“Crazy, Lots Of Events” | Buffalo Sabres Coach Don Granato After Win Against Pittsburgh
Three breakaways on three of their better players just it seemed like he was really dialed in tonight uh he was and uh obviously uh Deon had a great performance the other night they’ve been they’ve been good they uh you know we’ve the way the schedule is you can give
These guys a little rest they can rise and uh he certainly did for us tonight what do you think about the fact that you had a lead for 45 minutes that five on three happens you give up the tie and goal and your team goes out and T takes
The game back and doesn’t sag great crazy uh lots of events but you know and I’ve said it for for weeks now it’s a mentality talked about some Mojo some Swagger and and the fact that we didn’t have that and we played with fear and uh tonight you don’t come through that game
Uh unless you have that that Swagger and and fearlessness and um you know even even the start he had two goals uh obviously they weren’t goals they weren’t allowed because one was off sides and the other was a golender interference clearly uh but you got to
Block it out and we’re able to block that out Opie was able to block that out uh and just continue doing what he did and and that’s a mental toughness that uh we need a mental toughness we have not had Don would you talk about your
Staff that has to work very quickly to to let you know if you need to challenge or not and talk about how that works and how that the type of job that they do for you yeah it is tricky sometimes and even at home you get a better sometimes
You get a better camera angle uh or a better look or a better closeup with the all the cameras and and things that they have in the truck um that the producers have So It’s Tricky uh and those guys do a very very good job uh in a very short
Time and they nailed it tonight uh within seconds um after that so they’re watching every entry uh regardless of whether it’s in or not and uh there’s probably three or four average off sides a night anyway uh that you’re prepared ahead of time uh if if it did end up in
Your net in those cases uh and then the golender interference Mike Bales is up top as well whatever camera angle he can get at that point upstairs helps helps significantly uh but there’s a group of them uh Justin white leading the way uh that do a very
Very nice job for us and on both of them it was pretty instantaneous I assume on both of those plays it was it was really simple for me they threw the K the the shot uh at my feet there and it was uh absolutely you got to challenge both of
Those it was obviously the offside was clear as as da and I think you know Opie getting hit in the head was pretty clear too so I think those were easy ones for everybody involved today as far as as far as UK peka goes I mean he looked
Very calm and Poise can you just explain what you saw from him and not he just very little movements I guess yeah obviously he’s a big guy and he takes up a lot of that I mean they’re they’re they’re a predictable consistent team it’s why they’re good they’re they’re
They’re you know they’re consistent in what they do and that lends predictability so obviously tonight you knew they wanted to throw any Puck they could at the net they scor lots of goals on the back side of the net tips off bodies on the back side of the net uh
And Opie was very well prepared for that very comfortable with that as were’re our D so um you can minimize it but when they want to throw pucks to the net you’ve just got to be better than a net front and oopie stood very tall for us there how about your overall penalty
Kill I mean it they got a five on three but it took them a minute 52 and I thought in that minute 52 you guys did a pretty nice job I mean talk about maybe your overall penalty kill tonight what you thought yeah two things and I’ve
Said it for a month uh work ethic compete TI tied in together and and you’re you’re psyche um you know determined uh confident just a little bit of swagger you know we yeah we haven’t had it and uh you you cannot cower in those situations and we didn’t
Tonight it was uh our guys were ready to be aggressive when necessary we had multiple clears we had you know races to Puck battles whatever it was uh you’re you’re sharp you’re mentally sharp your psyche’s good and uh that was nice to see obviously that’s a challenge for
Every team every day uh but we’re healthier it’s it’s pretty simple when you look at us and we’re healthier everybody in this League’s a different team when they’re healthy and a different team when they’re not healthy and we need to take advantage of the fact right now it’s the healthiest we’ve
Been all year I believe you guys can’t get anywhere without a long streak here but you’ve gone two months without of even winning two in a row how important is this hurdle to clear and get that out of the way and how you can potentially
Go forward here yeah I mean you know the the the two months we we know nobody likes it um but it’s over it’s done it’s in the pass you can only control that next day our Focus today was today um you know everything behind us is baggage
It is you can’t bring anything forward you can’t bring a win forward you can’t bring a loss forward bring a loss forward you’re dwelling on it you’re you’re you’re you’re you’re not you’re not in a good SP spot for the next game you bring a win forward you’re a little
Bit too comfortable going so we just have to keep reset and get back in the moment and uh you know we talk about the goal tenders just be fresher you’re fresher you’re healthy here uh you can Peak perform and we need Peak Performance how about practice on Friday
You insisted that things are going to be right and if they’re not we’re going to do it again and keep doing it and it seemed like they responded for you practice time is huge obviously um you know something we hadn’t had in in you know from mid November through December
We didn’t have practices so we’ve had about four or five real good practices in the last uh eight nine days and that makes a difference you just guys move up and down the ring together you can you can break things down you can stop you can talk about things obviously you can
Design drills that you need uh areas that you’re you’re having trouble and lacking and um it it obviously it it it helps it’s helped us in the past all the time and it’s helped us here today how happy are you for zamus I mean he’s been
Through a lot and you got a huge goal in you know his hometown kind you know uh zamus was great that line was great um you know they they didn’t play a lot but they were sharp when they played they provided a lot of energy and and obviously an enormous goal
Uh in the third period um traffic at the net simple play to the net we’ve talked about it a lot when you’re when you’re uh willing to work you’re willing to go to the net you’re willing to put pucks to the net and uh that’s how goals
Happen and uh they get rewarded for a lot of work and nice de Seas I’m just get rewarded like that
Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato spoke with the media after the team’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on January 6, 2024.
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