Travis Green Pregame Media vs NYI

Travis Green Pregame Media vs NYI

Coach, just one for me here. Any changes to your uh lineup? No, no changes. Lena single. Yep. Maybe two. After last game, Lena said um the most important part rather than the win is also just sticking to the process. How happy with these uh first five games. Have you been about that process? Uh you know, I think we like a lot of teams and we you want to put a 60-minute game together. Um I don’t think we’ve done it every night. I thought it was closer last game. I think uh much like I said yesterday, our game is building and uh you know hopefully we take another step tonight. We saw Jordan Spence get a lot of ice time playing with a number of different D partners. Um what’s he done to just kind of I guess reclaim that spot after hitting scratch the first two games? Yeah, he’s played well. Uh quite honestly, it’s simple as that. Uh he’s played better than he did in exhibition. Um, you know, I think he we’ve had good conversations. He’d be the first to admit that he probably wasn’t at at his best and uh give him credit. He’s played well. What if if he’s going well, Travis? What’s he doing? Still learning him as a player. Um, you know, I think it’s obvious that he’s got some good offensive instincts. He moves the puck well. Uh, making sure that he’s strong in his own zone is is also part of being a defenseman. and uh making reads, closing plays off, shutting plays down, eliminating guys, being strong at your net, all the things that go into being a defenseman. On the on the other side, Tyler Cleven’s 100th NHL game tonight. Maybe how would you monitor his growth from when you first again, we spoke about Clev couple days ago. He’s growing into a player that we envision. Uh still room to grow, but he’s taken some good steps. Uh you know, to be a when you’re a young defenseman in the league, uh 100 games really isn’t that much. and uh you know from 100 to 200 he’s only going to get better. You’ve used the diamond PK the last year or two. You’re at 55% right now. How much confidence do you have in just the philosophy of your PK? Yeah, I have I mean we talk about it a lot in our room. Uh you know there’s really two systems. You can have a diamond or a traditional. Lot not a lot of teams play the traditional anymore. Uh there’s probably four or five. I I just you know right now we’re sticking with the diamond. Uh we’ve made some mistakes. We haven’t been aggressive enough. We also haven’t done the simple things well enough that result in goals and uh you know it’s a work in progress for sure. It’s like I said yesterday, it’s a hot topic. It’s a hot topic in here. Obviously, if it continues to struggle, how open are you to change? I’m confident that we will continue to improve. On that note, uh Lena said a big penalty kill in the third period and get four or five saves. How how much of a difference does that make when you’re getting such Yeah, it’s huge. Uh you know, you you can look at analytics all day long. Uh the top penalty kill team in the league right now might not be the top team expected goals against. And uh it’s a fine line between a goal going in and and it’s easy to magnify the penalty kill when it’s not going well. But when you watch power plays around the league, there’s good scoring chances that occur. our power play gets a good chance a lot of times on the on the power play and we’ve got to stay confident. We’ve got to stay aggressive. We also got to play smart. Um you know the onus go also goes on to the players where they got to perform and execute as well and it’s a combination of us making adjustments and then us executing those adjustments as well. With like Walmart’s played really well the past couple games. It’s a dense schedule this year. How much are you going to give him kind of a leeway of a couple games if he wants to play? We’re constantly monitoring that scenario. Where his workloads at, how heavy the workload is during the game and uh it’s not something where we sit and say a month ahead of time, these are the games that we’re going to map out. Uh we also don’t do it one game at a time either. We have a plan. Uh but that plan can also change. With the day off yesterday, how do you ensure the team starts with some focus and let the energy again? Uh these guys are professionals. um they need to be ready to play. Uh just cuz you had a day off yesterday, that part of that process starts yesterday and making sure that you’re getting your body ready to play and taking care of it and come to the rink ready to play. I mean, it’s going to be a lot of days like this where you have days off before a game this year. Uh you look at the schedule, it’s very condensed. Uh practice time is going to be minimal. Uh there’s going to be certain times where you can practice, but there’s also going to be certain times where you have to take a day off. And uh you know, we’ve spent a lot of time or and it’s not just us, a lot of teams during training camp where you’re really showing a lot of video and uh there’s going to be times where you have to give your team not only a physical break, but a mental break as well. What’s that challenge just like as a coach when you don’t have a lot of practice time? Yeah, it’s I mean it is what it is. I say it to you guys a lot. You can’t overthink the things you can’t control, but you know, it might be tiny adjustments in morning skates where you’re working on things that you wouldn’t normally work on. And we’ll probably see a little bit of that this year as well. What if you thought of just the Shabban Jensen pairs? Could be better. Yep. Uh I look at the analytics too. Is that something with just Jensen coming off an injury that you want to Yeah. You know, I first of all, I’m not going to sit and say that it’s one or one thing or another. I think they both can are capable of playing better. They’ve shown it in the past. Uh Jens is healthy. Um they can play better. It was the New York Islanders that drafted you in the second round back in 1989. Yeah. What um what just fond memories do you have of starting your NHL career with that organization? Lots. Yeah, seems like a long time ago, but uh certain things in your life you never forget. Um obviously a lot of fond memories. Uh team I broke in with I owe them a lot with the organization a lot. Uh had a lot of good memories. Met a lot of good people that helped me along the way. And uh you know it’s still always a special game whenever I play the Islanders. Was there somebody specific with the organization that gave you advice that you still think of to this day? You know, Butch Goring, I had I had Butch and the Miners. Um you know, he he helped me along the way a lot. Al Arbor helped me a lot. Thorne Henning, a lot of people in that organization.

Hear from Head Coach Travis Green ahead of the Sens game against the New York Islanders at the Canadian Tire Centre.