn’t your favorite performance, but you still like the way you guys played. Where would you rank game four in terms of this series and your guys’ performance? I liked it a lot. I like that we won. And then one more thing just on Jake Anderson, everybody’s been talking about just how much he’s grown. A lot of the coordination focus on how he’s improved. Um, for a player that’s still so young, do you know how much do you see where you see a season? It’s a tough question. He’s already a really good defenseman in the league. Um, I don’t know. I honestly I don’t know what his what his ceiling is. Uh, I know that he’s he’s not there yet and he’s very committed player uh to becoming better, much like a lot of our players. So, uh, we touched on that last night with all our players and and you know, that’s the exciting part about our team is they they haven’t reached their their peak as players yet. Maybe to wrap, do you have enough uh memory left to recall your double overtime win about 22 years ago? Uh, yeah, there’s not many goals that I do remember. Um that one I do and uh you know you always those type of goals you remember uh you know they’re they’re memories that stick with you a long time. Is it is it the actual goal that you remember or or is that is remembered or is it the celebration uh with teammates? Probably probably more the celebration uh you know but if anything I learned it was you need to get over it fast and uh get ready to play the next game because we lost the next night.

Hear from Head Coach Travis Green as he addressed the media from Canadian Tire Centre.