“We Just Didn’t Put It Away” | Buffalo Sabres Coach Don Granato After Loss To Anaheim Ducks

“We Just Didn’t Put It Away” | Buffalo Sabres Coach Don Granato After Loss To Anaheim Ducks

Your team was flying created chances I think at one point you’re up 24 to five and shots on goal how did it get away we just didn’t put it away it didn’t I don’t think it got away as much as we didn’t put it away uh break away break

Away you know and the right guys having breakaways uh between Thompson and uh Greenway I think JJ middlestead Point Blank um just didn’t put it away did you set the power play right after you scored you get up three to one that really that was going to be the

Breathing spot he didn’t really get anything on that power play uh yeah I mean again there was many opportunities for separation the power player was one of them but you know you look at the the quality in the first period alone uh and then the start of the second Peri I

Think JJ another Point Blank shot the start of the second period there was just uh you know Gibson was was very very good and uh prevented the separation that typically would be be there especially with the guys like I said shooting the puck even the greenway Breakaway early beat him five hole for

The most part caught a little bit of his pad and you know uh so Tasia breakway and then another Point Blank shot after the breakway so um yeah I mean you you you you had more than enough opportunity to create separation uh and then you know after

That obviously uh we did not make a lot of mistakes we paid for the mistakes we made it wasn’t a game where we were we were awful and made it just we paid for for the mistakes we made um and we couldn’t uh obviously with enough generated from the chance standpoint

Didn’t convert those mistakes were really self-inflicted so when you look at those does it tell you that guys were just trying to do too much with the puck at certain times was it just frustration for not being able to score what do you make of just I think those were again it

It wasn’t the whole game that guys did that it was a few isolated infant incidents that we paid for it um and yes you know we’re we’ve uh defended very well to the point where you know when you it’s typically mistakes rather than system breakdown it’s it’s it’s a you know a decision

That you’d probably want back uh by an individual or or uh um you know a hiccup a blunder whatever you might however you might want to call it um but it was not an epidemic of Mistakes by any me um you know we just again paid for them

And um there wasn’t a lot they were very very opportunistic obviously the shot count is indicative of that Thompson said he thought his shot might have gotten through the one Gibson stops on the goal line there was that did you have any feedback from from the video

Coaches on that uh we did and there was no camera angle that showed us um anything other than uh where it sits now the first goal the one so looks like was in the corner could have made a simple simple pass and uh we got ourselves pinned to the wall when we had

Option to to make a simpler play so for a few weeks now T you know the production hasn’t always been there for T but it seems like do you get the sense that he’s trending in the right direction starting to get fur now that he’s further away from the injury

Starting to create a lot more on he is absolutely trending the right direction what we’re what we’re missing is the chemistry in that group um you know and even even the goal I think one you speak of the second goal you know we we didn’t go forward with the puck in neutral zone

We kind of went back and and you know that’s a chemistry thing uh decision there feeling it there or not feeling it um so that’s been more of the challenge than T is uh he’s doing the right things I think you know um probably in his you

Know in his own had a little bit pressing um you know evident the breakway and the chances he had I think even the goal that uh um uh was just spoke of or the the the thought of potentially scoring the play tight where Gibson came down with the glove and I

Think if he’s feeling it he’s probably elevating it over the glove andely with Tage producing what in your mind is up with Skinner he has been pretty much invisible here for a while well he he’s you know we obviously um miss his production when he’s on his

Game and he hasn’t on his game in your mind is he healthy yeah he’s healthy yeah KBS line had a terrific first period they best line on the ice just what what was working for them early on great Energy Great energy uh you know their their belief system is very strong

They’re very hungry they’re they’re uh you know they’re they’re they’re dialed in on creating their next opportunity and jumping on their next opportunity I think their mindset has been really very strong and Payton’s you know he’s earned his way up which is which is exactly what we wanted from the coaching side we

Have a very talented guy there that uh is building a foundation of of of how to play the game the right way um and and all that skill that we know he has and he’s had in his previous portions of his careers is coming back and now it’s

Getting them getting them in different situations and thought they were great great energy John you hit some good goalies over the past stretch you’ve had some tough games and a 4 nothing l es and something different has gone wrong whether it’s going not going to the

Front of the net or getting stopped by a good goalie what has been the inconsistency and unable to string together good um and to see success in wins what’s the just it just seems to have been something that’s been as you’ve been Runing these Peaks and

Valleys I just think John guys are this is you know this this entire season is New Territory for lots of guys with different expectations and different pressure and I think dealing with it you know not being tight dealing with it breathing um you know I just mentioned the the Krebs line and

You know you get a group of young guys and and they’re Fearless like everything’s an opportunity they don’t you know the expectations on those guys is is is probably minimal right and so they’re they’re free to go and they they run and and I think our guys that have

Have moved up and helped move this this group up uh feel a little bit more pressure and a little bit more obligation and it’s learning to deal with that and you you know and Let It Go enough that they can they can breathe and and their uh talents and skill can

Take over trusting that are you surprised your 55 games in haven’t your veteran quote unquote guys learned a little about how to deal with that at this point you know I watched uh this will never go away it’s never going to go away you ride the edge all the time

And I’ll give you an example last night watching the outdoor game there’s an aerial pass made easily picked up out of the air and the game’s over panan scores the goal and that’s it’s a team figh for a playoff spot you know that every points matters for that that team and

Flip the channel again and you know watching Pittsburgh on a power play in a one-1 game and it’s the same thing an aerial pass picked off and it’s they lose the game that’s a veteran team in Pittsburgh and obviously a veteran team in the New York Islanders and um you

Know it’s it’s it’s part of the game is is more pressure more pressure and how do how do players operate under it and um you know that’s uh that that that is never going to go away I think you got to manage it better than the team you’re

Playing against and tonight as an example you got to score more I mean you generated enough to score and outscore and to win that game so we can divide that game up 50 different ways the fact is you had more than enough opportunity to win a game through just generating

Your scoring chances but you’re always you know teams that win Stanley Cups they outscore their mistakes it’s not that they don’t make mistakes it’s not that they don’t feel pressure turn pucks over make poor decisions they outscore them you mentioned a couple weeks ago you thought guys had kind of moved

Beyond the pressure they were handling it better why do you think it’s kind of creeped back in well I mean we had lots of pressure the other night how did we do right minute minute and a half left in the game we’re down pull a goal you

Can score tied up and then we win it so we handled pressure that night I don’t think we we uh you know I think we had a couple guys that that were were tight I think um you know we generated a lot which means we we we we didn’t press

Before we got it we just weren’t as sharp Around the Net you know so um you know John was asking me overall on the scoring I think the scoring Final Touch yes guys are maybe pressure is not the right word for that feel trust might be

You know when you’re on a breakaway that you you know that you don’t have to pick a spot and be the perfect spot and I think you know I think guys are a little tight there when it comes to scoring um but you know again you you go

Immediately to two nights ago we had two you know the afternoon in Minnesota plenty of pressure on us down the stretch and that guys’s responded very well wasn’t all du respect wasn’t the point of last season to be part of the playoff rush to to push to have them

Learn what it took to be in a playoff race um and yet they haven’t learned that or have they learned that this is a process so so they’re in the process of learning it is is the obvious you would hope they would have learned it right

And and you you’d hope and you know I can remember us talking last year you can’t forecast I’m not in the forecast business you want to beet a forecast this season back then and and there’s too many elements uh throughout the league injuries being one of them and

And and but there’s just too many elements and you’re in the middle of this process and you know our our responsibility is to make sure we’re again we’re we’re we’re getting better so when we get through this we’re going to be have a better product by going through any adversity any challenge um

And the good indicator for us is we’re getting we’re getting better in the areas we’ve targeted that we needed to get better in from last year now uh you know the scoring the the the scoring obviously John I mean why not I mean John we can State the obvious and

That’s and that’s another obvious that’re it’s all about winning uh at the end of the day but there’s areas that we’re targeted that we needed to progress in we’re getting we’ve gotten a lot better in those areas and then and obviously the numbers show what’s what’s

What’s not there is what we know this team and we’ve come to know this team being very good at scoring right it’s all going to come back at some point and the foundation’s going to be stronger does the mindset need to change though I mean given what

You just said to John I know the team is different but today felt a little bit like a game last year and a lot of times last year you guys did outscore your mistakes but that has not been a consistent theme this year so if it’s not a consistent theme does the mindset

Or the approach need to change if that’s not something that can be done I guess as easy as it what the psyche might need to change I don’t think the mindset or the approach needs to change the psyche that’s feeling a little bit better you know a little bit better about your

Scoring touch and obviously that goes with scoring you know that goal scorers and you know hitters in baseball and it’s a feel thing and and uh the guys that I mentioned that had chances tonight uh you know and then we know they can they can do better and um again

It’s it’s um you know so it’s more of a psyche thing I don’t think it’s a you know a mindset or a different approach

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