Craig Berube | Pre Game vs Los Angeles Kings | November 13, 2025

Craig Berube | Pre Game vs Los Angeles Kings | November 13, 2025

Craig, what’s the key to getting through this stretch now with with Austin out and Anthony down? Yeah, you know, we we we played last year without him for a while and um next man up mentality. Guys get a bigger bite here, bigger role. Um just better need a better team game. How long do you expect Austin to be out? Uh you know, I’m hoping a week maybe, but maybe sooner. We’ll just see. It’s kind of like one of those things. He could come in a couple days from now and feeling a lot better and hopefully he’s good to go. But we’ll see. But it could be as long as a week. Pardon me. Out of stores dayto day. Yeah. Was Austin dealing with something before the game? Happened in the game. But was it the Zidorov hit? No, not the hit. Not the hit. No, he was fine. Wasn’t happy about it. Fine. Was it on that shift, Craig, or was it earlier? I don’t know. I thought it doesn’t matter. Like, it doesn’t matter. Tvarus has played really well. His minutes have have actually been down a little bit. Like, how would you assess his ability to to play a little bit more and keep that level? Um, you mean minutes are down from last year? Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, it’s not a whole lot, but he’s in he’s in tremendous shape. I don’t feel it’ be an issue if I need to use him more. What about Dennis has handled things? I’m assuming he’s going tonight for you guys. Um, thought Dennis has done I think he’s come in and done a good job to be honest with you. I mean um like you know he’s been put in some tough situations here and um I think he’s come in and and um give us a chance to to win. You know I I like the way he’s been playing. You’ve had some unforeseen issues with goending in general. How important is Curtis Sanford’s role in right now? goending, coaching. Well, it’s obviously important. Uh, but it’s not just on him. It’s on the goalies and it’s on myself. You know, it’s our job to try to get this goalending situation straightened out. So, it’s on everybody. What’s your sense of the group right now? I mean, three regulation in a row are used to this. I mean, we went through stretches last year where we lost three in a row and and um you know, I mean, it’s it’s tough stretch right now and nobody’s nobody’s like happy about it obviously, but I didn’t feel there’s frustration today. I felt like we’re in the right mode to fix it. Um, my job, the coaching staff, the players, you know, my job to straighten it, try to get them getting going in the right direction and we got to stay positive at this point and we got to work our way out of it. Mermis in tonight. What’s that? Is Mermis Mermis is in? Yes, he’s in tonight. What What will be the challenge of dealing with so many lefties and you know what what are you hoping Mermis can can help you with? Well, he he moves the puck fairly well. Um, you know, he’s a good skater. He’s got experience. We’ve used him in the past. So, just wanted to make a switch on D. What kind of challenge do the Kings possess? They play kind of the north, the big team, North team. Kind of play the way that you want this team to play. They they got size up the middle obviously. Copar and Biffield, you know, two big centermen. Um veteran Dor back there. Um they they don’t give you a lot. Um their PK is excellent. Um, so you know, our it’s going to be key for our power play to do a good job tonight. Special teams are going to be important and for me it’s managing the game. Um, just go out and manage the game. They’re not It’s going to be We’re going to have to have patience in this game tonight and we’re going to have to work for our chances. Um, but at the same time, we can’t be, you know, forcing things and and putting ourselves in tough situations. So, patience and managing the game is going to be important here tonight. What gives you the most confidence that your team can pull out through this adversity right now? Uh, a veteran group, I think, and a lot of guys that um in that room have gone through this before and we got a veteran group here and, you know, I tr I have full trust in these guys. Um, I think that, uh, they all know what they have to do and they’ve all been through this before in their careers in different situations, maybe different teams, but, um, I feel like we have a veteran group and we have enough talent and, uh, determination to pull through.

Head Coach Craig Berube addresses the media ahead of tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.

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