Oct. 2: Postgame Interviews

Oct. 2: Postgame Interviews

on top of your game, what’s going on out there. Um, just in the moment. Um, you know, I think what we strive to be in um me personally and uh yeah, it was fun fun tonight just in that atmosphere and um at home we were scoring goals, playing hard and um nice to get a victory. Yeah. Jordan, as many as many years you’ve been in the league, is it just you know your routine, you know how to get ready for the season? You’re just kind of going through that kind of at your own pace. Yeah, I feel good right now and um you know it is just preseason and there’s a a long way to go. Um but uh it’s you know I’m just trying to focus on my process and that’s where my head’s at. What have you done? You just same process or have you done anything different? Cuz Monty was just talking about it’s been a part of three camps. He feels like maybe this might be your best one so far. Um I think just from experience you gain wisdom and and like you were saying J.R. just you know what you need. you figure out what you need to feel good and um you know you want to contribute in any way you can to be part of a a strong group and um it’s exciting to be a part of this group right now and you know we got some work to do on just tightening things up and um but it’s an exciting time and and yeah I think it’s been a good camp and just competitive quality practices and um you know now we’re we’re um shortening the the numbers here and and um it’s just getting tighter and tighter every day knowing what kind of lineup you guys had tonight’s had a pretty good result for you guys. Yeah. Um you know, we did a lot of good things at the start, kind of got away from it and then back to it a little bit. So, um yeah, it’s nice to get a get a win on the board and um feel like we played a better game and and you know, trended in the right direction. What were some of the things you liked? Uh I think we were, you know, when we were dumping it in and when we were possessing the puck, we created a lot of success and turnovers and um had good sticks. Um, we still got a little lazy in the Dzone and and neutral zone, but um, you know, overall uh, we’ll take it. I think a lot of us think of uh, Snugroot as a shooter, but what can you tell us about his passing? Yeah, I mean, he’s a he’s a great player. Uh, obviously he’s got a great shot, but um, you know, when he has the puck on his stick, he likes to make moves, he likes to pass, he sees the ice really well. So, um, yeah, he’s, you know, there’s not not too many just shooters anymore. There’s, you know, he’s he can do a lot of good things out there. Robert, you’ve played with uh Bennington quite a bit. When when he’s locked in and he he looks like he’s one of the best. What’s going on out there? What do you feel like he’s doing? Yeah, I think just, you know, whole team in front of him just feels comfortable. Um, you know, you you know, you know, with him and Benner, uh, or sorry, Binner and Hope, um, you know, how good our goalies are and it gives us a lot of confidence, um, you know, to to make more aggressive plays and, um, to try and possess the puck more and and play, uh, play an aggressive game. So, um, especially handling the puck. You know, a lot of times there’s a couple times we’re hemmed in the zone there, their D rim it down and, um, even though they’re in the full they have full control in the ozone, he’s cutting it off and making a play so guys can change. So, uh, so many things he does well. What do you think about your power play unit and why do you think it can be successful? Yeah. Um, you know, we found success especially in the second half of the year. Um, you know, we we were sloppy tonight and and last game, but um, keep getting some more reps. We haven’t had too many reps, um, especially in games. So, um, just calming down a little bit. Um, taking a little bit more time and, uh, I think we’ll be fine. Talk this morning about feeling good after this game. Is feel good after that one now? Uh yes, in a lot of ways there was a lot parts of our game, the way we played north, the way we stretched the ice, transitioned offensively. Didn’t like our transition defensively as much. We gave too many oddman rushes that thankfully our defenseman handled well and Ber made a lot of big time saves. Um again, we’re looking to continue to build towards 60 minutes of good hockey and I thought that that was about 45 minutes of it. watching Bennington play, when you see him at his best, what are you what are you seeing from him? Just someone really calm, someone that’s um fights to find pucks through traffic. There’s a lot of traffic shots tonight that he made look easy that are not easy. Um and then just the way he’s his ability to play the puck and slow everything down so we can have easy breakouts. Has this been from the start of camp? Have you seen this from him? I you know I guess I’ve been around three camps and I think this is the best I’ve seen him look in camp. Why so? I he just looks supremely confident, looks calm, looks he every game he’s played in, he’s had to make numerous good real high-end saves and he’s made them look easy. Kind of similar question, but is it nice to know that you have a guy like him, you don’t have to worry about it. He just knows his preparation. He gets ready for the season. Yeah, I mean, uh, David Alexander does an incredible job with our goalenders. I mean, it doesn’t matter if it’s Benn Ber and Nets or Hope. I feel really confident that we’re going to get a great effort and give us an opportunity to win a hockey game. When players are, you know, they they always tend to block out the outside noise. But when you hear the same names from Rowling’s, you know, at the top, and sometimes maybe you don’t hear his name, do you think sometimes maybe he takes that to heart a little bit, too, that, hey, I’m pretty darn good myself? Well, he’s a fierce competitor. I mean, if the Four Nations in the Stanley Cup run doesn’t convince people that he’s one of the elite goalenders in the NHL, well, so be it. We know internally that he is. Did he see a polish on the bench in the third period, something happened to Yeah, he got that stick at the at the penalty box area there and he just had to go in. He has stitches. I’m hoping there’s no dental work needed. What’s your observation of that Thomas line? Um really explosive tonight, dynamic. Um still a little too careless with the puck, trying to force too much. Some of that’s dictated by the score, but we’re looking to get the good habits that are winning hockey. And unfortunately, the score when it gets to four, five, six nothing, your players tend to fall, you know, they take the foot off the the gas pedal, so to speak. And that’s something we want to build into our game. Doesn’t matter the score. We just keep playing Blues hockey. Talking about stretching the ice. Is Joseph getting out on his goal? Walker getting out on suck whis. We talking about the kind of the wingers going quickly. Yeah, I mean as soon as we know we’re going to get possession, we just whether we can do examples like that which are, you know, like the Kyu one two is a a fortunate breakaway just like the the Joseph goal. Uh but that being said, it’s more just having an I a five guys go mentality of we’re sprinting north when we get possession. Sometimes it’s within your own zone, but the other team knows that if they don’t get back, we’re going to have numbers and we’re going to have speed coming at you. What have you learned as camp has gone on here about Logan May that you maybe didn’t know at the start of camp? Um, you know, I I don’t know. I think I’ve talked about a lot like I was really pleased with his ability to how he skates, how he makes plays. He’s a very confident offensive defenseman and I didn’t know how well he defended with a stick, you know. Um we I did see tonight areas that we’re going to have to continue to work with him, but you expect that. I hadn’t seen that before, but you know, it’s going to happen at times where you start to notice them as you start to watch your players more and more and you get used to them, you start to see obviously the positives. There’s so many positives with him, but there’s areas that, you know, he is a young defenseman. He’s going to play his first year full-time in the league and there’s going to be areas that we have to work with him and we’re going to see them as they develop because he was a dominant player in the American League and when we know he’s going to be that in the NHL, but there’s going to be growing pains to get there just like any player. And a follow up on him, like big picture, you feel like he’s ready for it? I mean, you’re pleased with what you’ve seen the past few weeks. He’s ready. Yeah, he’s ready to be an NHL player. Maybe on on the Haber school. I mean, he fills the the middle lane. Is that kind of what you want out of your defense maybe joining that? Yeah, I love the way he jumped there. You know, I think that’s kind of a it’s a really good neutral zone counterplay that we make. Um, and we want our weak side jumping up inside the dots, not outside the dots, cuz then when you get the puck, you’re a threat and then it opens up people on the outside.

Jordan Binnington, Robert Thomas and Head Coach Jim Montgomery speak to the media after a 7-1 preseason win over Ottawa on October 2, 2025.