After Thursday’s optional skate/skills session, head coach Craig Berube discussed Max Pacioretty’s injury, the schedule leading up to the return to play, and Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner’s opportunity to play in a monumental game between the U.S. and Canada.
What is Max Pacioretty’s current status?
Berube: He went out and tried to do some stuff, but it was a no-go. We’ll see where he is at tomorrow.
[He’s not an option for the weekend] right now unless he recovers really quickly tonight.
Why did you want to avoid three practices in a row coming out of the break?
Berube: Well, we would’ve had four practices in a row. I like practicing the day before the game. Four in a row, followed by back-to-back games, is a lot. We went with two, then a workout/day off today, with nothing too tough. We will have good practice tomorrow at a good pace, and then we’ll play back-to-back games.
With Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner playing tonight, would you consider giving them a rest for the first game back, if they felt they needed it?
Berube: Do you have someone who is going to go in and play? (laughs)
As of right now, they are playing the game. These are big games.
Matthews and Marner have never won a winner-take-all Game 7 in the NHL. One of them is going to be on the winning side of it tonight. What do you think it may be able to do for one of them moving forward?
Berube: Definitely, these are big games. People can say what they want. There is a lot involved in these games — a lot of pride for your country and a lot of emotion. These games are intense. Playing in a game like this is very good for them both.
Only one of them is going to win, but it is just getting a taste of what it is like — the intensity of it and the emotion that is involved. Every play matters. Every shift matters. It is tight. There is not a lot of room out there. You have to work for your room, and you have to work for everything you want to get out of the game.
It is a highly competitive game.
You have spent a lot of time around Jordan Binnington. What did you notice about his ability to elevate in these kinds of moments?
Berube: He has always been a big-game goalie, in my opinion, when I was there. Going through the playoff run that year, Game 5 in Winnipeg was a big win. Game 7 against Dallas at home was a big win. Game 7 in Boston was a big win.
Even going back after that in the playoffs against Colorado, he came in — I started (Ville) Husso in the Minnesota series — and won games. He won against Colorado before he got hurt. He was playing extremely well.
He has done really well in big games.
Would you have stuck with Binnington through the whole tournament, as Jon Cooper has?
Berube: From what I have seen so far, yes. He has played pretty well. I mean, goals go in, but he has made some big saves at big times for Canada.
Can you speak to the job Cooper has done in terms of managing so many stars on one team and getting the best out of them?
Berube: Excellent job. That adjustment they made against Finland with the lines was really good. The chemistry looked better.
It is hard to manage all of those stars. It is hard to get them to all buy into the role. He has done an extremely good job of that.
What did you like about what you saw from the line of Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli, and Marner?
Berube: They all work, right? They are all really good defensively. They all check well. They do provide chances. They create chances off of their work. There are three good workers there, and three good players who know how to check.
Cooper has said he was working on his message or speech before tonight’s game for months. You had a pretty amazing, quick speech before Game 7 in St. Louis. How much thought goes into it from a coach?
Berube: I didn’t really think about it, to be honest with you. I went out, and it came to me. I am kind of a spur-of-the-moment guy with it a little bit. I always try to feel what our team needs at that moment beforehand. Do they need a pump-up speech? What do they need going into each game?
Coop has done this job for a long time with Tampa. He is going to come up with something good for sure.
What is it like coaching in a game of that magnitude?
Berube: You get a pulse on your team in the morning. You can tell where they are at a little bit in practice, a morning skate, or in meetings. You get a little bit of a pulse on the team and where they are at.
What do they need going into the game? Are they really nervous? Are they pretty loose? I think it is pretty important to try to alleviate some of the stress that they are going through if needed. If not, and if they are feeling good and ready to go, that is great.
You’ve prepared them. They’re prepared. They know what is at stake, and they know hard they have to compete out there on every shift. There are some adjustments you could possibly make, but for the most part, it is up to them.
What is your final score prediction?
Berube: Canada, 3-2.
Matthews with two, Marner with a hat trick?
Berube: Haha! I am sure it is going to be a tight game. You’d think it would be, anyhow. You never know. Everybody thought the Super Bowl was going to be tight. You never know what will happen. It is why we play the games.
