Adam Foote, Braeden Cootes & Filip Chytil Recap Vancouver Canucks Opening Night Win vs. Calgary

Well, Adam, uh, what did you like about your group’s performance tonight, particularly in the third period when you separated yourself? Yeah, well, we hung in there. Um, you know, they played last night, obviously, and, um, I felt like they had a little bit more jump early. We were we were playing all right, but it just seemed like we’d never jump early in the game. So, we were able to hang in there. Denver played well, and uh, I felt like when we we needed that second goal to really settle the nerves down a little bit. And once we got that, it seemed like we uh played with a little bit more confidence. What did you make of Philip Heedle tonight? He was good. He He looked fast. Um he didn’t look nervous. He looked uh looked like he wanted the puck on his stick. He wanted to play hockey. What’ you like from your group when you guys are starting to find the back of the net in the third period? Was it just confidence? I think it was confidence. I mean, you know, they’re they’re they’re a hard team to play against. They they’re always you saw last night, they don’t quit. They play a grinding game. Um they wanted to get us after the whistles. That’s the way they do it and slow the game down. I felt like we tried to avoid it, but we got into it a little bit too much in my opinion. Um but that’s what Calgary does to you. And you know, you can’t really blame our players when they’re playing their first real game and um the emotions are all over the place, but um we were able to gather them and not play their style for the most part and play our game. What does a good performance in net do for a team like yours tonight? It’s great. I mean, you know, I thought their goalie had held them in there early, too. And I think Demer was just solid. Um he he looked like there was a wall. There was confidence. He made the first save look um like a routine. So, that was a real good feel for us. Your first NHL win. Congratulations. Oh, thank you. Um were there nerves? How were you feeling as the, you know, I would have liked this to to to not have it as as close, you know, for that long, but I I had a feeling, you know, when you play a team that the back to back at the beginning of the year is probably not going to affect them as much. Maybe as the game went on, it would have, but they they had to jump on us and that’s normal. And um especially a feisty team that Calgary is. Um so that probably made me cautious early and it it it did happen that way, but we we hung in there. Kefir felt like the guy that was kind of the perfect one to get things going. Got the goal, but the way he plays, the energy he brings, you know, was that the key to kind of unlocking your team tonight? Well, he’s going to match your energy for sure. I think it was it was it was a different game. I mean, you’re playing a one- nothing a close We’re up one nothing. It’s a close game. There’s I think eight power play or four eight minutes of power play on each side. Then you’re trying to get momentum and you’re such a tight game and you had a couple young players you’re trying to get out there. So, it was one of it was like a little bit of a chess game early and um you know, guys did their job and sometimes you’re in those nights uh early and you just got to wait till we can open it up and we did. Did you get the puck from the game or was there anything special to commemorate it? Yeah, the guys called me back in and gave me the puck. So, I got my coaches to sign it. So, that’s already it’s already on the shelf. How important was it for you guys to get depth scoring? You know, there’s a lot of talk about you loading up the top line and first four goals they weren’t on the ice for. I think it’s great question. It’s important and uh get Heedle going and um you know, like you said, Sherwood with his energy, it’s nice to see him get rewarded. Uh but I think also to get Best that one, they gave him a little bit too much room, but it was what we practiced. Petey went through and set a pick and Bess had that time to load it. He had a lot of time to load it. when you give a guy a shot like that that much time, you saw what happened. But I really like that that happened for best early early in uh the season. Seemed like midway through the first period, Calgary kind of had the momentum and you had a fourth line shift that hemmed the Flames into their own zone that seemed to kind of shift things for you. Uh what was the contribution from the fourth line beyond just getting the first goal to shift the momentum in your favor? Well, they were hanging on the pucks and it was almost like early once it was close, we kind of we kind of push too much. We, you know, sometimes it’s all right to keep get them tired, especially the way we play so aggressive on the strong side. If we get it east west and go back east west again, that’s where we really turn the game like behind the net and back behind it, get them running a little bit. And at times we were coming in striking too quick. Um maybe forcing a little bit. You saw it happen a couple times too when we had a four or 5-1 lead late and those young guys, you know, you got it in your head, you want a point. It’s the first couple games in your career and and you’re you’re forcing offense and you can’t do that against NHL teams, but we’ll learn from that. It’s the first game, but there was a lot of good things. And Arshet Baines got a lot of attention from the crowd for a penalty killing shift where he blocked a couple of shots. What did you like from him in that moment uh making plays on the penalty kill? I thought he was really good tonight. Um, one shot he blocked was his own fault. He was a position position. So, no, I had to No, but I I loved his game and the other one was great block. But, but the beauty is there’s good hockey players out there and they’re going to do that to you and they turn him around and what I like is he sacrificed himself for the team and I thought he had a great hockey game. I mean, uh, he held in there. We we had to change ups here and there and some matchups with power plays and PKs and guys energy. Just kept telling him, “Hey, you’re playing good. don’t worry about who you’re playing with. And I thought he kept going with a motor. Um he’s going to learn. He’s going to he played so well u as far as his energy and uh his speed and a couple things that are my head there. Our coaches will fix those little things. Um we saw especially in the second half a little bit of the line mixing. Was that more of just trying to find that chemistry or just get that uh spark to get back in the game? Yeah, sometimes it’s just a matchup, right? like the way they played. They play in the mud, they play in the dirt, and sometimes you have to get a little bit heavier on one line maybe um just to so it’s it’s equal on the walls and things like that. So, it’s more just um managing lines are they’re all different and there was a couple matchups I didn’t like, so we just tweaked it a little bit. And your defensive structure, how would you uh rate your I guess whole team’s defensive structure in this game? Um they were good. I thought I thought the structure was good. Um we didn’t give them too much. The mistakes we made, we covered over pretty good um between the dots. I think coming to our landmarks inside really helped us when we did make a mistake leaving our zone or or losing their their their zone. Um we we hustled back and um those things stopped more damage. You talked in pre whatever you talked in preseason about wanting to not insulate Filipino but but get him specific guys to play with to help the way that he plays. What did you think of his linemates tonight? I thought they were good. Um but also a lot of a lot of the practices we’ve had with the rush and and trying to we’re trying to figure out um what he did in the past, right? how he played and what we could tweak um to give him a little bit more space or not put him in dangerous situations, right? Um and he’s done a good job with uh our forward coaches uh you know Scott and Brett and also Kroger and Sadines. Um a lot of our rushes where where sometimes we try to do too much when you’re a talented player and you got to recognize when there’s a wall there and and and you know kick it out to your guys and then go through and you’ll get it back and I think he’s starting to recognize that. And uh anything about Braden Coots in particular tonight? I liked him. I mean, I I felt bad early because of all the PKs and power plays and um didn’t feel like we gave him enough early, but he hung in there. And I what I really like is there’s certain young guys and um they can play the same way with couple shifts or or loaded shifts and that’s impressive. Um and we wanted to give him more and you know he’ll get more. Um but he hung in there and he I didn’t feel uncomfortable putting him out there at all. Um, you know, who know what was going to happen. I think when it went 5-1, I I think Calgary was Calgary was probably done with the physical part, but at three and 4-1, it was still really physical, so I was trying to watch where he was, uh, who he was playing against. Yeah, it was pretty cool. He kind of kind of black out for a second and tried to take it all in, but no, it was awesome. Boys played really good. Got the the first win in a home opener, so couldn’t be asked for anything really any better for you. lap. Was that adrenaline or Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he shot a little too hard, but yeah, it’s uh Yeah. Yeah. I wasn’t thinking too much on that one. Uh the change in intensity from the preseason to the regular season. What did that feel like for you out there? Uh probably just more physical, I would say. Um more intense. Um you know, they got a pretty pretty heavy team over there. Play physical, but um I thought we did a good job and obviously got the win. It seemed like there were times they were trying to maybe get under your skin or get in your head. Is is it just a matter of ignoring that, just putting it behind you? Yeah, just try and play my game. Um try to be confident um and not let that really uh rattle me at all and just, you know, try to control what I can control. Is there an awareness that, you know, as an 18-year-old, there may be some teams that will try to get a physical advantage on you there? For sure. I mean, they know it’s my first game and I’m a young guy, so I can imagine why, but um yeah, no, just like I said, just playing my game. I know you experienced preseason, but what was it like out there in that packed Rogers Arena tonight? Yeah, it was for sure different. It was awesome. It’s something that I I’ll never uh forget and uh yeah, it was pretty cool. You like most of the team? Um I think we just stuck with it. Um you know, there’s a lot of power play, penalty kill. Um yeah, we just kept going. didn’t go off the rails at all and just played our game and obviously it uh it worked out. What’s the biggest takeway for you? Just getting this NHL game out of the way. What’s the big thing that kind of sticks out here? Um yeah, just use it as experience. Just know what it’s like. Um you know, next you know, if I play next game, I’ll be more comfortable and um you know, can play even better hopefully. Um but yeah, just use it as experience and uh keep trying to learn from everything. when Pety went down the tunnel and you get the tap on the shoulder to go out with Besser and D breast, what’s going through your mind in that moment? Um, yeah, just trying to do my just play my game, do my best. Obviously, it’s uh never want to see Peter go down like that. I’m I’m glad that he’s okay, obviously. Um, yeah, just go out there and, you know, try to win the draw and just go from there. Did you have like during the game at all one of those moments where you’re like, I’m here in the NHL finally? Um, probably the national anthem. um or even like coming out when they called my name and got a nice cheer which was pretty cool. Um yeah, I’d say the anthem and those first couple shifts. Uh just trying to you know just play simple and play hard. You ever gotten the chance from the crowd before like Yeah, that’s uh that’s a big one in Seattle. That’s always uh what they do when they uh opening uh night lineup there as well. So uh I’m pretty used to it. You got a few things from the fans today. What can you say about the the Vancouver fans just experiencing that for the first time with like the entry and everything today? Yeah, they’re awesome. They’re so passionate. They’re um for sure like the best fans in the league, honestly. That’s uh it’s a pretty cool building to play in and um a ton of support. So, uh couldn’t be uh more thankful for that. Family must be pretty happy to go to Calgary. Yeah. No. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, they’re uh never want to see them win. For sure. Um Yeah. No, but I’m sure they uh they enjoy the experience. my younger brother probably thought it was really cool. And um yeah, now that you’ve had a couple minutes to kind of decompress from your first game, what’s going through your mind uh right now? Um yeah, just try to learn from it, try to be better. Um you know, be better the next game, be more comfortable, hold on to, you know, pucks maybe a little longer, make make more plays, and um yeah, just try to be gain more confidence each game. Yeah, for me for a for a team it’s uh yeah, it’s a big win. It’s always nice to win the first game, but we have many more ahead of us. So, yeah, uh we have to we have to be happy until midnight and then we have practice tomorrow. So, uh it’s another day. There’s been so much talk about the the center depth on this team. Was it nice to kind of make that kind of a statement for yourself? No, I I I don’t care about it, honestly. I I just want to enjoy my game and and what people saying outside I I’m not paying attention to that. Just I let people I let people tell you what they want. Uh I will just do my things on the ice and I will try to do my best to be best version of myself and and helping the team as much as I can. How about Arsh’s pass on your breakway just to perfectly? Yeah, it was great great pass and uh I’m very happy for him. He played he had a good training camp. He played very well tonight as well. So yeah, uh that was nice pass from him. How did you read that? That was the moment to sort of go for a break away jump off there. That’s a tough question. I just just Yeah, it’s in in that game in that moment you just uh go uh don’t overthink it. Just uh that was the that was the chance. I saw that it it landed the chat landed on his tape. So I was in a speed. So, I was keep skating and and uh yeah, he he found me and uh yeah, it was a nice pass. What’s the key to being an NHL? You know, he’s been working his way through a fulltime. He looks like a full-timer tonight. What’s what’s the key to his game? What makes him successful? Yeah, he’s very fast player. He can play physical game. Uh he’s got a lot of skill as well. So, uh yeah, he made very nice plays today. He was he was uh great in this game. I always said he was great in a in a camp as well and and he deserved that spot and yeah, we have still a lot of work ahead of us as a line. So, this was a good start for all for all of us, but yeah, we have to keep going. You were telling us through uh preseason that you had another level. We haven’t got kind of got there yet. Did you hit that level tonight or is there still another level for you? Yeah, we spoke about spoke about it together, right? Uh I don’t know. I’m not I’m not looking at that like this. I’m just want to be how I say I want to be the best version of myself coming to the ring every day. Uh work on the details on the ice and uh making myself better player. So uh this was the first game and there’s still room to work on so many things. So uh I said I can be happy until midnight that we won and and tomorrow is another day where we have to work hard. It didn’t look like you were missing much in your game tonight. You said things you still need to work on. What? Yeah, there’s still a lot of things like uh there was still a lot of chances I could score trick. Uh I didn’t. So there’s still some stuff in defensive zone what I have to focus on. So yeah, uh there is still so much room for improvement in in every aspect of the game and that’s that’s why I love it. Uh come into the ring every day and and focus on that. Were you happy with your pace tonight though? Just your production and your pace? Yeah, the pace I Yeah, I think the pace was good. Uh we are set up this year. Uh it actually helps me a lot to my game. Uh we we pick up the pucks very very fast and and it helps me with my game as well. So uh it was a it was a good game overall and and I think it’s it’s great to even for me personally to build on build on this performance. Heat. Heat. [Music]

Watch as Adam Foote, Braeden Cootes & Filip Chytil Recap Vancouver Canucks Opening Night Win vs. Calgary

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