After a 5-2 loss to the Flames, head coach Jim Hiller discussed the team’s sloppy turnovers, Easton Cowan’s response after a rough first period, and the mounting injury situations after Kirill Marchenko’s exit from the game.
Hiller on where the game got away from the team:
I don’t know. Turned the puck over way too much. I thought we had—certainly over the last four games—taken that out of our game. It was there in spades tonight, and we can’t win in the league if you do that. We saw that.
Hiller on Easton Cowan taking responsibility for the loss after the game:
He made a couple mistakes, but no, there’s no singular person that is going to take the blame for this loss. That was up and down the lineup. We turned it over too much, and then we didn’t defend great once we did.
He made mistakes, and I commend him for taking responsibility. But he didn’t cost us the game.
Hiller on Cowan’s response in the second period:
He probably was our best player after the first period, right? But we need that from the start, and it’s hard to lean on Easton all the time, right? We’ve talked about him a lot, and there’s other players in the lineup that need to step up as well, not just the youngest or the second youngest guy out there.
He gets a pass. He’s worked hard. He came back, and he redeemed himself. That’s the least of my concerns.
Hiller on Sergei Bobrovsky’s performance in goal:
He gave us a chance. He gave us a chance. Certainly, it wasn’t anything that he did. He had plenty of good saves, gave us a chance to come back, and we, like I said, turned it over and didn’t take advantage of the few opportunities we did have.
Hiller on the faceoff penalty assessed to Auston Matthews in the third period:
It really doesn’t matter what I think. It’s called a penalty, so it’s a penalty. I’m not going to argue with the referee on that.
Hiller on the referee’s explanation for the call:
He said it hit his glove, and that’s the rule. If it’s down and he uses his glove. I’m not going to argue with him. He made the call. He saw it closer than I did.
Hiller on the injury update on Kirill Marchenko, who left the game in the second period:
I don’t have the full update. He couldn’t come back and finish the game, so that’s never a good sign.
Hiller on filling the holes amid the injuries:
Somebody’s going to have to do it. That’s the point. I can’t fill it. Somebody’s going to have to fill it.
Again, if you have a bad night as a group, nobody can fill that. It just takes the group to play well, and then somebody can step up and fill that hole. But if you’re not going to play cohesive and you turn the puck over, then it really doesn’t matter who’s going to fill that.
Hiller on Zack MacEwen’s efforts to change the momentum (a fight, a drawn penalty, some chances):
It’s why he’s in the lineup every night. And then he draws the penalty at the end, and it has a good chance.
He’s been tremendous for us. In seven, eight, or nine minutes a night, every night, he’s impacting the game in a positive way. That’s the job: Impact the game in a positive way. He did that.
