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NHL HERITAGE CLASSIC: SENATORS v CANUCKSMarch 1, 2014John TortorellaVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: Practice Day Q. What can you tell us about Brad Richardson and his availability for tomorrow? JOHN TORTORELLA: He has a family matter, and he'll be able to play tomorrow. Q. Kellan Lain getting sent down, was that just to get him some playing time? JOHN TORTORELLA: He's going to play, yeah. Q. It's a different environment you guys are used to a day after a game. Did you see what you wanted to see from the guys today in the time that you had them out there? JOHN TORTORELLA: Yeah, you have a 1:00 o'clock game, we're just trying to move the blood a little bit and just get them to skate. We're not going to have a morning skate tomorrow, so it's just trying to get them moving for a bit. Q. You've been incredibly patient with the top line. You haven't got a lot of payoffs in terms of goals. Do you see signs of life there? JOHN TORTORELLA: Second half of the game I thought Burr started coming. I thought he was skating better. I thought he was around the puck more. I thought their line, again, didn't generate a lot of great chances, but I thought it was better. We're going to stay with him for now and keep trying to grind our way through it, and see if they can find themselves. As I said last night after the game, my biggest concern from our team, because I think we've played really well the past two games, is staying with our structure away from the puck until we get some sort of fluid play offensively. I think we will. But we can't open it up and start trying to run‑and‑gun, start trying to cheat to create our offense. We have to stay sound defensively, which I'm very happy with in the past couple of games, then hopefully our big guys find themselves. Second half of the game, Jason, I thought that line was better, but, again, without a result. We only get the one point. Q. Am I wrong, or are you more patient right now with that top six group than you were at the beginning of the year? You seemed to experiment a little bit more. JOHN TORTORELLA: Yeah, I was moving people around at the beginning of the year. I was still trying to figure out the team. I think sometimes that I had them split up at times, if you remember, the twins. I don't think it's the proper thing to do right now. I want them. They feel the responsibility. They know how important they are to the team, so we're going to stick with them. I think that is our best avenue right now. You know what? I've thought in my mind and maybe another winger at certain times, but right now I'm going to stay with them. Q. Just your thoughts on the set‑up, the atmosphere, and all of it? JOHN TORTORELLA: Yeah, I didn't even realize the roof was open at first, because it kind of blends in a little bit. I thought they just kept the building really cold. But I was fortunate enough to play in one in Philly and it's a neat process. I think it's fun for the guys. I think it's great for our game. I hope there are some good stories that come out of it. You know, with this team, at least the coach of this team is in a little bit different situation where we're dying on the vine here. We need to get these points too. So you can't have too much fun with it. You have to keep your concentration. So I hope they enjoy themselves with their family. It was fun to skate today. 1:00 o'clock tomorrow, you have two teams that are kind of in the same situation, trying to fight to get in, and hopefully we'll be all business then. Q. Can you shed any light on the goaltending whether or not we're going to see Roberto tomorrow? JOHN TORTORELLA: No, I'll give you the goaltending tomorrow as I always do. Q. How important is it for your players to soak up the atmosphere, be in the moment but also realize that two points are pretty valuable here at this point? JOHN TORTORELLA: Yeah, and I want our team, I think our team should feel good about itself too. I thought we played really well last night. They have eight scoring chances throughout the game. I thought we had a good third period. You know, we don't score. We have a huge chance with our four‑on‑three on the power play. We don't get it done. I just don't want that to hamper us as far as getting ready for the next game. We just have to stay positive with ourselves, stay with our structure, and hopefully we'll get some big offensive plays without cheating and find a way where one mistake costs you or it gets to a shootout like that. Q. We know the players will be wearing uniforms from 1915. As a coach, what kind of suit will you be wearing tomorrow? JOHN TORTORELLA: They have us in those varsity jackets I guess they're called. They're pretty cool, and we get to keep them too. Q. Will you be wearing a fedora or anything like that? JOHN TORTORELLA: No, I will not be wearing a fedora, Elliott, no. Q. Is there anything from your experience in an outdoor game that can help you prepare these guys or anything you can tell them that will help them get those two points tomorrow? JOHN TORTORELLA: No, and I do, I want them to enjoy it. Maybe that will help us. I think we have, during our week of preparation after the break going into our first couple of games, we've tried to relax them. We've tried to relax ourselves. We've done a lot of work, but we don't want to put it under the gun. There are enough people putting us under the gun and rightfully so. And where we're at and the situation that we know where we're at as far as the standings and what we have to do to try to get it in. But we have to take it each day at a time. But you also still need to feel good about yourselves, and I think our team should feel good about itself going into this game because I think we've improved. Maybe a venue like this will relax them a little bit more and loosen them up. I've never had a problem with this team as far as concentrating on what they need to do. Have we done it all the time in the games, have we been good in all the games? No, but their preparation there and their attentiveness with it has always been there throughout the year. So I'm not worried about that. Q. Is there anything logistically that you've learned that maybe behind the scenes, working with the staff, in terms of preparing for what it's like to be outdoors, I guess? JOHN TORTORELLA: No, you know what? When you talk about a team that's struggling offensively, sometimes when you get into an outdoor situation you feel like it's back when you were playing pond hockey. I think some of our guys need to offensively allow themselves to play some shinny hockey. Just let them play. Maybe this will help us. I don't know. But you can't help but enjoy it when you're in a type of situation like this, and I want it to. Maybe it will loosen them up. You know, when we were in that Philly game, we were playing pretty good at the time. We were just‑‑ we just went out and played, and again, we're not going to put restrictions. We're going to prepare the same way and hopefully enjoy the whole situation and find a way to get a win. Q. Was it harder at all to go back to Roberto because it's been so long since you've seen him play a game? JOHN TORTORELLA: Go back to who? Q. Roberto in net. JOHN TORTORELLA: I'll discuss our lineup tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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