Nov. 11: Postgame Interviews

Nov. 11: Postgame Interviews

stand alone now up top over Leute’s record. Uh you give him a call. Uh maybe I’ll send him a text tonight just for fun. Um but yeah, it’s cool how it’s working out like this and um obviously he’s a big legend here and he’s in the Blues Hall of Fame and um someone I look up to and has been a big part of my career so far. So it’s just it’s cool how life works like that. Just how meaningful is it to have most wins in franchise history, most games played in franchise history? A lot of those things are are you now? Yeah, I’m I’m truly honored and humbled. Um, you know, I feel like I’ve just um you know, we’ve had some good teams here, some good players here, and and me personally, I’ve just um kept my head down and and uh just keep getting up and and uh doing my best to whatever I got at the time. And um it’s uh it’s cool moments like these on and uh to have a night like this where we had a a big win, a much needed win and um I feel like we played a really good game that um is good timing for us as we have a little home stand here and building our game and building momentum moving forward. So um yeah, it’s special and and uh very honored and um yeah, the way things have been going lately, what’s it like those last three or four minutes trying to close that out? Uh I’m having fun. Um, you know, just got to play for the love of the game at this point and and remember why you started. Um, and uh, just enjoy these moments cuz they’re special. Just trying to close out a game at home. You feel the feel the crowd. You’re out there battling with your guys. You know, walks blocking a full one-time sticking out his foot with, you know, however many seconds left. And, um, it’s something that, um, I’m I feel like it’s good to enjoy these moments and and be in the present. And, um, so that’s where my my head’s at. And I feel like we did a good job and staying with it and sticking to our game plan. And um like I said, that’s uh it’s it’s good two points. Bionic before, but I mean, you see 31 shots in the last two periods. It seems like you just get more locked in with the more work you get. Did you feel that tonight or um yeah, I feel like they were throwing a lot at the net and um you know, as a goalie sometimes you’re like that just to feel the puck a lot and stay in the game and um you know, giving up too late in the second was not what we were looking for. So, we came in here and we regrouped and um we found a way to got it get it done, but um you know, we had good chances. Their goalie played well, too. And and I think it’s good to see our game coming along. Just a big win for you guys. Yeah. Um I think every win right now is big for us, so it’s it’s good. Hopefully, we can get on a bit of a roll and start stringing them together. Take us through your goal. Uh yes, Sonia just made a great heads up play. Um he knows he knows Toppo’s flying there and just trying to clean up the garbage that was left in front. like we’re first flip pass like that we’ve seen over the years. But a pretty nice one, huh? Yeah, he had one to me, I think, a couple years ago. So, that’s uh kind of what reminded me of it. But he’s like I said, he’s a very smart player and he knows how to play with with to myself. You and Hanley were kind of converged there, I guess, on Wolf. Were you kind of wondering if maybe some goalie interference of some sort was going to come into play or what? Yeah, I mean, after Yeah, I mean, not not sure on that one. It was obviously glad that it went our way. What’ you think of the third period one? Do you think it was they called goend interference on it, but do you think it was maybe a a goal or you uh I don’t really know. I mean, obviously they they look at it enough to know what’s what’s a goal and what’s not a goal. So, um we just have to live live with that decision. Before you scored, you you seemed upset about the the icing there. Was this like a it’s a nice way to kind of bounce back? Yeah, for sure. Um you know, I thought to was going one way, he was going the other. That’s that’s on me. Um, but obviously to get the goal after that’s always always going to feel nice. Nathan, you guys have been getting some scoring now from from the bottom six forwards. Just key to contribute in those ways. Yeah, for sure. I think if we can bring the energy every game and and do what we have to do on the floor, checking in the Dzone and then sprinkling some goals here and there, I think it’s going to it’s going to help us in the long run. Going into the season, people were talking about that being the fourth line. Was it good to finally get out there and play together? It was. Yeah, I think uh Sunny and Tuls myself have had some um had some games over the few the past few years. So, we know we know how we play with each other and it was it was definitely good to get on the floor. What were you able to get out of the uh the fourth line tonight? Uh energy, momentum, um details, habits. Obviously, the two goals are nice. Um but, you know, just uh the trust that they’re going to get the job done cuz they don’t take the easy way out. They gain lines. They take hits to make plays and you know when that happens it builds momentum on our team because our team sees the effort that in second and third effort we get the uh power play goal because 26 second and third effort on the puck draws the penalty. Third time where a guy sat out come back into the lineup and you did you like Sunquist’s response tonight with his play specifically I guess after sitting out a couple Yes. Um, I think I said a couple of weeks ago, he’s like my binky. And yes, he’s someone I can trust in every situation. You know, he we all go through patches where we’re not on top of our game, and I love the way he responded. True pro. Those two goals go in quick for Calgary in the second. How did you feel about the team’s response after those two win? I thought the last after that, I I really enjoyed our response. It’s what you want. you want to go back and take control of momentum of the game. And I went down the three lines and the three lines really responded. They built momentum heading into the third. How old do you on the uh on the Walker situation there with the with the potential fourth goal, I guess. Oh, potential fourth goal. I thought you meant his goal and maybe that that that was goalie interference. Um we just felt that um it wasn’t dead wrong. So uh you’d like to challenge it to be able to take the lead, but it’s not worth the risk because he did push the goalie. He pushed the defenseman into the goalie, which they can say that’s why they call it goalie interference. And it’s not dead wrong. I think it was this morning that you were talking about that fourth line. Maybe they can create that identity that you had last year. Carry us for a little bit. You feel like the way they played tonight, this is stuff that could get some traction. How much can they help you? They I mean, I don’t think you can measure how much they can help us because everybody sees what they do and they do it the right way. They don’t cheat the game at all. And it just it’s infectious, you know, and then everybody starts playing the right way. Everybody’s on the right side of the puck. In the second period when they started to get back into it, some of it was puck decisions, some of it was on the wrong side of pucks. So, we gave them a little bit of life. Some of those infectious things you talked about is is one of them is Walker going out and blocking a shot in the last minute of the game. Yes. I I think our team’s been very committed here in the last seven games to to blocking shots. And it’s not just Walker. We’ve seen Kyru block shots. Holloway had three. Holloway had two last game after taking one in the ribs from Pareo at the net front. So, um, to me, I I love where our team’s building that way. I think what I really liked about our team was our composure in the third. Being up 3-2, we didn’t panic. We had a lot of poise. Uh, we had several oddman rushes again because we’re being patient. We’re on the right side of pucks. with those oddman rushes with the talent we have, we’re going to put games away by playing the right way like we did in the third with the lead. Jim, how’s uh Matt Kessle kind of has he progressed here as he’s kind of been buying his time just to get a little bit more regular ice time? Yeah, I thought he was very assertive tonight. Um especially in the Dzone and offensive zone. He was physical. It was noticeable. His stick was very active killing plays. I mean, the goal is nice. Um, but just more his assertiveness and aggressiveness. Uh, skating pucks out of trouble in the Dzone, carrying it in the middle ice, getting it in so we can get on a for check instead of just looking to pass. That’s you see his his confidence growing in those areas. You talked about just having him stand up at the blue line, I guess, and kill him play. Is he is he is he doing that more consistently? Yeah, he did it early. Um, and he did it late in the third. So, yes, he’s doing those things. We need to as a team be a little better, a little firmer. Not I’m just talking defenseman. We call it getting skin. People got to pay a price to gain a line and you want to body speed at lines. After the second caliber goal time out, how much of the message was getting on the right side of post and how much of it was other messages? Yeah. Um, that was part of it, but most of it was just take a breath. Like, we’ve played a good hockey game. It’s 3-2 now. Let’s let’s be the way out. Let’s talk to each other. Let’s have composure and move forward here. Take over the rest of the whatever was left. I don’t remember exactly what time it was, but I know the last four and a half minutes were really good by us. Especially the first two periods. I mean, were you expecting the kind of track meet that you saw out there? Uh, no. especially with the two teams that are involved. Um, we do have to do a better job with the puck offensively. I thought we had too many hope plays. We need to start just wearing people down, especially when you’re up to nothing. Just wear people down. Like they’re the ones that have to force the offense, not us. And again, that’s just us, you know, maturing as a team throughout the season, finding our identity, and then we’re still not there yet, obviously. And we got a lot of room for growth, which is, you know, a good thing. When we didn’t get a chance to talk to Sunny about how much skill is in that foot pass to to Jeno say anything to him on the bench when he gets back something like that. Um I don’t say anything to him. Um I don’t want him to get a big head. He doesn’t show up on the score sheet tonight but Dor Devorski is he doing a lot of the little things right? And how mature would you say his game is for a young player? Yeah I think he’s a very mature player for 20 years old. He’s doing a lot of good things. Um he just continues to impress us with how he’s playing. I thought that uh in the second period I I started to pull back a little bit of Einstein cuz I just don’t want him being put them in situations where you know things things were going wrong for us and I wanted our veterans to bail us out. Well, he’s he’s playing really good hockey for us.

Jordan Binnington, Nathan Walker and Jim Montgomery speak to the media after a 3-2 home win over Calgary that made Jordan Binnington the all-time games played leader among goaltenders in St. Louis Blues history.