“We Seem to be in a Much Better Place” | Don Granato On State of the Team

“We Seem to be in a Much Better Place” | Don Granato On State of the Team

To get RAS a little bit of a rest day with how many minutes he’s been put yeah it was a maintenance day for him uh obviously a lot of minutes and not not much need for him to skate it you talked about it last night but whether it’s

Conditioning or mentality what do you think allows him to handle the minutes the way he has he’s just an elite hockey player uh and we need it the the the urgency of the situation uh demands it without samel say it was nice to get Owen power back last night I thought he

Was great but you know when you’re missing Owen and samelson uh that’s over 50 minutes of of prime high-end Defenders and skill on the defensive end we asked we’ve asked Rasmus to to uh play more minutes in more situations and he’s done a amazing job at it and U you

Know he had more last night again obviously frustrated by the penalties what was it like to see the shifts after that I mean he was on the edge there you know in those shifts that just really playing at another level yeah and you you guys know I mentioned in our in the

Postgame uh press conference that I thought we didn’t get to that you know that other side of the edge or have that edge till we fell down two to one and that was on that goal and so I think you know he reacted the way he reacted uh I

Think it was appropriate um I loved the emotion in it I thought you know that was the difference that we needed was more emotion I thought we were playing a decent game and generating chances but I thought with a little bit more emotion a little bit more passion

Uh and he provided a lot more by the way uh things would be different and they and they were and and uh you know again we mentioned after the game I thought we played a real good game but it wasn’t until that passion kied in late uh that

We played our best and uh something we we hope to replicate more often what did Dylan laid laid out one thing at the end of the first period just what kind of hit like that do for the team I guess uh those hits are always are always big for

For the team and and the game and the situation it just elevates the game uh you know things are going to get ramped up from that point uh so you know I love it I think everybody in the building loves it uh to see that stuff

And that’s a big part of the game it’s a big part of hockey talked a couple times about t toson on top of this game right now playing really really well creating great scoring chances but they’re not going in is it just to the point now

Where he just needs a little bit of luck now for something for because you know certainly creating great chances for he’s he’s doing what he needs I your question there you use the word butt I don’t want to use any butt so me just keep doing what he’s doing it’s going to work

Out you know you can’t bring baggage in and negative in and and um you can’t play a victim mentality he’s done none of that and you know he just keep playing the way he’s playing he was an impact in that game he was dynamic in that game even though he didn’t score

Last night uh a lot of push back on that d a lot of stress on that team and that he’s doing even though he’s not scoring what he’s doing right now paage Thompson is wearing on other teams and causing major stress uh and that opens up things for other guys it’s inevitable he’ll

Score you’re not going to keep him off the score sheet uh but I love the way he’s playing Carolina game he’s been that way for a while yes he has he’s been very good uh very good as late you know again we we’re all going to sit

Here and say he’s got to score he’s got to do this and we have to win games and and he’s helping us win games by playing that way again it’s it’s opening it’s opening uh it’s putting lots of stress on the opposition opening up things for wrestling that’s

Big ago when you went to Florida you won two games behold you were in a playoff spot we know where you are now but you won three in a row you won five out of seven how much are you just go out in play mode and just don’t worry about the

Standings because you got to pile so many wins together to really get back into this yeah I mean you should be just go out in play mode from day one because that’s what wins games and you know for whatever reason you’re you’re sometimes pulled out of that um you know and now

You know I’ve said it for about a month now we we seem to be in a much better place and and and what I mean by that is we’re able to dial in and kind of you know departmentalize this one game or this one shift and and not uh not allow

Any distractions or attention to go elsewhere and uh you know the guys are are identifying with how you know they can play as a collective group and I think they’re feeling a Synergy in that and obviously that is what you want we are going to get uh some Imaging

On him right now to find out and make certain that everything is okay uh we obviously have to do that before we fly out so we figured we you know we do that um based on how it felt this morning so we’ll know I’ll more on um probably a couple

Hours want to have victim mentality how see hand not now that he’s a guy that scored 47 goals it’s different yeah I think you know he he wants to win so I think that’s been the bigger drag on him is is uh he’s felt like at times he’s not helping us win or

Gez I I have to score to help us win I think he’s uh you know that that’s been the dragon I he’s he’s very serious about helping this team win do what he can for his team I think uh you know in you know at his core I think he knows

He’s he’s a legitimate NHL star player at goal scorer and I think he knows he’s going to score at the level that he has scored you know the past couple Seasons he’s just got to stick with the process and you see that you see him play with confidence right now and shoot with

Confidence that maybe he didn’t have a month ago and U so yeah he takes it hard but I think he’s in a good place at this point how do you handle the you guys have you know two games in Florida then you come back and have the back to back over the

Weekend how are you kind of balancing the the workload I know you don’t have the skate tomorrow I’m just curious how you kind of what goes into those decision while you you take it each day and you you make the decision so today we obviously skated today uh we’re going

To get a recharge so the game is what 33 hours away we will not skate tomorrow morning and um you know had we not skated today we probably would have tomorrow morning so you’re you’re constantly balancing picking and choosing knowing that rest is uh is a real key you know

Also as I said you know the guys are playing better in sync uh there’s there’s more um you know chemistry or Synergy and uh so they’re more efficient so now rest they know what they’re doing up and down rink as a un five better than maybe they did a couple months ago

Or they’re more comfortable with so rest is uh is a real priority now and they’ve uh they’ve proven when they’re fresh they’re much much better our guys so

Buffalo Sabres head coach Don Granato speaks to the media Monday after practice to give an update on Rasmus Dahlin and Jeff Skinner. Granato discusses the win over the Carolina Hurricanes and the mindset of the team over a three-game win streak.

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