Don Granato Postgame Interview vs Boston Bruins (12/27/2023)

Don Granato Postgame Interview vs Boston Bruins (12/27/2023)

Co sa power play is dead last in the league um your your opponent tonight is top 10 would you take anything from that team and apply it to your own team as power play and the penalty K yeah I I would say tonight um you know the first

I up until the first goal first four minutes of pressure and and uh execution for us you know we we had some grind to our game uh and we didn’t have that consistently we had it right out of the gate we we we didn’t have enough grind

And both special teams tonight so you can say what you the obvious about the power play but you we don’t give up three penalty kill goals it’s a it’s a tight game all the way through three goals on the penalty kill um which has been which has been somewhat good um but

It was the grind it was it was not willing to grind enough through the course of that game uh and then you’re going to have you’re going to be challenged in any area uh at that point and that’s what that’s the case when did you learn about uh just this early this

Afternoon is there something that could be a while or is it just from this game no I think it’s going to be just for today just for today Don I know injuries obviously have an impact on on the power play but you know over the last it’s

Been a year now where the inconsistency has been an issue for you know both units when you look at it is the problem structural is it what do you think it’s going to take just to get consistency because I mean we know how important you know the Special Teams and power plays

Are tonight was was what I said fits a lot of it grind pucks to the net guys to the net um you know I do feel uh you know Jack Jack Quinn is going to be a help with with that with with with adding more to it um but but um it

Obviously is is not where we want it to be it’s needs to be better but I would say the grind factor is something that uh will be bringing uh more emphasis to do you get the sense that that it’s too predictable especially with the with the top unit when everybody’s looking for

Tage to they’re just looking at the flanks we need to we need to take bux to the net better in from different areas so if you want to call it too predictable that’s that’s it’s a way to say it we need we need to do some things differently coach speaking of injuries

The Sabers last season around this time was averaging about three and a half goals this year it’s roughly around three with all the injuries and having a rookie gold sender what can the Sabers do as far as scoring to help out you know we we want to play with Pace we

Didn’t tonight and like I mentioned you fact during that compete I talked tonight about grind uh when when we do that and we can we can establish our game we didn’t do that tonight we didn’t establish our game uh when we did it was just just at the outset for a few

Minutes and again too many lulls so I think the scoring will come uh full full bore when we can Elevate the pace and you know we’ve done that intermittently um we have to do that consistently it seemed like many of your good scoring chances either went wide or over the top

Of the net is there any reasons for that that you could put your no Paul I mean it’s they’re there they’re they got looks and they miss the net you know I guess you’d have to that’d be a question for them I felt we didn’t have enough of a shot mentality

To begin with so possibly looking for another play before you shot and that little bit of hesitation and um now you’re missing in that I mean that could be could be one component but again I just didn’t think we were direct enough tonight um and you know we were in

Increments but and those showed you know that’s how you have to play for for for as much as you can of 60 minutes right um and and uh wasn’t enough okay he took a shot right uh he seems to be okay yeah and he’s and he’s

An ultra competitor which you can see um so great job by him how frustrating were the coverage issues on the first two goals uh the first one was uh the second one was a first second one was a power play or penalty kill goal first one was

Um we had we could have just chipped it right out to a guy slashing across and we didn’t we we went went back with it off our feet uh and then um you know a situation where you have that turnover as we talked about it’s you have a

Chance to defend and we chased after the turnover we we can’t we went out of position um when we should have had should have held our ground a little bit more so the first one first penalty kill goal and the second one of the game uh

Inside pass from outs we we actually had a decent penalty kill until then uh and and let a a pass from behind the net come inside which which shouldn’t happen you the early deficits a lot of just mental like you know the first goes in it is now it’s it’s a it’s it’s

Something now that you mentally have to just get over and and move on you got to move on Fast and you know you have opportunity the next day and the next day out and you can’t have drag from what uh you didn’t do or didn’t get done

And you know that obviously is a challenge um that uh you got to move on quick and and obviously uh with the with gaining the experience of what you had but you got move on mentally quick onal because just been days I mean you could I’m sure guys didn’t feel good

Uh you know on both sides of the puck tonight uh they didn’t feel like themselves so I mean who knows but but regardless you you know we want we want a lot more intent there and attack there you again you saw in spurts um you know we we there’s urgency

When you pull the goalie at the end of the game you got an open net we saw more urgency because of that we need to see more urgency before that and um so you know yeah you miss Nets you whatever you have a three-day layoff but you know you

Can still we could still have played with more urgency through the course of the game a lot of time up in the season but to make this team a contender what is the things that need to change the most as far as this team is concerned

Right now we need to play with pace and we need to string as much uh you know like I said said willingness to grind and direct game direct over the line to the net shot to the net track a rebound very we play direct and with Pace the

Power play again just to Circle back on that you’re talking about taking a look at everything what about are what are your thoughts in general about how they’ve been drawn up in terms of uh getting production we we’ve had Personnel that’s coming back into the lineup obviously um

And and we’ll look at that and and and there needs to be Personnel changes and and uh different looks at that again we’ talked a lot about even you know re re refocusing on strategy per se um mentioned to Paul more of a shot mentality more of an attack mentality

More of a direct uh direct than net mentality so we’ve we’ve began discussions on that and that process I think it’s it’s a process underway as a coach when you do have a power play that’s struggling you know your expertise fors power play do you get more involved you know especially

When when you do have a power play this this at this at this point yes uh because of that because we want we want more and and and we need more so yeah you shift obviously is a you know you those are things that are delegated through staff and you know at certain

Points you need more manpower on it and I think that’s where we’re at coach what did you see different from Boston this go round than the last go round when it was in Boston you know not nothing really different from them they’re very consistent um and um again we when we

Played there we played with such a high level of urgency that uh that we we didn’t have tonight and that’s the difference difference was us tonight there another poing off the skate tonight um obviously mistakes happen at lightning speed but is there any desire for maybe more situational awareness

Especially down low in the cre you know you you’d love to not have a guy in the crease so you know that’s probably where the where the mistake was but uh you know as you mentioned things happen Split Second um you know and and bad bad breaks happen you have to

Overcome them so we didn’t overcome

Don Granato Postgame Interview vs Boston Bruins (12/27/2023)

If you enjoyed this video, hit the “Subscribe” button below to never miss anything Buffalo Sabres-related.

*I am not affiliated with the Buffalo Sabres organization*

For business inquiries: Canadianwealthbusiness@gmail.com

Thank You For Watching!
Like If You Enjoyed.
Subscribe for the latest Sabres content!