“We’re In The Moment Here” | Buffalo Sabres Coach Don Granato On Standings, Upcoming Games

“We’re In The Moment Here” | Buffalo Sabres Coach Don Granato On Standings, Upcoming Games

Don what’s your thought on your early thought on Kyle in terms of coming back uh ooso still some soreness but uh good to see him out there and skating and we’ll you know today was the first practice back for him um so we’ll see where he’s at day by day but he’s you

Know he’s close not tomorrow though and uh Greenway and olon uh both battling illness still um and because of uh it being illness dayto day obviously Vick’s missed some time here um green Greenway played the other night so uh and and was in here this morning a little bit so yeah they’re both

Day-to-day sick and we’re trying to make sure it you know spreads as little as uh necessary I mean he’s played two games with us in a lot of minutes I mean he’s really been gutting it out hasn’t he he yeah he has and he’s you know you when

You play and you’re already a little bit under the weather you you deplete your system pretty good so uh we’re trying to to give him the rest to get back up Tucker battle that uh a couple other guys have um as well and so yes it uh you know a game obviously

Takes a lot out of you and uh the you know to to be able to have some rest time in between is important when you’re uh dealing with what he’s dealing with you’re looking to get on a roll here and just how big an opportunity is this to

Have six in a row at home at this point given what you need to do um well it’s it’s still anytime we get too far ahead of oursel I think anybody in sports you’re in trouble so uh it’s the next game and we know it’s a it’s a very very

Good hockey team a stingy hockey team and a good hockey team and we look any past that we’re in trouble so um you know it would be nice to not travel that’s a nice component um and not have that uh you know that element but it’s

Still uh the next game is is everything you can talk about how they’re stingy I mean they have probably the hottest goalie in the league they’ve been hot for like 10 games they won the Winter Classic just how impressive from what you’ve seen has Seattle been the last

Three weeks they’re they’re you know they’re competitive they’re a team that um you know uh because of you know their situation they they don’t have uh you know maybe the the number one overall pick and the high you know profile Talent um but uh they have lots of

Talent lots of very talented competitive people over there uh in depth and probably more depth than any other team in regard to that I mean they’re you know they can roll four lines that are um that are very deep very capable uh of of playing grind compete and and uh

Certainly skill uh as well so um very balanced team and a very deep team you mentioned more than once there are times where you got just find a way to win a hockey game maybe you don’t have your legs or or what it might be that night

Pittsburgh had a lot of Zone time but as you’ve got a chance to look back at it is the reason you won that game because your compete level stayed High even though maybe you didn’t have your legs or or whatever it might have been yeah

We we were well first of all Opie played very well uh obviously um but we he didn’t see a lot of Second Chances he didn’t see a lot of chances because of a defensive Zone mistake we we had you know we we gave up some outside ice but

We we fought and hard for inside ice around our net uh with a with you know a few exceptions uh you know and they were extremely willing tactically throw a puck to the net uh but I thought our defenseman boxed out very well second chances and and uh helped clear things

For Opie uh where he had volume but you know we had we contend you know we we were uh contending everything on the inside the outside Ice uh you know we gave up some that we could have probably taken uh closed a little quicker we missed some kill opportunities uh really

With some consistency but the good thing is we didn’t get lured out of position even though they had time and I think that’s what you’re referring to so you know in in the end it was um if you’re going to error on one side I’d rather error that we have numbers underneath in

Net front that’s where we were would have loved to see us be a little bit more aggressive on some kill opportunities that we went over this morning um where we just didn’t get there quick enough or didn’t do the right things tactically uh but we compensated very well on the inside ice

What was your Takeaway on you know some of the the breakaways and the opportunities your goal tending has been unbelievable but you really can’t rely on 970 goal tending a lot of games I mean there were a lot of chances that popped up and lcan and cleaned him up do

You think some things went yeah the breakaways the breakaways you know when a a forward Gets behind a d and he gets behind 2D so sometimes it happens when one D is up ice and the second D doesn’t recognize it or fourward doesn’t cover back for him but but you know you have

To lose 2D to give up a breakaway so um it’s it’s misreads obviously it’s not a system breakdown it’s a it’s a misread it’s a miscalculation um you know we we actually rimmed one we did it to Crosby which we had full possession it was just a turnover like I

Said it’s hard to defend a turnover uh what was the other breakway gensel had a breakway I’m not sure can’t remember exactly how that one happened now watch too many Clips but uh um and then and then Crosby had a breakway early in the game where our D turned backwards could

Have just skated right with him and when he flipped backwards it was the offset and Crosby’s behind him so just a technical error um glitch and and again it’s usually happens when a it’s usually an error by one of the 2D because you got a guy behind both of them and um so

I don’t know what to tell you it’s a it’s a read bad one breakaways one of the things that L has gotten better at you talk about getting better and is that one of the areas he’s improved his game well he he certainly looks sharp and confident and comfortable I I think

For goalies you know when you’re when you’re feeling it you make those things look simple and easy uh and he did the other night I mean if you’re so I don’t know if it’s your you could be the greatest goalie in the world but if if

You’re not feeling it on a certain night and you’re off Rhythm you don’t want to see a breakaway you know so I think it’s more of a rhythm thing than than anything else um and and it be obviously is feeling very did the other night was

Feeling very good about his game and you could see that uh he was very comfortable in all those situations mentioned guys can’t get too far ahead of yourselves how do you feel like guys in the room have handled just blocking out the standings and various things like that as The Season’s gone

Along um not good for a long time and I think we’re gotten better with it you know um real simple you know we’re we’re in the moment more you know and that’s where you need to be you can’t uh um you know it’s not for us to be forecasting

And projecting or whatever it’s for us to be performing and sometimes your attention is diverted to to that end and you know we’ve we’ve had a better focus now and standings are irrelevant what’s the date today so it’s irrelevant today uh what’s relevant is your next game because that’s the only thing you

Have control over and it’s there’s thousands of cliches it could describe that but get the moment and the moment’s tomorrow’s game and I think our guys have done a better job of that it’s a lot nicer being healthy um makes it a lot easier that’s for certain how do you

Think that happened was there anything that like how do you think what happened guys got more in the moment it coincided with having a healthy lineup I mean I don’t think that’s a coincidence you’re without Jack Quinn for 30 some games and you guys see

Jack Quinn you see what he does for that line you try to put somebody else in that line instead of Jack Quinn and it’s not going to be the same with cousins in PKA it’s obvious and clear as day and so you know you have that back in the

Lineup and you had them for 30 some games it’s pretty simple and you know the tuck Thompson Skinner line the three of them had played together they played three or four games in the whole month of December and half of November together that’s a huge difference so

Yeah you’re out of you’re never in sync never you don’t you don’t have that continuity and uh the difference now as you have that and it’s much more comfortable circumstance you know and it’s the way the league is you know teams lose top players just look at it

New Jersey was without Jack Hughes the other night last night and it’s a little different everything gets messed up so it’s nice when you don’t have to deal with that mess it’s a it’s a big bonus I don’t feel about the changes on defense it seemed like the minutes were a little

Bit more balanced maybe and that seemed to benefit some guys yeah I mean I’m not satisfied with uh with anything so I mean if you’re if you’re asking on any of that um there were some things I liked and some things I didn’t these guys just mentioned the breakaways we

Gave up is that a miscommunication between the two partners might be um misre certainly misre um so there’s some things to like but uh you know I think our defensive group uh um can be better they’re capable of being better so has Owen been better with like like Owen I I’m looking

He’s been under 20 minutes for three straight games playing with Eric some good yeah I mean some good all these guys at some good and you know we want more consistency and we want a higher level so we’re continually pushing to that so if you ask me um you know are

They better I’m not so concerned with with you know I don’t even look at as better they have to be better be better I want better tomorrow than I saw last night last game just want it that’s it so I’m not satisfied with you know where

What Owen did or anybody else did the other night great we got a win love it but uh you know we got to get better had some terrific home games where you know just start to finish really but as a whole just haven’t been a good home team

Do you have any explanation like why you guys just haven’t found you know you could have explanations again you know um historically the last two seasons no and but we’ve talked about this a lot you know um do guys put more pressure on themselves do they play tighter at home

There’s teams in you know so I mean anything you say is going to be in you know can be well that’s a that’s an excuse it’s like I don’t even like talking about it it’s it’s you know it’s get in the moment which we haven’t been um obviously

Um you know get more competitive you know when we struggle at home we don’t shoot we don’t shoot we’re not competitive enough we’re not willing to work enough so you know if if and and you can see those patterns so that’s the pattern if if we want to go out and

Compete we’re pretty freaking good when we when we have trouble at home we probably didn’t compete as hard and it’s it’s clear as day we’re not attack in the net Puck on an entry is there a guy driving is there a guy is there a shop mentality it’s so you know when we’re

Not good at home we’re passive we over stick handle we try to make a play we’re not direct we’re not hard we’re not shooting pucks we’re not willing to track pucks so no different than what I’ve said uh over and over on that so that’s it I mean when we’re good at home

That’s what we’re doing when we’re not good at home we’re not shooting a puck we’re not going to retrieve a puck with enough consistency maybe a couple guys are um you know gurgenson is a big leader in that regard uh you know when when you see him out here he does it

Every single time it’s his habit we don’t have enough guys that that’s their habit put a puck in go after it the winning goal the other night was gurgenson Chip it in go to the front of the net it’s in the you know that’s how you score more

Goals uh and and if you’re not doing those things you’ll score fewer goals you might score a pretty one but it’s it’s one every 60 Minutes uh so so it’s just those to me that’s that’s it if you’re asking psychologically why we’re not good at home yeah there’s a

Psychological component but we’re not getting to that aggressive play so

Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato spoke to the media after practice on January 8, 2024. He talked about the team’s progress so far, Owen Power, the defense, and more.

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