Latest / Seattle Kraken Audio Network / PREGAME: Head Coach Lane Lambert speaks with Everett Fitzhugh before the Kraken face the Philadelphia Flyers (10/13)

Transcript

PREGAME: Head Coach Lane Lambert speaks with Everett Fitzhugh before the Kraken face the Philadelphia Flyers (10/13) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Thanks, Mike. Lane, big win in Washington. I told you
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the other night you didn't need to score six goals
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to win. Five will suffice. Just take us through that
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: game and your overall thoughts on how the Kraken fared
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: against the Caps.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought we did a really good job right
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: at the beginning of the game. Took a couple penalties
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: and killed those off. That was a real momentum shifter
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: for us. And then I thought we did a good
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: job of staying even keel when You know, when things,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: you know, maybe they tied the game right at the
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: start of the third period. You know, so I thought
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: we just stuck to our plan. And I thought we
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: used our speed on a couple of different occasions. Certainly
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: the Winterton breakaway, we knew, you know, we put pucks
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: into space. We could get opportunities. I thought we did
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: that pretty good in the overall 60-minute effort.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: How do you feel the Kraken are evolving in those
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: type of scenarios? You go back to the Oilers game.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: penalty trouble in the first period, not able to get
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: your legs offensively going. We saw some penalty trouble in Washington.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: You're able to score some goals, get through that. It
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: seems like the Kraken, through six games, they've had moments
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: where they've struggled, and then they've been able to correct
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: those moments in pretty short order. What are you liking
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: about that evolution of your part of the game?
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Well, it's an early sample size right now, so it's
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: still a work in progress. Let's put it that way. Again,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: I think throughout all of those, we've had some pretty
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: good goaltending, so And you need that in this league.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: I don't care. If you have bad goaltending, you're not
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: going to win. So I still say it's a work
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: in progress right now. How are we evolving? I think
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: we're learning and understanding, but each game is an individual entity.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: So we'll see how we go tonight. We better be
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: ready from the start against Philadelphia.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: 13 points in the last two games for your fourth line.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: They really have been leading this charge offensively. I know
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I asked you about that the other night, but it
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: bears repeating again. Six points against the Capitals. Why? How
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: are they so good this year?
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: They just do the right things, and the puck's going
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: in net form right now. But certainly when you're in
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: the right spots and in the right places, whether it's
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: defensively or offensively, you know, you have a tendency to
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: have good things happen. And, you know, the Freddie goal
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: was a prime example. That's our forecheck, you know. We hunt,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: we seek both D, and then our third forward's right
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: on top of their third forward and turns into a
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: quick strike at the net. So just stuff that we've
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: been talking about all year long, I guess, or all
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: training camp long, they're doing those things, and you're having success,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: lo and behold.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: With Gaudreau, what have you seen about his game improve
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: from last year? I know he worked on shooting the
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: puck over the summertime. He's changed his sticks, a little
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: bit of his mechanics. How have you noticed a different
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: player from last March to where we are now? Oh,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: you know what?
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: I think, you know, Freddie gave us good minutes last
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: year too. So, you know, puck's going in the net
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: right now for him. I'm not going to say, oh, gee,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: his game has changed and, you know, he's way better
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: because I don't necessarily believe that. I believe that he's responsible.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: I do think his face-offs are better percentage-wise. There's no
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: question about that. I think he's done some work on those. And,
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: you know, I just think that he's doing a really
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: good job of, you know, creating his own energy in
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: a positive way and certainly feeding off that. He was
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: good last year, too, for us.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: It's been a rough couple of weeks for the Flyers
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: to start 0-5-2 through their first seven games, but as
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: you know, there are no gimmies in this league. The
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Kraken can't afford to take the Flyers lightly. What are
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: you expecting out of a hungry team here tonight looking
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: for their first win, and what do the Kraken have
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: to do to combat that?
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Well, I expect them to be extremely determined. And anytime
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: you've started the season like this, they're a playoff team
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: from last year. They're a good hockey team. You know,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: played some good hockey games that they haven't won. You know,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: it's just a matter of, you know, sticking with it.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: So they play fast and they hunt and forecheck hard.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: We need to be ready to go and we need
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: to be solid in our systems. Okay.