Jack, Brown, Nemec, Allen and Keefe after 4-3 OT win over Avs

Jack, Brown, Nemec, Allen and Keefe after 4-3 OT win over Avs

Jack, yesterday when we were talking to Sheldon, you know, he said this was a different type of challenge, different type of opponent and you guys needed to meet the moment. How do you feel sort of this played out for you guys? Yeah, I mean, they’re a great team and uh with some great players. So, I think that, you know, they they played yesterday. We had to jump on them a little bit, but I think that’s our next game, too, right? So, I’m sure they’re going to be back at home after a road trip and be ready to roll. So, tonight was a good win for us, but yeah, that’s a really good team over there. How about Nemo? just sort of that wall play there to get you the puck. Yeah, it’s a good play. Uh get that puck back to recover that and get it over to me. So, obviously uh good play by him on that that winning goal. How about your team’s just ability to not really quit? Like you guys, you know, in the second period there, it looks like, you know, the shot differential was bad and then you guys end up coming away with the lead anyway. Yeah, I mean, uh like I said, that’s a really good team over there. So, we’ve played some good teams as of late and you got to know that when they got McKinnon, Nekitch, and you know, Mai on the ice, they’re going to they’re going to get their shifts, they’re going to have their looks. So, we just got to hold the fort down when when they do uh turn it up like that. And, you know, obviously that’s what we did. We held it. We held it and then Brownie scores to give us a lead. So, uh we’ve been doing a good job at that. Feels like we keep talking about how strong Allen’s been. He just comes up with these big saves and those big moments. Yeah, he’s been playing great for us and we’re happy that he’s uh playing well and we’re happy that Marky’s back. So, we got a lot of belief in uh all three of our goalies honestly with Dozy, too. So, another great game by by Jaker and we’re we’re happy for him. What does it say? What do they say about the team to win this game without Pesh? Yeah, that hurts. That’s a tough blow uh that he misses the rest of the game and um we’ll see how he is, but yeah, good job by our our Decor stepping up against McKinnon, you know, neck these guys. That’s that’s one of the tougher lines in hockey you have to play. So, it’s a really good job as a as our unit, our five guys back there uh stepping up. What is our sending me for this group? Yeah, he’s been good. He’s uh come in here and he’s played really good hockey. I think people probably didn’t know what to expect with him and uh I know myself and you know the guys in this room are uh really pumped with how good he is. You know, he’s a a guy that can be a part of our core for a long time hopefully. So, I think he’s been playing great hockey for us and uh it’s it’s evident with how he’s playing. What’s going on? What’s going through your mind when you get the puck on your stick in the overtime there? Yeah. Uh I don’t know. I think whoever that was was angling me pretty hard, so I had to get that puck off. Um just a weird play where, you know, I missed the first chance and uh by the time I’m like skating back to the bench, the puck’s coming back my way already. So, uh, just, uh, being in the right spot at the right time and then, uh, just have to get a quick shot off there. Thanks, Jack. Cool. Ronnie, when we talked to Sheldon yesterday, he said this was going to be a different type of matchup for you guys. Maybe haven’t seen a team like this before. You need to meet that moment. Uh, how do you feel this team sort of, you know, with the es and flows of this game, really stuck with it there? Yeah. Uh, you play a team like this, it requires some resilience. Um, you know, to be able to kind of persevere through some, uh, you know, you know, they’re going to have extended shifts in your end. I mean just with the amount of skill and speed that they have. So um just making sure that you know mentally we’re we’re with it and mentally we’re not making any mental mistakes and for the most part I thought we did that. A few a few little mistakes and they made us pay but um you know we persevered pretty well and obviously a couple big goals from Jack but especially that winter and OT is huge. How about Nebone catching you up the middle of the ice there? Yeah. Oh yeah, that was a great little spring. I know that that one caught me by surprise. All of a sudden I was in on a breakaway so that was a good surprise there. was going through your mind. You had a lot of ice, you know, on the way down. What was going through your mind? I was trying to settle the puck down. It was it was rolling and spinning. So, I was just trying to get it to settle down so I could have a good opportunity to to try to put one in. Do you guys lose Pesh in this game, you know, pretty early. Doesn’t come out for the second or the third. Leaves in the first there. How do you feel that you guys handled his loss knowing what the opponent brings to, you know, just how forceful they are? Well, he he’s such an important player for us. um you know the the the way he plays, the poise that he plays with, just his maturity on the ice. Um but I thought the two young guys really stepped up huge um with Luke and Nemo. They both played phenomenal in that third period skating with the puck. They took a big step forward and when we needed them. So um you know uh no idea what it’s going to look like, but we’re going to need more of that if uh if he’s is missing any time here. Conor, what’s been the key for you to you know quickly so quickly adapt to this system and you know be able to play so well early on? Um, well, you I’ve played for Sheldon before, so I kind of understand what uh, you know, the the overall um, way he wants his team to play. And so, I think that, uh, that matches with the kind of the way that I see the game, too, and and the way that this team plays. So, I I just feel like it’s a good fit for me. Um, you know, and anytime you’re playing with good players, it’s easier to play. Um, and, you know, we have a lot of good players on our team, so it’s been uh, it’s been making it easier for me to fit in. What was the challenge for, uh, your team in the second period with the the shot differential there? Well, uh, you know, the second period’s a long change and, um, you know, they do a really good job of, uh, short tracking it, we call it, where they just, you know, we can get it out to the neutral zone, but they’re turning up really quick and and they’re cutting the ice in half and so um, they’re able to get, you know, two or three changes while we’re, uh, you know, surviving. So, um, that’s something that we pride ourselves on doing to other teams, but tonight in the second, they kind of took it to us in that way. Um, but, you know, they’re a really good team, so uh, you know, something to learn from there, uh, moving forward. You had a lot of traffic in front of you, but did you see Brownie there up the middle of it? I didn’t see him. I just tried to to defend there and Yeah. How do you How do you feel as a defensive unit? You guys were just five of you for most of the game. That’s a team that has a lot of offensive power. How did you guys feel, you know, handling that right now? Yeah, it uh it wasn’t easy, but yeah. Yeah, we did it. I think it’s one game we can do that, but like I think some uh forwards help us a lot. So yeah, we’re we’re really good team and like we we try and help each other and and yeah, it was a strong game. Sheldon puts you out there on the ice for OT. What was going through your mind when you had the puck and Jack was open in the slot? Like if you check if you see Jake open, you just want to give him pug and and uh yeah. Uh so I just I’m just trying do my best out there and then help us help the team. So first 3.9 for you. How’s it feel? Yeah, like it feels pretty good, but like I’m not trying to focus on that. I I’m happy like we won eight games in a row, so that’s that’s more important. Gen, come on in. Well, first off, just congratulations, right? This was a gutsy effort. This was a a game that I’m sure guys circled on the calendar. You have a juggernaut coming in. Just uh speak to how resilient you guys were, you know, after not maybe your best second period of the season, but you guys found a way still. Yeah, you know, it’s uh we definitely had this one circled, you know, at the start of the year. We knew this was probably going to be our toughest test and um you know, it’s a hell of a hockey club on the other side there. And you know, there’s es and flows in the game. Obviously, they’re a really good team. You know, good teams are going to have momentum. That’s normal. Um it’s just a way to find a way to navigate those times. And, you know, we got through that second period, you know, with the lead. And um you know, for the most part, I thought we had a pretty good third, too. You know, we gave them one chance there late and they made the most of it. But, uh, you know, for the majority of the game, you know, the guys, uh, found a way to, you know, dig in those tough times and get it done. Well, as someone that faces his shot in practice a lot, or Sydney Gritsic, just uh, explain to the fans how lethal and deceiving that release is. Yeah, he’s the first day that I saw him here at uh, at Credential, I said, “Oh, boy. This guy’s been my crypite in practice.” I’m sure Cory knows that. He’s those guys that shoot the puck so hard. and um really happy for him because he’s found a way to, you know, have an impact on our team, not just on the score sheet. I thought he’s done a really good job, especially transitioning from Russia to here. And um and when he gets those chances, his shot is so hard. It’s it’s almost impossible to to react to it unless you get a good read on it. Jay, congratulations. Another great game. I wanted to ask you, I think when you get into a groove like this, it’s it’s a complimentary hockey where the team in front of you is predictable and then you making the big saves when you need to. What are you seeing from your teammates in front of you that’s making the game uh just you’re seeing it so well right now? Yeah, you know, you’re right. I think um everyone’s sort of getting on the same page. Obviously, there’s times where we’re slide off that page, but I think we’re showing a lot of maturity, a lot of uh you know, navigating the game, the right situations, the right time, and you know, for the most part, they’re making it easy on me. Um you know, I’ve had times where you have to, you know, pick them up, but for the majority of the time, they’ve been doing that for me. And um you know, I can’t say enough about it. And you know, the credit in the locker room, too. guys aren’t getting too high. Um, guys are coming to the rink every day with the same attitude they were before a game against Carolina. So, I think that’s that’s really impressive. Well, Jake, well, first off, just uh another great effort, right? I know that as you you know, looked at the stretch of hockey, you weren’t really thinking that you’re going to playing this many games, but you know, just as from your mindset, how did you approach it when you realized, hey, Mark is going to be out for a stretch here? I mean, that’s sort of my role on this team. you know, I I had that opportunity last year when Mark went out and um it’s hockey. There’s going to be injuries. Um you know, I’ve played a lot of hockey. I’ve seen a lot of things. I’ve been I’ve almost held every position in the league, I feel like. And um it’s just uh it’s part of the role and it’s part of my understanding that uh that’s why I came back to do here. And you know, we’re we’re glad Marky’s back in our group and good to see him playing this week. All right. Thank you. Congratulations. Big win. Safe travels. Sheldon, we talked yesterday about this being a big game just in terms of the level of opponent and a different type of opponent for you guys. You guys go down to 5D, you know, before the first period is over. How do you think your players met the moment and the resiliency required to make it through this game, whether it was that or the late tying goal? Yeah, I thought uh I thought we did a good job. I mean, we got out uh and got to our game, I thought, pretty early and, you know, got a lead. Uh, so we were in a pretty good spot there. I don’t like how we handled that in the back end of the first period. But yeah, it’s kind of a bit of a call to action there, you know, when you lose not just a defenseman, but such an integral defenseman in Peshi and especially against a team like this that is so dynamic offensively that to lose a defender like him is is hard. Uh, so the group had to rally, not just the D. Um, but the whole team has to try to help them and take care of them and and you know, I didn’t didn’t think we did the best job of that in the second period, but you know, funny funny enough, you give up the goal and they tie the game in the third, but I thought we played an excellent third period from a defensive standpoint. We didn’t give up much. I think they’re, you know, their goal at about the 14 minute mark is the third shot of the period. Um, so you get 14 minutes of pretty clean hockey up to that point. we make one mistake and they score and that’s you know that’s that happens in one goal games. Uh but again we just got back to work. We had some chances late and and then obviously made good in overtime. So uh it was what we thought it would be in terms of the challenge offensively for them. You know there’s two tired teams at it today. You know like they’ve had a tough schedule but this is four games in five and a half days uh for us as well. So, uh, it’s kind of a a bit of a a taste of what you’re going to be dealing with all season long in terms of the fatigue and injuries and all these things. How is Pesh? Do you have an update on Yeah, he’s he’s not great. He’s he’s going to be out for sure. He won’t he won’t travel with us. What exactly happened there with P? Was it the Was it the block shot or the uh I I think so. So, I mean, when you say the block shot, he seems like he blocks every shot, so I’m not sure which one you’re referring to. I haven’t seen it back yet, but that’s the nature of the injury. Yeah. Um, is this is upper body, lower body, upper? Um, so curious about the the power play two deploy power play one deployment. Um, obviously you have Douggee move to power play two. I feel like, you know, some might look at that and just say like, you know, he had two goals last game. I know you’d like to switch it up, but just curious your thought process behind that. Yeah, I mean I think we’ve talked about it a lot about how we’re going to approach it. You know, it’s going to be very dependent on our opposition and and the style of peno that we see uh that we you know, we have different groups that we like to see and and uh you know, it’s it’s not a halfass process. You know, we’re doing it for a reason. And um I think we’ve had it the other way. I think you know, there’s been times where Teemo scored and the next day he’s you know, he’s not on it. It’s a combination of doing what we think is right against certain opponents and then and then, you know, at the same time in doing so it keeps more people involved and makes us trickier to defend. So, you know, that’s really it. Just adhering to a process just not going to, you know, just because there was something worked one night, it’s a completely different penalty kill here today. Uh, so we’re trying to get ahead of that and utilize the assets that we have. Coach, obviously you’re missing Brett in the second period, but what was the challenge there that had Colorado in your guys zone? so so often. Uh we didn’t break out uh nearly well enough. Uh gave some pucks back to them. Didn’t spend enough time in the offensive zone and they they are elite offensively. I mean that’s the best offensive team in the NHL and and it’s it’s certainly their best players drive a lot of it, but it’s line over line. There’s lots of skill. They play with a good process. They attack the net better than anybody. Uh so that leads you to get on your heels. If you don’t get out the first time, it becomes tricky and you got to kind of ride that wave a bit, which I thought we did a good job of in that second period, especially. There’s a couple real long Dzones there that we didn’t give up the big chance. You know, there’s some time in the zone and and there’s some shots heading towards our net, but that we didn’t give up uh uh we didn’t give up the dangerous one. You know, in that first period, the back half of the uh the last 10 minutes there, their goals they got like we gave up dangerous shots, dangerous looks. the goal they scored in the third off that one chance that they got. That’s a dangerous look. Um but I thought for good chunks of the game we managed that really well and you know we’ll have to do that likely even more so on the road. And you’ve been complimentary of grit six uh thus far open the scoring tonight. Does it just feel like he’s getting better and better every night here? Yeah, I mean he’s had ups and downs like he’s had really strong games and then you know a bit of a dip the next night but you’re going to get that we get that with everybody over the course of 82 games. I just touch touched on how how challenging the schedule is here, right? I mean, this stretch we’re going to go on the road now and play uh play four games. It’s going to amount to I think it’s eight games in 13 days. Like this is it’s a harder schedule than you you get in the playoffs and and lots of moving around. Uh so you get some of these ups and downs, but I thought he was excellent tonight. I mean, and not just the goal, but uh just his work on the puck, uh strength on it. Um yeah, he he had a really strong game today. So when he plays like that, like he’s he’s a he’s a lot to deal with for the opposition, not just because of his offensive skills, but he gets in their way defensively and frustrates them. And Mark from the dress today, is Allen making it a little hard for you to maybe not play him though at this point? Uh Allen’s been unbelievable. He was great again here today. Like even when they’re not getting a lot of shots or chances, like they move around the zone so much and and zip the puck around with so much movement even when pucks aren’t coming. and he was solid as all can be, but uh he’s been great, but at the same time, we also have to we also have to manage his workload. We just touched on the schedule again and now we’re going to travel all the way to Colorado. Uh so, you know, it’s good to have goalending depth and it’s good to to have Marky coming back at this time because like I said, the amount of uh schedule here, we have to manage that or we’re going to be um having injured goalies all season long and we don’t want that. So, we got to manage these guys as best as we can. Dylan had two blocks, three hits. How reliable has he been for his role? He’s great. Does his thing. I mean, he a huge hit here today that kind of, you know, gave the guys a bit of a boost in the bench. Uh, he’s been solid. I mean, you know, he’s had his little stretch where, you know, he shot a couple in the net for us, but, you know, that’s that’s him stepping out of character, but what you do come to expect is him being solid and competitive and all that. So, he’s great. Um, you know, Nich had a great really great game here today. I mean, he stepped up when when Peshi went down, but he was even before Pesh went down, he was having a real good game. He was on the puck today and he ends up with three assists when it’s all said and done. Uh, so, you know, that pairing, even though they spent a lot of time apart today, that pairing, I thought, uh, had a really good uh, night. Yeah, Sean, I was just going to ask you about that. The, uh, how impressive was that effort by your fiveman D there after Pesh goes down? what you saw out of them and in particular, you did mention Neich there, but also Luke Hughes, too. The two young guys stepping up. Yeah. Uh Luke was great. I thought I thought uh the more we needed RD, I thought he got even better in terms of solving problems and breaking pucks out, he skated out of trouble a bunch of times. Uh for us, that was probably the strength of our third period is is how we were able to skate the puck out of pressure and Luke led the way uh for us there. So, yeah, it’s, you know, it’s like you say, it’s one thing. You lose a guy, you kind of go short-handed now, and you got two young guys that, you know, you try to insulate and protect. They’re great young players, but they need help. And, um, it’s harder to do that when you lose some of the Pesh stature, and now the pairings are all different. The minutes are higher, the matchups get all messed up. So, these guys got to really dig in, and and both those guys uh really stepped up that really helped those five guys get through it. Thank you.

0:00 – Jack Hughes
2:45 – Connor Brown
5:25 – Simon Nemec
6:29 – Jake Allen
9:22 – Sheldon Keefe