Transcriptions by Arielle Aronson/DFP Staff
Opening statement
I thought we played OK in the beginning. I thought we played pretty well in the second period. I thought we looked like we ran out of gas, like we were skating in sand. The difference in the speed of the game between UNH and BU in the third period was like night and day. That coupled with the fact that they do real well in their special teams –– they did a good job killing penalties, they did a great job in the power play. And they got two faceoff goals. Both exactly the same –– just win it straight back. One of them goes to the point. One of them goes to a shooter in the slot and we don’t get a neutral faceoff there. That play by our center, it looked like the referee threw it back to him. Nothing you can do about that for our goaltender. We should have had somebody in line to block the shot and we didn’t.
I was disappointed in how unthorough we were. I was disappointed in how slow we looked as the game progressed. We turned pucks over at blue lines. We had opportunities to make some plays and we fumbled them. We were forcing pucks, and then we were just hanging on too long sometimes. And I thought UNH out-battled us. As the game progressed, I thought they just out-battled us. All in all, not a good show.
On whether or not faceoffs have been an ongoing issue
No, we’ve been very good at faceoffs lately. In fact, one guy was 13-for-17, one guy was 14-for-16, one guy was 5-for-9, one guy was 11-for-17, but we lost a couple of them that were absolutely brutal. The one that Trivino lost for the goal was the only one he lost in his own zone.
On taking penalties during penalty kills
It’s a pathetic problem. They don’t get the message. It’s not that important to them to fight hard and be tenacious without being stupid. I didn’t see some of the calls. I thought the game was well refereed.
On whether the team is rundown
Bonino was sick all day, and he looked it. Trivino looked like he was very, very slow. Key guys. David Warsofsky, it was his first game back and his first game playing forward in a big rink. I thought Pereira looked OK, but nowhere near the speed he usually gives us. I thought that Megan played extremely well tonight. He was sick for the last few days with a flu bug. He didn’t practice at all, and came to practice today and took a pregame skate and said, “I think I can play.” We weren’t sure, so we dressed him in the warmup. He said he thought he could play. I thought he was one of best forwards, if not our best forward.
I thought Shattenkirk and Cohen gave us a good night. I thought Shattenkirk, especially, was moving the puck and competing. A couple of turnovers we would like to have back from those two guys, but in general, they played pretty well. We can’t seem to recognize when people are taking away Shattenkirk and Cohen on the point on the power play that we’ve got to get the puck down low. We keep forcing it up top. We’re playing 3-on-3 up top instead on 3-on-1 down low. We’re not doing a good job on our power play recognition, as well as not moving the puck. But I don’t think it’s because of Shattenkirk and Cohen. They got all kinds of pressure on them, and they make a couple of great plays with guys all over them on the blue line. So, I liked what I saw there. It was Chiasson’s first game back. I thought he played OK. But in general, I thought 80 percent of our forwards had tough nights.
On whether focus was an issue
I think we were ready to play tonight. We looked slow. I don’t know what that’s all about. Maybe the flu bug is attacking a few more guys. A few guys had it. A few guys are getting over it. So, that’s a problem. I don’t think we looked slow because we weren’t physically or mentally ready to play.
On Warsofsky’s play up front
I think it’s an experiment. We have guys so banged up that we need a little more talent up front. This is probably the worst rink you could have him play forward. It’s hard to get to people. It’s a long way up and back. He’s not used to jumping on people on the forecheck. We’ll see how he does tomorrow in our rink.
On the play of the freshman
Chiasson, Courtnall, Escobedo, Nicastro, all our freshman are playing well. It’s a recurring theme. They come to play every night. They play hard. I thought Santana played pretty hard tonight. It was nice to see Gaudet get another goal, because he works very hard. But we have to get more out of the first six guys instead of hoping that Gaudet and Santana can win a game for us.
On Connolly’s status for Saturday
I don’t think he’ll play.
On avoiding getting buried too far in the stantdings
I think we’ve already buried ourselves pretty far in the standings. We have to put more than a few games together to get out of where we’re at. We look like we’re in the same boat coming in here, except UNH was in second place in our league, or third, but we’re in last or second last. We’re 3-6-0. They were 3-6-2 coming in, but all their wins were in the league, and now they have a fourth win in the league. They’re much better off than us in the league. I would have taken their record coming in before the game. We’ve really put ourselves in a hole here as far as Hockey East is concerned, and anything is concerned. When you start off 3-7, you’re not getting what you want out of everybody.
On the play of Kieran Millan
I thought he played extremely well. I would have liked to have the 5-on-3 power-play goal off the angle, but other than that, I thought he played real well.
On who will start in net Saturday
We’ll talk to [Coach Mike Geragosian] before the game, watch the film tonight, make a decision. Millan has played extremely well against UNH, and I thought he did again tonight.
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