Postgame quotes

By Rich Hammond on October 14, 2007 7:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) |

I started off by asking Michael Cammalleri a simple question: ``How can this get better?''

His answer: ``I don't think we have a choice. The question is, is it pretending that you're doing it or actually doing it? There has to be a structure and you have to stick to it, every player, every shift, every game. It's not enough to think that you're doing it. It's up to the guys in this room. It's not good enough. The other teams are playing 60 minutes and we're playing 40 or 45 minutes. It leaves a lot of time for the other team to expose us. I think we're fooling ourselves if we think we're doing it.''

I asked Jonathan Bernier how he felt about his game, given that one goal was scored on a deflection and the other was scored on a shorthanded breakaway.

``I felt OK,'' Bernier said. ``I've got to give a better chance to my teammates, especially since we're in trouble a little bit. I have to give more confidence to our guys.''

Marc Crawford said, ``We're seeing this familiar refrain. I thought we were better tonight but it was the same story. We made critical mistakes at criticial parts of the game. We made mistakes when (Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Holmstrom) were on the ice. It's almost incomprehensible that you give up a 3-on-2 chance to their best line when you're trying to get back in the game. I have no explanation for it. I'm certainly disappointed about it.''

Matt should have more quotes later from Blake and Crawford.

4 Comments

anthony said:

I know what Crawford's problem was today.
It was that dreaded Marty Turco, he was the difference in this game too. Far be it for this person to admit that perhaps his coaching style is just not working.
I've never seen team play with zero motivation.

Blake was back to his old self again. I'm sure his Minus -3 performance won't discourage or upset him.
And I'm not sure if Dustin Brown fits the mold of a top line player. He's almost invisible on the power plays and his hands are like bricks. Often he seems out of place during an out numbered charge. He was a minus -3 today and I hope he gets his act together soon. Otherwise the job should go to Sully. Nagy & Brown just aren't working out.
Finally, if Lombardi signed Nagy, Calder, & Handzus to provide scoring. Somebody forgot to tell them that. I'm still waiting for Handzus win a face-off draw.

October 14, 2007 8:27 PM

Gord said:

For crying out loud, dude, lump blame where blame is justifiable. Crawford yes. Blake yes. I hate saying it, but even Armstrong and Visnovsky to some extent.

But stop picking on Handzus - he's winning almost exactly half his draws and is one of our top penalty killers. He had a good game tonight, he generated some good chances playing with Sully and Calder.

I don't know how Dustin Brown can be considered obsolete when on he has 5 points in 6 games on a 1-5 team. He also had several effective shifts tonight, including his decidedly un-brick-like setup of Cammy (where he got robbed by Osgood).

I want to know what happened to our defense. I understand Blake is a liability and Modry is Modry, but the other guys have to start picking it up. I can't beleive how difficult it is for them to clear their zone and mount any sort of sustained pressure

October 14, 2007 8:53 PM

Eugene said:

I am concerned that Bernier is ready to start taking the blame for these losses. If he was a seasoned veteran goaltender that is mentally ready to handle the burden of this team that is one thing. However he is just one year away from playing Junior hockey and playing for the worst team in the NHL will only hurt his development.

They made the right move by sticking him in again after the Boston game but they should strongly consider sitting him until after the team has found its way.

October 15, 2007 8:08 AM

Dan H. said:

"They made the right move by sticking him in again after the Boston game but they should strongly consider sitting him until after the team has found its way. "

Who knows how long that will be. They have 5 games to decide to send him down or keep him. He's the best they have and sending him down would be a waste of a season for him since he was already the best goalie there last year. It's too bad he can't play in Manchester to at least step up one step.

October 15, 2007 1:19 PM

J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey. E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra
@inlandnewspapers.com.

Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews
.com.