🎥 POSTGAME SOUND: Saad, Barbashev, Schmid & Cassidy

🎥 POSTGAME SOUND: Saad, Barbashev, Schmid & Cassidy

Bruce, Danny Webster, Las Vegas Review Journal, the start. Do you have any update on Aiden? Uh, not much. He didn’t come back as you know. So, that’s not good right away. Um, Schmidy did a great job. Uh, we’ll know more tomorrow. It’s a day off actually tomorrow, but we we’ll get news. Um, I’ll be able to give you a lot better, clearer picture Thursday. Um, that’s about all I can say right now. There’s that’s what I was told. they have to do more imaging or whatever they do. Uh it’s only mid-occtober and you’ve talked about trying to get to your game as early, not maybe not early, but to continue to build, but the fact you go in without Mark, you lose Aiden halfway through. Is this a a win against a team like that that you can hang your hat on this early in the season? Yeah, we’re missing like Howy and and Hannneathan, so we’re down some players. So are they. So that that’s a little bit of adversity to go through some point during the year. Looks like we’re going to have a bit of it early. Now, I don’t know what Hilly’s is going to be. He might be like in Calgary, something that he’s right kind of back quickly. I don’t know. But it’s opportunity for other people. In this case, I’d say Brandon Saw had the best opportunity, moved up, and I thought he did a good job tonight. He was around the puck making plays, had some scoring chances, so got a few more touches. So, you know, that that’s a positive. Uh Schmeid has been very good for us. He had one average outing against Boston that every time and and gone in twice now long relief with some wins. Um so I don’t know if he gets a win but a good performance. Um so guys taking advantage of an opportunity. Um it’s that simple. We got good players. We got good depth. It’s getting tested early. Even a guy like Holtz who’s been out like you could use him like we move s up but he basically goes in for Stony. I thought he had one of his better games on the wall against a tough opponent that’s in your face. He was strong on pucks. To me, that means he’s taken a step if he can play that game because when he’s in space, he does a decent job for us and he can create. But it was the board play that we needed to to see improvement and he certainly brought that. Go Paul Willie Jesse. Hi Bruce. Paul Santos NHL.com. Back to Akira. It seems like you know he mentioned that he wants to keep his game simple when he’s coming in in relief like that. like what can what do you kind of tell him before and what do you guys tell what is there any adjustments you make in terms of just give him time to get warm and getting him into the game for the defense and just overall how’s he doing? I didn’t tell him anything but get your stuff on. You’re going in basically right. So I leave it at that. I’m not a you know he he he he’s got to control his game and his technique and all that with how he needs to play. Carolina puts a lot of pucks on the net. So, he’s obviously in for the pre-cout. So, he he he hears that stuff and um you know, and sometimes that’s okay for a goal. You’re getting a lot of action right away. Maybe that’s better. You’re in you’re forced to be into it. But, uh at the end of the day, he’s done it now twice for us this year and been really good. Um, I think that tells me his demeanor is probably okay without having to be a routine oriented guy, even though every goal he is to a certain extent, but he can handle some of that stuff. Um, he’s proven that part of it. So, good for him. I don’t know how it’ll play out going forward, but he was going to play anyway this weekend, whether it was Saturday or Sunday. I’m I can’t even remember right now who we had scheduled. You know what I mean? Like, it’s on our like I’ll talk to Berky, but he was going to play one of the two. Um, and that that’ll be the case. If if Philly’s not ready to go, we’ll have to look at another option. Willie RmIrez for the hockey news. To sort of piggyback off Danny’s question at this point with how y’all played tonight going on the road trip that you’re about to endure, especially Florida and Tampa back to back from a coach’s standpoint, do you look to tweak things? Did they do enough tonight where let’s not mess with it because it worked against a team that was playing well undefeated? How do you now approach tomorrow and Wednesday to get ready for the trip and and look forward to these road games? Well, for us, we’re we’re we’re trying to play our game every night. We’re we’re we’re talk about what, for example, Carolina tonight is very much they’re in your face. You got to take care of the puck. You got to be ready for pressure for a fullcourt press all over the ice. So, that means body position. It means close puck support. So, you’re not going to have a lot of time to handle it. Get your head up, get moving. They’re they’re the complete opposite of passive. So, we talked about that. Uh we didn’t go on the ice yesterday. So, in morning skate, we’re not practicing specific things. We’re reinforcing what we see and hopefully the players take it out on the ice. And that’s I’m saying board work chipping pucks behind them. I’ll look at Doraf Fev’s goal. It’s a twoon two. The deer up in your face. We need to play behind him. We try to play behind a Marner right now. We get a bit of a break cuz the guy half knocks the puck down, but if not, we’re going to win that race. So that’s a little bit of Riley Smith’s penalty. It’s a two-on two. He drives the net, holds, he throws it behind their D, gets hooked. So these are how you play against Carolina. There’s ice available. There’s none in front of them because that’s how they, you know, they pressure you. Uh Florida will be a little bit that way. So we get another taste of it up there. We got Carolina Tuesday. Tampa’s a little bit different system-wise, but they play with a lot of pace. So it’s good for us. It’s going to force us to to get moving. Um tomorrow’s a day a scheduled day off. Wednesday, we’ll we’ll talk a little bit about what Florida doing it and use clips from this game that will probably be very applicable to how we need to play. And I thought we did a good job. We had a lot of chances in front of the net. They’re they’re a pressure team. If you beat one of their guys one-on-one, you probably have a little room to go because the other guys are worried. They’re not in a zone, right, or layers. They’re worried about their own guy. And, you know, we’re able to generate a little bit off that. Um, and that’ll be the case again Florida, but uh we won’t look too far ahead of that uh the trip. Um, just be ready to go cuz we’re playing good teams. Jesse Jesse Granger with the Athletic Pavle scores again tonight. Are there other areas of his game where you feel like he’s leveled up, taken steps in his game outside of the scoring, which has obviously been there. Well, just strong on the puck. He’s he’s harder to get it from in general. I think that’s why one of the reasons he is scoring, he’s able to get into the hang on to some pucks. Tonight was more just and I’d say his pace, I’ll use that goal. He separates, right? He’s been doing a good job. is a little bit quicker this year, but probably something to do with strength. He’s still a young guy and building that part of it. Board work is is good. Everybody can always get better at that from night to night, but he’s he hangs in there. Um yeah, I don’t I I can’t say anything’s gone up to here right now, but just an everyday trustworthy. He’s behind some players at the end. I’d have no problem having Pav out there with the goalie out. He’s got a good stick. He’s good in D zone, but sometimes we get the two center thing going and that like Carly on the wing or hurdle on the wing if someone else is playing, you know, taking a the draw like Jack or the right side. It was going to be sizz, but they called timeout. So, he gets lost a little bit there. Barbie’s been around a little longer, so he, you know, gets some some extra reps there. So, I’d like to get everyone out there to be honest with you, but I I wouldn’t be worried if they got stuck icing it and the goalie got pulled all of a sudden. So, he’s fine in that area, too. So there’s just not a lot of weaknesses in his game. We haven’t used him on the kill. Um but be quite honest, I think he’s got a good enough stick and IQ that he could do that too. But at the end of the day, let’s just be a good 15 to 16 minute a night player. Um you know, keep working on your release. Got got one off tonight. What a hell of a save that was in the power play. He’s buried a lot of those. But um so no, just keep growing. Keep growing your game. Um and I’d say every area has gotten a little bit better. Um, and that’s important for us. That’s, you know, you make strides and it’s going to name for yourself and he’s doing that. Both penalty kills were really good tonight. What did you like about yours? And then what you think was missing from your power play? Uh, execution on the entry for us wasn’t great. We’re a little out of sorts. I think in the Ozone, um, the last power play in the third third period, we tried to pass it all the way in the net. I think we had a couple of chance to shoot the puck. We wanted to make the extra pass. Sometimes that works against Carolina. Um, second period we did have a couple of looks. One went into hurdle in the bumper or was that the first period he was off net? Anyway, we got that shot we wanted. We got the one over to Pav. So, you know, if Pav buries that, we’re one for four. That’s pretty good numbers. And against Carolina, I don’t think you’re ever going to get have four power plays and get like 12 or 14 shots. It’s not how they, you know, you’re going to probably get two or three good looks and, you know, you got to finish on them. Um, and then some of our entries did lead to stuff. Um, but again, I think we we left some shots on the table. Uh, fine. We got a good group out there. They kind of make the play they see and tonight it was more of a pass than a shot. Um, and I think the last part was we tried to reset up top a lot and they’re very that’s how they got their breakaway. They’re very good at pressuring up top. So, you need to reset against them low and we were trying to kind of bang that drum today and I think eventually we did that and that’s how Pav ended up with his chance. Uh, our penalty kill, I thought we did a good job with sticks and seams. They didn’t hit a lot of seams. Um, and we, you know, we blocked some shots and we broke down. Uh, pretty good job by the kill, I thought. And then board battles, we got our clears. A couple, you know, could have got out, but that’s going to happen every night, but I would say we didn’t give them a lot of high dangers with the seam plays that they they’ll sometimes look for. Last one, Danny, you just mentioned, and not a lot of high danger chances from them. How do you feel? Uh they defended well in the slot. You you mentioned that being an emphasis. I thought we did a really good job with that tonight. Um their high danger. I remember they got a breakaway. It was shorty. It was Aaho, right? That was probably their one of their best chances. I don’t remember a lot of bang bang plays in the slot. They got some in there and they got some shots off. A couple were off net. Um but it wasn’t a shot and a rebound in a mad scramble, right? I thought we did a good job getting sticks on them. I think Kulasar blocked one in the slot in the definitely in the second period. Um, we had a bit of a breakdown. Was probably the loose, not the loosest, but the most trouble we look like we’re in. We got the block eventually. So, I would say we did a really good job of that by blocking shots and then um not letting them in there. So, one-on- ones, you got to be able to play your one-on- ones. You don’t get beat off the wall. Thank you, Bruce. Biggest key to your line generating chances all night. I think being aggressive. You know, when we got in on the for check, we created turnovers and then uh made some plays from there. So, I think just being on the hunt. What was your reaction to Ivan Barbashad’s goal? That was a beautiful goal. I mean, uh I wasn’t sure if he tripped him at first or he just fell. So, I was happy. Obviously, it’s nice for him to finish it off. What kind of confidence does, uh, this win have you guys just going into, um, your first road trip? Oh, it’s huge. I mean, we’re going to be good at home. That’s a great hockey team. So, I think we played a pretty good 60-minute hockey game. And anytime you get wins like that, you’re going to keep building on it. for a goalie to come in cold. How hard is it for him and also for you guys to kind of be aware of that situation to kind of tighten up a little bit because he’s coming in cold before he gets in the game? Yeah, I’m sure it’s uh tougher for him. I think for us it’s just business as usual playing well, but obviously he played a really good game coming in like that. So, we we’re happy that he didn’t. How tighting was that game from start to finish and the physicality? Yeah. Yeah, they uh they do a good job of swarming all over the ice. So, we knew we’re not going to have a lot of time and space and um it’s just capitalizing our chances when you get them because you don’t get too many. Does it feel rare that that level of hockey October? Yeah. Yeah, they uh I mean they play a playoff style I feel like all year long. So, uh it’s a tight checking game and that’s a good hockey team. Stone goes from week to week this morning to IR by puck drop. Lines are shifting around. How did that feel as far as the the change? Yeah, it’s I mean it’s tough. It’s a tough loss. Obviously, he’s a great hockey player. Um, but at the same time for us, it’s just next man up and do your job and try to try to fill that hole. So, it’s going to give other guys opportunities and you just got to step up to the plate. How they how the chemistry feel tonight? I think pretty good overall. I mean, uh, like I said, we played a pretty good hockey game. It’s a good team. Um, guys are shuffled around, but at the same time, I think we our details were there. What about your game makes it able to go to any line? You can play on the fourth, you can play on the third, you play on the second, you nap. What about your game really fits on any line on this team? I think just sticking to my game plan, being a good for checker, being around the net. Um, we have a lot of good players on all four lines here. So, I feel like regardless of who you’re with, you’re going to have success and um yeah, just doing that. Got that goal right there for you. Uh, you know, just he just fell. Uh, you know, kind of lucky for me. Uh, you know, just took advantage of it, you know, at the the big moment in the game. So, what makes Brandon so good on basically going on line and playing with you guys? How did that feel tonight? I mean, he’s he’s really simple to play with. You know, he works hard. Uh plays the right way. Uh you know, he’s he’s not really trying to force, you know, some some hope plays and um that’s why he, you know, he was he was a good fit for us. Uh you know, especially playing against Carolina. U you know, really good team that plays men and um you know, there’s not enough space and you know, just put the puck behind them. Uh you know, when we had a chance to to make some plays, we we you know, we did it. Did this feel like a complete game for you guys as or as close as you’ve gotten? I mean, there’s always going to be some stuff that, you know, we can fix and do better, but uh today game, you know, they haven’t lost two. And, um, you know, I I thought we did a really good job, uh, defensively. Uh, you know, huge for Akira, uh, stepping in after he left the game. Uh, you know, made a lot of good saves and, um, you know, just, uh, complete game from from everybody. You always hear the phrase the identity of a team with Stone going out now being on IR, the team that you just played and beat. Um, and the way that you beat them, is is that an identifying type of performance and and a good way to win? Yeah, I mean, obviously, uh, when you lose your captain, um, you know, it’s always tough and, uh, you know, with with every single player, it’s, you know, it’s going to be the same thing. But uh you know we got a lot of good uh experienced guys on the team and um you know they’ve been in the league for for a long time and uh you know good character um just you know gave it all out today. So any warm-up and you know on a pinch like that it’s hard and easy at the same time a little bit um you just jump in there. You don’t really overthink it too much like you might do when you’re starting. So uh yeah you just you just kind of play and see how it goes. Did just doing that in Calgary make it easier tonight? I don’t know. I always like going in um even last season or couple years before that. I always felt comfortable going into games just because I don’t overthink it. Do you do like when you’re preparing pregame? Is are you just always thinking that tonight could be the night that I go in so I have to prepare for it? No, I I probably more think the opposite. I don’t want to go in. Obviously, oh, they do great. Um but but if I have to go in, you know, uh I have to be ready and mentally sharp, but uh I usually worry about that once I actually have to go in. It didn’t I mean, can’t speculate, but he definitely needed some help getting off the ice and down the tunnel. Are you mentally prepared to step in as go, you know, for this road trip to be the number one? Yeah, I think so. Uh you know, worked hard this summer, worked hard in GM. Uh feel confident. Uh the group feels confident, you know, as a whole. So, uh I don’t really think it matters who’s in that with with the team we have. How does this group give you confidence? Just the way they play, you know, uh it starts in the locker room by by lifting you up, making making sure uh you know, they’re they’re here for you and they got your back. And then obviously just how they play. Defensively, how much did they help you out and get you into like getting warm and getting feeling the game a little bit? Yeah. Uh I don’t think we gave up a lot of great chances. Uh, and if we did, you know, uh, they still did their job, you know, with sticks and stuff like that. So, I can focus on on making a save. When you start a game without Mark Stone, lose Aiden Hill in the first period, and beat a team that was undefeated the way that you beat them. How does that boost confidence for a road trip that you’re about to endure? Yeah, I think it it boosts everyone’s confidence. You know, guys that that have to step up for the guys we lose and uh, you know, everyone’s done a great job so far. What aspect of your game are you feeling best about right now? Uh I think positioning. You know, uh it’s the main part for me, too. If I play well, I’m usually in position. I’m set for it and ready for the shot. This is a group of guys in front of you that uh have been putting up some numbers here early on in the season. Does it give you an extra bump knowing that you’re going to have that group in front of you scoring? Yeah. Yeah, of course. I mean, you have a guy that scores what 20 points in seven games and you have three other more three more guys that can do the same thing, you know, it’s uh gives you a lot of confidence and you feel comfortable in that and I think everyone else feels feels confident.

Brandon Saad, Ivan Barbashev, Akira Schmid and Head Coach Bruce Cassidy speak to the media following Monday night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

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