Oct. 23: Postgame Interviews

Oct. 23: Postgame Interviews

Puchi, how’d this game get away from you guys in the first? Uh J started time. Uh we kind of get bounces all around. First goal, five ball, short goal. We didn’t park we didn’t get to puck out. We got big bounce shot in the slot goal. We we just have to start on time and play full 60 minutes. So like I play against Dallas and just stick with each other and uh play for each other and uh get out from the slumps together. What has been the biggest issue for you to start the games? Uh I don’t know. I think like first couple shifts is not that bad. It’s just a bounce here and there, not in our way and uh got couple penalties and you know it’s not not easy chasing the game all the time. So you know we have to start on time and uh try to score first goal. What do you think of your power plays? You guys had a couple there in succession where you had a chance to really get back in the game on the power play. Uh we got to we got to shoot more probably attack more. I feel like sometimes they try to pass into the net. You have to shoot more pucks and uh start your shots and uh uh get more chaos uh around the net and get get bounces like we do like way PK PP goals like shot from the point tip rebound goal second one tip you know we are so started doing that too. But why do you think the team has struggled at home this year? Good question. We got to we got to figure out how to get out all together. Watch some more videos, talk, maybe change some warm ups. I don’t know. It’s a good question. The slow starts. Uh hard to say. Uh I think it just, you know, get with that intensity we had second and third. It’s chasing puck downs, get them deep, and um work there. just take us through your goal. What you’re what you’re seeing on that. A nice little for check, nice little slip play by uh Mojo and we’re just, you know, get trying to get more pucks uh to the net and some good stuff’s going to happen and just kind of bounced to my stick. The home ice, it hasn’t been good for you guys so far. Anything you can pinpoint why it’s been troublesome so far? Yeah, just that uh like I said before, I think the intensity a little bit uh just getting pucks deep and uh just got to play a full 60 like we did. Is there anything you think you can do at home different? I mean teams change up warm-ups, they change up hotel, anything? Uh no, I I mean I think everybody’s uh been a professional for a long time. So, uh just like you know get your routine dialed in and uh just play a simple game dialed in a little bit and uh I don’t think uh need to uh throw the whole book away. What do you think is the cause with these slow starts? Um yeah, like I said before, it’s it’s hard to say, you know, uh couple bounce just went quick. I think uh after we had a good response, just kind of get our legs moving and um yeah, just uh get some better bounce and keep it simple. You made a couple pushes tonight, but is it just a case of starting? Actually, you know, first two and a half, three minutes until the first goal was scored. It was just an up and down even game. Teams playing fast, playing hockey. Don’t like our response after we give up the first goal. The rest of the first period was very lackluster. Then I like the way our team played after that. We built something. We improved our intensity. Um, our habits got better. You’re down by four goals. It’s it’s going to be a tough task and we we got it close. Unfortunately, you know, we had opportunities on the power play to tie it up. We weren’t able to do it. They got a power play and they extended a lead and that sealed the game. the color goal at the end of the second period. How much did that just kind of change what was? I don’t think it did because we came out in the third period, I thought, even better than we were in the second. We were attacking the net better offensively. I thought we were we were attacking the hard areas that we haven’t done consistently enough this year. Um, so I I was happy that we weren’t deterred by that goal because it was deflating. Definitely was deflating. You had the three power play chances and only got two shots on that. What are you seeing with the power play that talking? Uh, we’re we’re not converging at the net. That’s what I’m seeing. We’re not our eyes aren’t on the goender. Our eyes are on the next pass. So, if you’re converging at the net, good things are going to happen because you’re going to outnumber people at the net usually. And right now, we’re getting the puck and we’re coming away from the net. So, we just need a little more convergence at the net, a little more desperation and urgency. During one of the TV timeouts in the first period, you went over and talked to to Joel. What kind of message do you want to send to him? No, just that he’s a really talented young goalender and we’re going to work out of this. It’s like our team’s not playing well, didn’t have a good start tonight. You know what? He’s going to go back. He’s someone that we believe in. We know he’s he’s he’s a extremely talented athlete and he’s really tough- minded. So, I I just let him know that we believe in him and it’s going to turn around. How much are the are these preventable mistakes and made by guys that you know veterans that maybe you don’t expect them to pay? Well, I I think it’s it’s really it’s it’s all over the board. Not just tonight, but you know, if you’re looking at the season, we’re giving up too many goals, right? And it’s it’s not the same line. It’s not the same deep pairings. It’s not the same people. It’s and it’s not the same part of our structure that’s failing at the moment. you know, it’s always So, right now, we just got to improve our intensity. If you improve your intensity, you make mistakes. You still the effort swallows that up and we just got to get back to that having 60 minutes where we just know what we’re doing and we believe in how we’re playing and we’re going like it’s just not there yet. In your mind, how how big of a concern is just the first period so far that you guys have played? Yeah, I mean I I think played seven games, five have been not good enough, two have been good. Jim, how do you how big of an issue do you think the defenses in terms of giving up a lot of goals and the fact that you’d have to move guys around to protect the younger guys and mix partners and change things up? How big of an impact has been? Uh, you know, obviously we’re giving up many goals. I don’t know if it has anything to do with that, you know. Um because when we’ve checked well, you know, we’ve had three games at home here where we haven’t checked well. And you know, uh Utah was really good tonight. Like their transition, that’s you know, the best transition team we’ve seen. And so, um you know, that unfortunately we didn’t handle that well. Your total sense a lot different than two nights ago. Just where are you at mentally? Just kind of talking to your team and where they’re at right now. No, like I I was not happy the other night. So, my tone was, you know, you guys recognized it. So, you guys are good at what you do. But tonight that like our response like was good. Like I, you know, I feel like we kept coming back. We showed character tonight. We showed resilience. now would have liked to given ourselves an opportunity through our special teams to get a tie or have a pulled goalie where it’s 5-4 instead of 6-4. We’ve asked you this two or three times after home games, but can you pinpoint anything in terms of, you know, these these games at home and why so many goals against here? I can’t. No.

Hear from Pavel Buchnevich, Pius Suter and Jim Montgomery after a 7-4 loss to the Utah Mammoth on Oct. 23, 2025.