Elmont, NY–
Horvat
There were turnovers by us not closing quick enough in the D-zone. They had a lot of zone time. That’s on us. It starts with throwing the puck in and closing on them quicker and that wasn’t good enough tonight.
At times I thought we were really good and at times I think we let them have it a little bit. If we want to be successful going forward and win hockey games, we have to have possession time.
Lee
There forecheck was good and our little bump plays, our a little touches, weren’t executing as clean as they have been. When you combine those two, teams are going to get some time.
Win or lose, we’re going to work. We got four days to get ready for for Sunday. It’s a big opportunity and it’s a big game.
Pulock
There were a couple of shifts where we got stuck out there and they were working it around. You got to give the guys credit for bearing down and not giving up a ton of shots. You got to find a way to try to end it. End their movement and try to recover the puck.
It all translates to each other. When you’re out there for a a minute and a half, and you get tired, your decisions slow down, you’re not moving as quick and mistakes happen. That’s where you got to find another gear. At that point, it becomes a mental and physical war with yourself and you have to find a way to dig deep.
After the first five or seven minutes it was better. I think the start could’ve been better. I thought we started playing better with a little more jump halfway through that period.
He made some really big saves in key moments. There were some key scoring chanes where the game could’ve changed and he was there for us.
I was just trying to get it there. The first one hit a stick, the second one got blocked. I think it’s just a mindset of shooting and sometimes, if it doesn’t get there, you get the puck back and you keep going that way. Eventually, it’s going to go in or rebound. As a second unit, you don’t always get as much time, and when you do, I think you have to have a strong mentality and focus on getting pucks on net.
It’s been a struggle at times for sure. Tonight, I thought guys did a great job. In overtime, a huge kill and a huge block to get us to a shootout in that situation and give ourselves another chance. Special teams are so important. We know that the PK has to be better. We’re trying to find ways to be better in that aspect and got some big kills today.
Roy
I don’t think any one of us could be happy about this performance. We gave them 11 chances. We did something good to recover from those mistakes, because most of the chances they had came from turnovers. We certainly need to be better managing the puck. We need to simplified our game and [because] we forced things when we didn’t have to. It’s almost like shooting on you own foot.
No one in this dressing room can be pleased with this. We missed that opportunity. There was no excuse for not playing a better hockey game than what we did.
I didn’t feel like it clicked. Sometimes as coach you get a feeling. I didn’t sense that it was clicking the way I thought maybe would’ve so I decided not to waste time.
We need to score goals at home. Defensively we’re playing better. We keep the shots lower and the chances are lower. Tonight, we were our worst enemy.
We had a four-on-three. We should have generated something, so no excuses. I thought that the we could have made a better decision with that puck and creating with that four on three.
It’s hard when we don’t manage the puck well. What that does is you spend more time in your zone. We did defend well, but I always believe that when you do turn over pucks, there’s not much of a recipe for success.
