Doing just the the momentum you guys have now for that Western trip what what are some of the keys to just maintaining that yeah we we played well on the road and um we got great goal tending we we uh you know uh Alex played really well
All three games and gave us a chance and when things got tough you know notably the first period of La the uh you know second period San Jose we we uh you know he made some big saves and lot Lou to to get moving so um you
Know it’s just uh it’s huge when you’re when you’re getting saves and um you feel confident in your in your whole game from from the net out do you enjoy the challenge of going that the Oilers present and McDavid his ability to move yeah I do uh it’s always a fun game and
He’s a special player him and Dy saddle so you have to watch out for them at at all all uh moments you know they they look to go which uh um you know it just uh we’re going to really have to play with the puck and play smart with it and
Make sure that when we’re uh um there’s no risk and even in the offensive zone throwing pucks back you got to make sure 100% it’s going tape to tape or else they’re taking off three on two two on one and and uh you know turn it into a
Track meet that’s the kind of game they want you guys reach the midseason point do you like where you guys are sitting right now you feel does it feel like you guys have some momentum do something during the second half of the Season yeah I feel like we have a we have
Momentum and um you know I think we we would like to be have a few more points um we feel we left some points out there but you’re going to look at a season uh you know no matter uh who you are where you are in the standings you’re going to
Feel like you left points out there but um you know I think when when things got hard we we stuck with it uh the group stuck together and you know we’ve come out of that and and really started to play some good hockey again and and uh
You know it’s it’s a um a big couple of weeks for playing some good good opponents so it’s a great test for for our team and great timing for us because uh because of how we played out west is it a good Testament to the importance of
Winning games from from the start as well cuz you’ve been able to sustain the momentum you lost in December and still be right there in the mix for a wild card spot even though December was kind of tough cuz you had those points backed earlier yeah it does and you look at uh
Um a win is a win in this league and and you know we had a good good start good post post Sweden and um you know we got hit with some adversity and I think that’s good for our team and and like I said earlier we stuck together um you
Know we came out of it and and uh you know we need some some luck for for so that doesn’t happen again obviously but um you know when things get hard we we you know you get go tending you get good special teams like we did out west it it
It it helps a lot and um you know I’m I’m I’m really excited for the next uh uh with travel everything we got a couple days here which is nice usually we we find find a way to play tonight and uh we’re still tired but we get an
Extra day and and uh we have a busy busy uh week and a half coming up so it’s uh uh a big push to the to the allstar break seen PK during the street I think it’s n or 10 straight games without a car play go yeah I think we’ve gotten in
A good rhythm of of you know uh two three units going over the boards uh putting pressure on pucks making it hard for other teams to to enter the zone and um you know when when they do we’ve been good on faceoffs as well so uh when when
We do um when they do get in the zone we get we get to save you know we that’s that’s a a huge uh huge uh you need your your best penalty field to be your goalie go is it maintenance day for wman or what’s uh a little under the weather
So we’ll um came in today when we sent him straight home so um we get a better feel tomorrow on where he is uh and how he feels uh you mentioned last week I think the V might be back on the ice uh soon is that uh Y no vill’s been skating um
Not going down into a butterfly yet just some basic foot uh uh footwork uh so just a simple step still um probably in that week to week range how about C is he still C’s close obviously had a full practice today I don’t foree us uh using
Him tomorrow uh we’ll see how he progresses we get another full practice on Friday would like to get him in on the weekend um that big body it’s amazing when you don’t have it for a few weeks there um we missed a little bit so we’d
Like to get him in on the weekend but we’ll we’ll see how he progresses the rest of this week how good have that challenge to the Oilers present for you guys well they really good challenge and it’s kind of um good timing and what we’re trying to improve in our process a
Little bit uh not give up easy offense um defend a little bit better and this is obviously a really good contest and obviously they’re playing at a extremely high level um eight in a row I believe and that’s uh it’s very hard to do in this league so just credit to them
You knew the type of team and the talent you just take a look at their lineup you know you start looking at your opponent and processing and thinking it through a little bit and you look at the depth and how they’re built it’s a really good team so this be a
Really good challenge for us those points you just mentioned are those some of the big picture themes you want to harp on on as the schedule progresses because January is a that’s been our theme for two months now so um just I like the fact that we’ve had some
Practice time of late we’ve taken advantage of it I think it’s helped our game a little bit we’ll have another opportunity tomorrow how do you kind of look at the starts that your teams have had in gam I just think keep an eye than that I know it says it’s a it’s a
General V but our starts have not been awful with the underlying numbers it’s the fact that puck has gone in on the first shot I’m not even going to bring it up tomorrow I might bring it up in sarcasm to start our meeting but I mean literally last two games the first shot
Went in and um yeah obviously not a recipe for Success not a trend we continue to have you the trend I mean obviously the penalty kills on a roll here but the fact that you’re not taking a lot of penalties how much does that help keeping units fresh I think it’s helped
A five and five game but yes keeping the guys fresh um we had cop even out one of those games and so you know just getting in games and being disciplined taking one taking two uh we got obviously a lot of penalty trouble in the second period against
Anaheim but uh it just helps even this stretch of late you know just looking back at the last five game segment which were 100% of the penalty kill it’s only been 12 kills so uh that’s good uh but this is an elite type power play tomorrow same thing if we spend too much
Time in the Box it’s going to be a long night for us halfway point tomorrow Derek one first game you’re not going to get one in I can absolutely feel shut up for some reason I love it I love it I love it uh I mean do you like where you
Are at this point I mean considering everything that’s happened this first half of the season it’s just obviously it’s been a huge roller coaster um we had a couple winning streaks in there I think we’re on two we had two 5 in one stretches we’re on a 4 inone stretch
Right now and obviously we had a really tough stretch there for many reasons a lot of it is uh inflicted uh but we knew that schedule was going to be tough through there you know kind of unfortunate timing were two top centers out or two top goalies out uh just kind
Of all piled up at once would like to handle a little bit better um but I think we’re getting healthy now and um I like the way were trending but we have um a bunch of playoff caliber top teams um we’re going to roll through four or five Stanley Cup contenders here
In the next couple weeks so this will be a really nice challenge for us Derek are we we’re good right um I wanted to ask you a question last year when villy was approaching he played like 35 games most in a season will he handle the work
Alex has played 15 he’s at 12 right now depending I guess when villy comes back and his compl play he’s going to hit that 15 Mark sometime next week is it more of a physical issue or a mental issue when you look at see how he’s going to handled this workload because
He’s obviously you know I mean I I don’t know I think he’s going to play at least probably 30 games this year yeah that’s good question that I think it’s both physical and mental um I don’t think we we’ll we’ll we’ll definitely get James in one of the games on the weekend I
Don’t think we want to keep putting it on uh Alex like this we’d like to get him um some rest and uh you know kind of manage that workload and efficiently uh and last year you know we kind of ran into it and our other goalies at the time were going
Either through injury or they’re battling their game a little bit and there’s no doubt we knew we probably overplayed bil but you’re pushing we’re in a similar spot we’re battling for every point we’re in a similar spot now so um we’ll try to manage that uh accordingly and obviously we’ll foresee
James getting a game this weekend and I think he’ll perform well um and U obviously we’d love to be able to use them when we can what have your impressions been of the comer line as the three of them have had a little bit more kind of continuity much better and
I think it starts with um Alex and Patrick defending well and again I don’t they’re not going to be heavy you can see their light at times um but they’re just playing some disciplined hockey um and that’s what we’re asking all our guys but they’re just coming back in the zone stopping
Taking up defensive space u not not having uh a lot of turnovers so I just think helps their game and I think that line as a group has played well so so you know they’re coming out of each game of late um with a lot of chances for and
Very few against and if that keeps trending well it’s a good sign for that line in our group is there anything about Kane’s game that you may have not expected obviously he’s got such a long history and you know who he is when he came here and signed everything was
There anything about him having now coached him that maybe you didn’t expect or is it kind of how how probably the biggest surprise for me is how uh how good he is physically right now uh I have seen no signs of coming off a type of injury like
That and we put a ton of workload on him game-wise probably a little unfair with him you know he shows up and we were literally out four to five forwards for two to three weeks we we we missed our number one and two Center for an
Extended period of time and you know we had a vision of just playing him you know working him in and all a sudden we were forced to play him probably 20 minutes a couple of nights and then our workload of latus has been you know probably practice driven and he’s
Handled it extremely well so probably the physical but the the other tools have been impressive to be around um and certainly a a treat to coach mention under weather just kind of curiousness mainly top of mind because of what we all went through two three years ago is it something now where when
A guy comes in he’s a little bit sick you’re quicker to be okay we don’t want that in the locker we don’t want like is that something where it’s obviously not just for his health is it something where we think about yeah I think that’s probably more than you would thought
Obviously went through the covid era there but I think it’s pretty much protocol a guy comes in sick um he’s obviously contagious possibly I mean we you know they’re professionals they send him right home no need to get the group sick so maybe a little more conscious but the professionals are they obviously
Send him right home Derek when I don’t know I mean obviously you’re watching the whole ice but when a guy like McDavid gets on the ice you kind of cognizant a little bit kind of like matchup issue and just literally I was watching most of the Tampa game last
Night um wanted to see CP get 500 my wife’s still is scolding me we have to start rooting against them it’s still hard for me I still root for them even though we’re battling in the standings but I literally just flipped over one and he just took a simple two on two and
He just turned the D wide was all alone on the goalie and it was the most harmless and I think the D thought he had him gapped properly so of course um you know again I think more of a theme of do you give up any but you give up
Easy offense to is going to hurt hurt you in this league if you give to him you have zero zero chance how do you decide whether to go with like a kind of true matchup shutdown Center against him versus a line you think look at these guys are going have a a
Time great question because I’ve been battling a little bit this year the way we’re built and I and I don’t mind it we’ve appreciated the extra offense the extra goals um but you know you know we’re rolling out some lines with a lot of skill uh
But with not a lot of guys that check or uh have a check first mentality so um a player of that elk is going to create some issues for us so um there’s always that b bance of if you have the puck that’s probably the best defense but I’m
Still probably a little more old school or I would love to have a true checking line um you know it’s been tough for us to find that this year with our group and again not a bad thing it’s just kind of where we’re at thanks
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