Dec. 17: Postgame Interviews

Dec. 17: Postgame Interviews

This is typical Blues Jets just kind of grind away and uh not not much room out there. >> Yeah, I mean I think there’s some familiarity with with how each other play stemming from last year, but uh both teams I think are in a position where they got to find their game and and try and build something and so we were expecting it to be a tight game, a physical and intense game and uh I think that that was definitely it. How did that first period, particularly those three shifts in a row, uh where you get you hemmed them in? How did that set you guys up for for the game to follow? >> It was great. You know, uh gave us some confidence. Um they didn’t go in, but um when you can spend some time in the ozone and and not only that, but create great a chances. Uh get some some confidence for the group. And um our first periods haven’t been great lately. So to to kind of go out there and create some momentum is was huge for us and uh kind of leaked into the rest of the night. take us through take us through your goal. >> Uh I mean it looked like a little turnover uh in the corner and Tomer put some pressure on him and uh we know he can make those plays so I just jumped up and um I don’t know it sounded like suits was coming too so uh one of us had to grab it but uh yeah great play by him and I just tried getting off as quick as possible. >> I know we talked to you a little bit about your offense this year but you feel like you’re in a groove you know finding the right spots and stepping into lanes. Uh, I mean, yeah, I’m trying to, uh, get shots through and and be aggressive, uh, shooting the puck and, um, just being ready. Um, our play, our forwards can make some plays. So, um, just stay ready and be in a good position for them when they when they create turnovers. And, um, there’s always luck involved. You >> know, as well, that’s a team that likes to get traffic at the net. Um, were you just fighting through, being able to see pucks, and how much of that did the guys do a good job of clearing the front of the net? Yeah, I think it was more the guys. Um, they did a great That’s been an emphasis of ours um as of late to, you know, win the net fronts and um yeah, we were we were great at boxing out. I saw, you know, most pucks tonight and um yeah, they did a great job. >> How much does it does it mean to you to to beat your hometown team at this point in your career? >> Uh all wins are nice. Um yeah, it’s it’s obviously nice to uh to beat them and um you know, they’ve obviously become a rival of ours and um that was uh you know, tough last time we played them. Um, so yeah, that was extra, you know, motivation for us and, um, yeah, it’s just, uh, good that we get the, you know, win the night. >> Monty said this morning that you earned this opportunity to start three games in a row. What’s it like to to earn the coaching staff’s kind of vote of confidence to get back out there? >> Yeah, I’m just grateful. Um, you know, every day here is a great day and um, you know, whether I’m playing or not, it’s uh, you know, it’s a, you know, great opportunity and, um, you know, it’s a blessing to, you know, wear the blue note and um, yeah, just uh, you know, happy I can contribute. >> And what’s that do for you in terms of kind of getting some traction? I mean, you don’t start three. I think it was your first time in your career. Just to be able to get that many. What does it do for you to be able to get out there and see that much? >> Yeah, it’s nice. Um, obviously you want to go to go to uh, you know, compete and battle with the boys and um, yeah, it’s nice. Um, you know, I’m I’m a competitor. I want to play and uh, yeah, it was uh, you know, it’s super important and um, yeah, it’s just uh, you know, nice to get a win. Just to follow up on that, like does it mean more after a game like you had the last time out where it maybe wasn’t your best game, they still go back to you and kind of reward him with >> Yeah, for sure. Um, yeah, not the best um, you know, outing, but uh, yeah, like I said, grateful that, you know, I was given the opportunity and, um, yeah, I just wanted to go out and, you know, work hard and, uh, give my team the best chance to win. So, um, yeah, just, uh, you know, super grateful. >> Typical blue Jets grinding, physical, not much room up there. Kind of what you expected to happen. Uh, I don’t I don’t know if it’s hard to know what to expect the way the season has gone to be honest. Um, it was nice to see the way we started the game, the way we did compete. Um, it did turn into the playoff type game that wasn’t as physical as the playoffs, but it was physical for this regular season, that’s for sure. >> How much did those two, three shifts in a row in the first period where you kind of have all those chances, how did that set up the rest of your game? No, I think it gave us confidence that um you know playing to the goal line and being connected offensively uh that if our defenseman were active, especially our weak side defenseman, that we could have some offensive success. Um and I like the way we managed the puck tonight. You know, it wasn’t a lot of turnovers. Um we made sure that we went through the neutral zone with speed and we didn’t have a play. We again went to the goal line. >> What were your impressions of Bergen and uh specifically his passes that he made coming? Yeah, some high-end passes. The backhand one, that’s high-end vision there to send in uh D’vorski on the uh breakaway and then the slip play he makes in the offensive zone to Sudter who almost stuffs it in on the weak side. Um and a couple of more really connected pass. You can tell he has really good vision. Uh supports pucks really well. So that was really good. And I thought Stenberg was um really responsible and good puck support. Like again, he’s just someone his intelligence keeps the team connected. We don’t get too spread apart. Um, he puts the brakes on. He has really good habits. Stops. Comes right back to the house. Made some really good reads on our penalty kill and in our Dzone coverage, too. So, um, I thought it was a really good start to his career. >> In your career, have you ever put many 20 year olds making their debut on the PK? >> No, but we saw it in training camp that this is a real smart player. His details are really good. His sticks in the right place. He makes it predictable for his other teammates about where the puck should go so he can anticipate and that just helps us spend less time in our Dzone or helps us clear pucks on the penalty kill. >> What’s the name of Justin Faul to contribute offensively the way he has so far? >> Um I think he uh well one he has uh physical gifts of skating of um going past forwards u when we transition to offense. Um he joins the play uh he reads the play really well and joins it really well whether it’s in the ozone or off the rush and then he’s got a lethal shot and um that was a real smart shot the goal that the game-winning goal the only goal of the game like just the way he went far side and picked it that’s a it’s a high-end goali line and like they seem pretty dangerous they didn’t score but what kind of made them like what did you see from their Uh again, I I talked about being connected and and that means that they’re in triangles, right? There’s two at the goal line, there’s one above them. Um or there’s one down behind the net and two are inside the dots. So, that made them really u dangerous offensively. I I thought they were our best offensive line. Um and I thought it was because they didn’t force plays. And because they didn’t force plays, they had a lot of uh ozone time and they seemed to find each other really well. You know, you sometimes you look for chemistry and it just they were playing so well. We thought about putting one on each line and I’m like, well, that’s kind of dumb. Why take away your best line offensively, you know? So, we just left them together and let them play the whole game together. They were very good for us. >> How was the Thomas line able to sny the shley line considering they almost had 50% of their goals this year? Yeah. Um I think they took it upon themselves to be on the right side of pucks. Uh didn’t give them any oddman rushes. I think they might have had one all game. So they were just on the right side of pucks. And a lot of that is six and 55. We get that matchup. And uh they’re long and fast and they have great sticks. So that really helps the forward line that’s being matched up against them. >> Talk this morning about facing Wipe for the first time since the playoffs and how it’s a reminder of how you guys were playing at that point last year. Did you see elements of that team that you saw tonight? >> Yeah, I s thought the pace of which we played with transitioning offense to defense was very evident. I thought um how much plays we made in the offensive zone was really good and a couple of the stretch plays too like we had the a couple of twoon- ones and we had the breakaway by Shad that was just very reminiscent especially of our home games in the neutral zone counters. Jim, you were saying this morning that you’d like to see how Hoford bounce back from that last game. >> Pretty good, eh? [laughter] >> Just what did you see tonight? Got to be glad you gave him another opportunity. >> Yeah. Uh just his competitive spirit in the blue paint. Um just he seemed to be really in control uh tonight. Um and I I love the whistles he took. a lot of smart whistles where things might have been going frantic and he just covered it up so that you know they didn’t have extended ozone time against us. >> Did you get a lot of shifts and did you just shorten the bench in the third period or >> Yeah. >> Hope for kind of big picture. Obviously you didn’t have the the best starts the season, but how impressed have you been in just the way he’s rebounded from that to get a pretty solid one and a half. Yeah, I mean it’s uh you know the the type of season he started out having you know um his first game was unbelievable and the next couple starts weren’t as unbelievable as that first one and um you worry that you know it can get in someone’s head but you don’t worry about it with Joel Hoffer. You don’t worry about it with Benner. These guys are really mentally tough. um [snorts] just the way that they go back to work every day, the next day in practice. They’re out there early. They want to get better. They’re working with um Coach [snorts] Alexander, our goalie coach who’s excellent, and they just have a really good plan. It’s very detailed and they work. So, they work, they feel prepared, so they always feel that they’re going to be able to bounce back because they’ve put the work in. [snorts]

Hear from Justin Faulk, Joel Hofer and Jim Montgomery after a 1-0 shutout win over Winnipeg.