November 30 practice quotes: Darryl Sutter

On the team’s record against the Pacific Division:
We beat Edmonton twice. We haven’t played Calgary, haven’t played Anaheim. Split with San Jose. So I would say that would be based on losing two to Phoenix and one to Vancouver. We haven’t played well against those teams. I wouldn’t say it’s got anything to do with divisions. [Reporter: It’s more playing extremely well thus far in the games against the Central. The only game that the team has lost against the Central this year, they had a lead in the third period, too.] Yeah, we had a lead in Chicago, and then it was the other way around this game. You know what? After the game the other night, somebody asked that question. There’s not enough difference in the teams. There’s so much that’s got to do with schedule or injury or how the team’s playing at that time or what’s going on. It’s not enough of a gap between the teams.

On how he approaches this week’s schedule:
I think that the two games that we’ve set up, that we’ve talked to the players about, is the Chicago game and this game. They’re both very similar. We had a day off, then a practice and a game. That’s how we’ve approached it, and we won’t go past tomorrow on it. [Reporter: If you don’t mind looking just a tiny bit past tomorrow, do you generally as a coach, when you have three straight days without a game, have a way you approach day one, day two, day three?] Yeah. Again, I won’t look past tomorrow because a lot of it’s got to do with getting banged up and things like that, whether you’ve got a day where someone might need two, and just kind of go through from there. When you have three days, you’re going to be able to work on more specific things if you want to. So wait ‘til after tomorrow.

On whether the three-on-one practice drill was used to practice defending rushes:
No, it was designed because we’re past the 23-game mark and we have a number of guys who are stuck on zeroes and ones still. When you have a couple days between and you had yesterday off, you want to get into the game and compete part of it, the situations as much as you can. It was more of an offensive zone thing. I did this years ago and I still do it once in a while. For guys who are having a hard time scoring, if you count how many goals they scored in practice, usually that’s the reason why. [Reporter: Can it build confidence, like a confidence booster?] Some guys don’t bear down in practice, and I think that’s when it carries over. I think I’d lean more towards that than the confidence part. I think that guys who slow it down too much in practice don’t even get the opportunity in a game.

On practice habits, and whether practice is videotaped and shown to the team:
No, but the fundamentals that you’re still working on – as a kid, or in school, or in junior hockey – they’re the same fundamentals, because they are muscle memory, most of them. For sure, the pace and the passing and where you want guys on the in situations are still really practice-related. [Reporter: Mark Cuban spoke to our group before the season started, and he said they’re starting to record their practices to break down their practices and see how well people are practicing. That was interesting.] I think training camp is on video, so you can show the players. I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on it t not have to watch video after practice to see who’s on and who’s not.

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