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PREGAME: Head Coach Lane Lambert with Everett Fitzhugh before the Kraken/Caps game (1/27) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Thanks Mike Lane, winners of two of your last three games,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: following a four to three win four to two win
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: rather a couple nights ago over the Devil's exacting some revenge.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: What went right in your opinion for your group?
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Well, first of all, we got a really good game
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: from Joey.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: I thought he played very well in the nuts and
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: made some saves when he had to.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: I thought we defended well.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: You know, you know, by our calculations five on five,
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: we only gave him two scoring chances in the first
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: forty minutes, So that was a lot.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Better than the Anaheim game, you know.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: And I'd like to say every night, and I do
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: believe that our commitment level is there every night.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: There's just certain.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Nights when maybe we weren't on or on and that
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: was Anaheim, but on New Jersey we were better.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Can you point to anything in particular why there there
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: is this hot and cold, there's a night on, two
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: nights off, two nights on, one night off. Is there
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: anything that you can point to specifically why maybe the
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: momentum sometimes doesn't carry over from one day to another
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: like you'd like.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, I hate to say this, but I
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: just think the schedule is so demanding and so taxing
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: that you know, there's there's been some inconsistencies with how
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: guys feel physically, and then you know, when you're there's
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: an old saying when your legs go, so does your brain.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: You like for that not to happen.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: But you know, the schedule has been tough, and I
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: think that's why you're seeing some inconsistencies.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Throughout the league.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: You know, we've seen games nine to one around the
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: league and six nothing and five nothing, and it's just
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: kind of one of these things where if you get
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: on the wrong side, you know you have trouble getting
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: back and clawing back.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: And for us, I.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Think we've done a really good job of being resilient
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: when the other team has scored first, and oftentimes they've
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: scored first and second.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: And you know, with that being.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: Said, you know, we've met when the other team has
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: scored first to eke out a five hundred record of
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: four to four and two. But you know, in our
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: last twenty games when we've scored first, which has been
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: ten times, we're seven to and one.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: There's a big time importance to having a good start.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: Where players know that you know, We've just got to
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: find a way to execute it.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Berkeley Katton had a really skillful goal the other night
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: against the Devils, and I asked him about that this
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: morning and his confidence growing, and he said, one hundred percent.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Watching him and seeing his confidence in that skill grow
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: has been a part of his game. What have you
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: noticed about his confidence in the last couple of months
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: for Seattle and also where do you feel maybe he's
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: he's going to take that next big step in his game.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Well, I think he's been pretty confident all year long.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: I think he had a lot of opportunities before he
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: scored a goal to score a goal. I've never seen
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: a lot of confidence from him, and that's the one
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: thing I've really liked about him, even when he wasn't scoring.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Sometimes I can get into your head and take your
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: confidence away, but he's been good that way. And it's
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: nice to see the pub going in for him.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: You know, we'll see where we go from here.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: You know, I just want him to continue to improve
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: and continue to improve defensively as well. The offense will
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: always have opportunities in your offense for him will always
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: be there. So you know, we're just going to continue
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: playing playing him and you're watching him improve.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: This morning, you mentioned the importance of taking it one
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: game at a time, But when you look at the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: standings and see three four way tie at fifty five
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: points for that second and final wildcard spot, does the
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: human nature aspect of wanting to look ahead creep in
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: a little bit? How do you manage the locker room guys,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: not trying to peak too far ahead the schedule, look
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: too much at the standings, and just focus on the
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: next sixty minutes here tonight.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: Ah, Yeah, I don't think that's a problem at all,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: to be honest with you. I mean, you know, if
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: you're focusing on the present and one game at a
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: time and the Washington Capitals tonight and not worrying about
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: anything else, you give yourself a chance to climb in
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: the standings.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: If you look ahead, if you're.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: Not thinking about your opponent tonight, you'll fall further behind.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: You know, it's a long season and there's a lot
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: of games left, although we are kind of starting to
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: wind down a little bit, But there's a lot of
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: games left, and there's a lot of points on the table,
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: and we just.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Have to take it one game at a time.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Capital six points back of a playoff spot in the
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Eastern Conference. You know this team very well and you
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: can use a lot of your experience to help you
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: know your plan here tonight. But what are the crack
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: it need to be able to look out for against
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: the Capital's team that is trying to climb back to
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: within a few points going into their Olympic break.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they're like every other team in the
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: league almost maybe with the exception of Colorado. All the
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: Colorado's cooled off a little bit here as well. You know,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: they've had a little bit of a tough patch here,
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: three six and one in their last ten.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: You know, if not, they're not out of the playoffs. Yeah,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: you know, and so they're looking to turn it around.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: For me, the biggest thing about this hockey game tonight,
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: they are number one in deflections in the league. Their
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: defense do a really good job of shooting for tips,
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: races to the net and making sure that you win.
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: The battles around the net are huge. Second in slot shots.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: They're a big hockey team. Bovechkin Protus Wilson.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: These guys get to the net. It's going to be
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: what I call a man's event.