Ryan Strome was not on the ice for the second straight day with what the team called maintenance. (Walker)
Gerard Gallant spoke after practice and said (NYR):
- On the learning curve of a Covid season for him, “to be honest, no, because I heard so much from other coaches and players last year about what was going on and the bubble and all that stuff. Nothing really caught me by surprise and Rammer fills us in everyday when things come up. It’s never great, but when you find out, you do what you have to do to play games and, that is the most important thing, and stay healthy. We are trying to do the best we can.”
- How tough is it to stay focused with everything up in the air, “I think, if you talk to the players or anybody, there is a good 4-5 day break here, forget about everything, go, do what you have to do, stay safe and healthy. They aren’t thinking about hockey or they shouldn’t be thinking about Covid, just go home and relax with your family and do what they are allowed to do. I don’t want guys thinking about our first 30 games or our next 50, go home and get away from hockey for 4-5 days and then we come back on the 26th and start to get ready all over again.”
- Have you emphasized that to the team, “not really, just the way we were in practice today, chatted a little bit. Just go home and have fun and relax, I didn’t tell them specifically, like I just told you, but that is what I want them to do. I don’t have to worry, hockey players aren’t going to worry about the first 30 games or the next 50, they’ll go home and relax.”
- On the benefit of the time off, “I would have loved to play tomorrow night, to be honest with you, if everything was perfect and all the other teams were playing and then it would have been a good break of four days and then we have that game. Things happen and you can’t play that game, but it would have been nice to play tomorrow night’s game and then had the break and get back to normal. We had a busy, busy schedule in that three weeks, it’s nice to get some time off and rest and we are pretty well back to healthy now, the whole team.”
- Do you sense frustration with the players about all of this, “I think it’s the same for you, the players are the same way. We all thought it would be gone by now, personally, that is what I thought and I’m sure everyone else thought we’d be on the backside of this, but you gotta deal with it. That’s life and you gotta deal with stuff and we always say be happy that we’re healthy and still able to do what we are doing right now and that is the biggest thing for us.”
- Is this just a thing you guys have to deal with, “Yea, I don’t really look back. I’m looking at our next game on the 27th. It’s been a good start for me, I’m happy with the way things have gone, we just gotta get prepared for the 27th. On the 26th we’re going to have a practice hopefully and everything goes well and get ready for the next game. You can’t worry about the 30 that’s passed, for me, I think it’s been pretty successful, I’m happy with where we are in the standings, but it’s about the next 52 that is going to be really important. Our team realizes that and they’ve been in this situation before and you take it one game at a time and you can’t worry about 52, worry about the one on the 27th, and then we go from there because you don’t know what is going to happen.”
- Will it feel like a new start to the season when you return, “a little bit, for sure, there is no doubt. Knock on wood that everyone is healthy and we are ready to go, that is the big thing. We’ve had some good rest after that busy, busy stretch and now we are pretty much healthy.”
- On how Chytil responded to sitting out, “we never talked about it, he sat out, practiced hard the next day and played. There was no issue, hasn’t been talked about since. No big deal there at all. I guess it’s, I don’t know what you want to call it, miss one game and come back and play, there doesn’t need to have a discussion about it.”
- Is there a quality about this team you’ve grown to appreciate, “Like I’ve said a number of times, we haven’t been perfect, but we’ve been good. We keep finding ways to win hockey games, early in the year it was our goaltending that was outstanding and won some games for us, which happens to a lot of teams, the same thing. Nothing has been perfect, but we’ve never gotten into a bad rut where we’ve just said ‘we’re not a good hockey team.’ The guys always felt confident in their team and we don’t play a full 60-minutes every night, like a lot of other teams, but we find a way to win those hockey games. So far it’s not been perfect, but it’s been good.”