Pre-game comments ahead of Thursday night’s game in Nashville.
Mike Babcock
You always use country music metaphors when you talk to us. Is this one of your favourite stops?
Babcock: For sure. Obviously, country music is awesome. There is only one kind of music. No, it’s a great town. A lot of fun playing in here in the past. It’s a big game for them. They’re trying to catch St. Louis and we’re trying to keep crawling up the standings. So it’s a big tilt for us. It should be a lot of fun out there.
[Andersen] starts?
Babcock: Yep.
What does it do for the confidence of the team that you have your starter in the net?
Babcock: For sure. Mac played good though. So, let’s not take anything away from what Mac did. Obviously, Freddie wasn’t feeling good there for a couple of days, so we had to give him the break. He still practiced. It’s not like he lost anything. He’s ready to go, and he’s been real good for us. We have to play well in front of him and do what we’re supposed to do, and that gives him a chance to be good.
The offensive balance that their blue line brings, Mike — how much of a challenge will that be for you guys?
Babcock: Their top four play a lot of minutes and are real active. They have a lot of skill on this team. We’re going to have to play right. If we play right, we’ll limit the opportunities. If we’re being silly and turning pucks over, they’re going to look really good. We’ve just got to be smart about what we do and spend some time in the offensive zone. Makes it a lot harder for their D to be on offense when they’re in their own zone.
Is Bozak okay for tonight?
Babcock: Yeah, he just doesn’t like practice.
Obviously, we’ve been — for a bit now — doing our best with our medical team, our sports science guys, to figure out what is the best way to have him play the best he can. He’s been real competitive for us, real good for us. We’re managing him the best we can.
Going back to Detroit with the Joe closing, what do you think that will be like?
Babcock: It’ll be special, obviously. I loved my time in Detroit; all ten years. Real happy with the relationships I have with Ken Holland and the Illitch’s. I enjoyed my time there. We had lots of good teams and a lot of success. But the Joe is special. From Mr. Lindsay to Gordie to Alex Delvecchio, all of those guys that came through… Lidstrom, Yzerman were no slouches. We had lots of good Hall of Fame players. Hasek. You could go on and on. It was a great ride. My kids got a place to grow up. All in all, there were lots of fond memories. I coach the Blue and White now and it should be fun.
With the Crosby clash on Methot, there has been lots of talk about tapping and the slashing of hands and whether there should be a crackdown on that. Is that just part of the game, or would you like to see that called more?
Babcock: You don’t want anyone to get hurt. You can’t tell me for one second that Sid meant to hurt the guy. He meant to whack his stick like we do every night in the game. It’s a fine line. How do you control all of the things you want to control and prevent people from getting injured? Let’s not overreact here. The game is pretty good. Let’s let her go.
Connor Brown
The club has literally ground out victories on the road. 5-5-2 in your last 12. What’s a good road game against a club like Nashville going to look like here tonight?
Brown: I think it involves us playing in their end. They’ve got some guys who can score. They’ve got a really elite D core. [We’ve got] to try to grind those guys down, especially the guys that a lot of minutes, in their end.
Surprised with how young the right side is, and you’re the old man in this group at age 23?
Brown: Yeah, I was talking to Bob McGill about that. I didn’t think I’d be the oldest right winger on the team coming into training camp. You know, it’s nice to see the direction of this club.
What’s it like to have the goaltender back tonight? As good as Curtis has been, to get the starter back, emotionally at least, what does it mean for a road game?
Brown: Freddie is our backbone. He’s been solid night in, night out all season. You know what you’re going to get from him. Mac was terrific, too, as well in that start the other day.
What do you see from your line that might be able to create offensively here tonight, with the dynamics of how well you guys work together as a trio?
Brown: I think we’ve had a good stretch of playing together and we’re starting to develop chemistry. We were kind of bouncing around a bit before, and now we’re starting to get used to each other. It’s translating into a bit of offense. We’re just trying to keep it going.
You’re a guy who has thrived on the penalty kill. What has the pre-scout told this team about Nashville?
Brown: Nashville’s power play, they shoot the puck with Subban, and Josi can distribute. They’re dangerous like a lot of teams in this league. We’ll be ready to go tonight.
Limiting time and space at the blue line at as well if at all possible.
Brown: Absolutely. I think that’s a big key for tonight. Their D-men can get shots through and they generate a lot of scoring chances off of point shots. So, deny the tops and get in lanes.
Morning Skate: Frederik Andersen, William Nylander
