Pre-game comments ahead of Tuesday night’s game versus the Panthers.
Mike Babcock
Been informed Morgan Rielly has been nominated for the Masterton?
Babcock: Just did. First time I’ve had a 22 or 23-year-old nominated for that award, but there you go. I’m not judging. I just said – first time I’ve ever had.
Speaking of youth, your right side tonight… the average age is about 20 years and change. That’s a lot of talent in terms of looking forward with that much youth on one side.
Babcock: I don’t want to look forward. We’ve got a game tonight. I want to win the game. For me, Kappy is here for one reason – not because he’s young, but because he can help us. His speed and his tenacity on the penalty kill, we think he’ll make Boyler and Marty quicker and get on the forecheck so they can roll around more. He’s a guy we could’ve had here earlier. He got injured and we tried to leave him as long as we could. We wanted him to dominate offensively this year. The injury prevented that from happening. He dominated early. Sometimes it’s just great to play with your peers. We’re all in such a rush as parents. We want our kids to play a level up, a level up, a level up. I don’t know what’s wrong with being the best player. That was the plan for this year. It didn’t work out just because he got injured, but we’re happy to have him.
What’s made the Matthews line effective here of late?
Babcock: That’s a good question. I don’t know the answer. Hyman does what he does every day and gets on the forecheck and gets those guys the puck back. Willy is an elite talent. The harder he plays, the more he has the puck. Auston, to me, is just good with and without the puck. He plays and practices pretty much every day. Sometimes it doesn’t go as good as he wants but he’s as consistent as you can get.
Bozak wasn’t out there. Is he okay to play tonight?
Babcock: Yep.
Who is backing up tonight?
Babcock: Sparks is backing up.
Auston is tied with Wendel here for the goal-scoring record.
Babcock: Oh, good.
Your impressions of how much Wendel has meant to the organization since you got here?
Babcock: I’ve known Wendel since he was a kid. I played with his brother. I’ve known him forever. Wendel is a good, good man. Came here from Saskatchewan, stepped in the league and was a force right way – both physically and he could shoot the puck in the net. He’s an unbelievable ambassador for our team and — maybe even better yet — he’s great for our guys to be around and see how he handles himself and the respect he shows fans and people. He treats everyone so good that it makes you feel great. I think that’s important for our players to understand just how much time Wendel has for the community and it’s important for our guys to do the same.
What qualities did you like about Morgan when you made him alternate captain?
Babcock: He’s an elite player. He loves hockey. He’s got a good engine. He comes with energy every day. I think he’s one of the best young players in the world. Obviously, Canada [thought so] last year. He played in the Worlds and for the young guns, or whatever they’re called, on their number-one pair. He’s a good hockey player. I thought he had it really good. He got injured, wasn’t as good. Seems to have gotten her going good [again]. He’s an important guy for us.
What about Sparks this year? Have you seen him at all with the Marlies?
Babcock: I haven’t seen him at all. He’s obviously turned their season around, coming back and playing good. He’s been injured a lot, too. He’s one of those guys that hasn’t found a way to stay healthy. He’s got the athletic ability and the ability to stop the puck, and he’s got good size.
Do you wait to see how Andersen feels tomorrow to know if he plays [Thursday]?
Babcock: The great thing about it – you guys and I have had this discussion many times – I don’t get any input in any of that stuff. They’re going to let me know when he’s ready.
When you look at the season as a whole, when the team has disappointing losses, they usually come back with a pretty good performance the next game? What do you think has allowed them to turn the page so well?
Babcock: I don’t know what the sense dwelling on it is. When you play bad, you don’t prepare and you don’t work as hard as you should, you should think about it. When you get up the next day, you should get on with your life. That’s what we tried to do – live in the present. I think we went 7-0-1, or I know we did, and then we lost a game. The way I look at it – let’s get back on another run. That’s kind of how I look at it each and every time. Let’s just get started again and get ourselves playing right. We have to play right to be successful. When we don’t play right, it’s so evident quickly in games that we’re not having much success offensively or defensively. So, let’s just play right.
That stretch started with your loss in Florida. Was that something of a turning point?
Babcock: I don’t think it was a turning point. I think it was a loss. You get them once in a while during the year. Sometimes it’s better to get smacked. When you get smacked, you usually get two periods to watch the clock and it hardly moves. You just sit there and you take your punishment and you get slapped and you get ready for the next day. Sometimes that’s better than losing right at the end of the game and you really thought you were in it and you played good. It’s a good reset. We all need to get slapped once in a while. That’s why most of us have wives for a good tightening. Keep us in line.
The fact that Leivo skated a sign that he’s getting closer?
Babcock: Leivs has missed one game, hasn’t he? You’ve got to find a way to stay healthy, man. You’ve got to keep your job when you get it. So Kappy’s job is to make sure Leivs doesn’t get it, right?
Frederik Andersen
Andersen: It’s the only way to do it – keep working hard out there and take as many shots as possible. I think it was a pretty good sign today. I felt pretty good.
Did you feel better than yesterday, or pretty much the same?
Andersen: I think I felt pretty good. It’s tough to compare like that, but it’s looking pretty positive.
Do you know if you’re backing up today, Freddie?
Andersen: No, I don’t know yet. Still taking it slow. We’ll see.
When it comes to dealing with this injury, are there any reference points for you? Is this kind of a new experience, a weird experience, or something that there is some comfort with?
Andersen: I think any time you come back from an injury you just want to make sure you feel as close to where you want to be. At this time of year, you don’t want to waste too much time getting there. You want to work hard and make sure you get there as quickly as possible.
This time of the year, is it hard not to be tempted to rush it back and maybe get back too early?
Andersen: Yeah, very. Huge points. It’s big tonight. Every game is really important down the stretch. Everyone wants to play and be able to help the team.
With this morning skate, were you doing the same kind of routine that you usually do if you were backing up, or was it more? Or less?
Andersen: We actually tried to make it feel like a game day. Tried to prepare as though it was a game. We keep getting that mentality. I think this was another good step in the right direction.
What needs to happen before you can play? What do you need to feel?
Andersen: That I’m ready to play. It’s pretty simple, but it’s tough to know.
How important are the morning workouts with coach Briere before you get a chance to go out with the main group? I know it’s only been two days, but what do you take from that?
Andersen: It’s great. Obviously, I work a lot on fundamentals with him and we’ve done that all year. I think we just keep doing that, and once I get back, I’ll feel really good.
Morgan Rielly
Do you kind of pride yourself on consistency going back further than this year? You’ve hardly missed a game before that and it’s a really hard position to learn for a kid.
Rielly: I think so. You just try to be the best you can be any time you get an opportunity to be around your teammates and be at the rink. I mean, we have lots of guys in this room that try to do that. It just so happened that it went the way that it did.
Maybe the roots of this award go back to your last year in junior and the ACL injury and all that you put in to leading that Moose Jaw club despite the adversity that you faced?
Rielly: Yeah. Over the course of time, there is adversity for everybody. I think it’s a good thing to go through tough times. You learn how to deal with it. You mature and you grow. I think that, when you’re faced with adversity, it’s a good test. You learn a lot about yourself. You learn how to deal with it. Down the road, you can always learn from those past experiences.
Obviously, a huge game tonight against Florida. Going into it without Freddie, what is the mindset of your team?
Rielly: We’re not worried about who is playing in net for us. We have two great goalies in Mac and Freddie. As a team, we have to be ready to go out there and play well in front of him and make sure we do our jobs. Last time we played these guys, we weren’t very proud of our efforts. That’s going to be an important aspect of our game – the way we come out and work. We know what we have to do. We know what’s at stake. We know how they play. It’s on us to come out, play hard, play our game and get a big win.
