After a 3-2 loss to Utah, head coach Jim Hiller discussed the slow start and costly third-period penalty, the decision not to challenge Utah’s second goal, Sergei Bobrovsky’s performance, and the play of Jack Roslovic and Gavin McKenna.
Hiller, before any media questions:
Disappointing. Did I get it? Did I get the first question right?
Hiller on why it took so long for the team to get going:
That’s a good question. It took a long time for us to get going, no question. Bob kept us in it, and then the stupid penalty — let’s call it what it is — cost us.
I thought we had all the momentum, and it didn’t turn out very well for us.
Hiller on whether he will address the costly penalty with Darren Raddysh:
I think he knows pretty clearly. I haven’t seen that happen over and over again. It’s a one-off, I guess, in his case. He’s clear.
I think he said he didn’t like the penalty he took himself. He understands that. That’s hockey. I think we all [understand].
Hiller on deciding not to challenge Utah’s second goal for goaltender interference:
What I hoped would have been an interference call by the referee — that was what I was hoping. When that didn’t happen, Bobrovsky was in the white, but he got wiped right out.
The rule is tricky to interpret. It really is. We went through it. We’ve seen a lot of these, and we decided that because he was in the white, we weren’t going to challenge.
But I would have hoped there was maybe a goalie interference call prior to that. That’s my hope. I don’t get to make the call.
Hiller on whether he received an explanation for the call:
I didn’t need an explanation. No, I didn’t need an explanation.
Hiller on the difficulty of winning that type of challenge:
Yes, absolutely. We know that. Our video coaches have a catalog of all these different ones. They know that one specifically.
There’s been a lot of controversy about that one, where goalies have sometimes been here and their body’s been out, and they’ve been in the blue paint, but their arms have been out.
It’s a tough one. It’s a hard one for everybody. It’s a hard one for the guys upstairs to call. It’s a hard one for our guys to call.
Hiller on Bobrovsky giving the team a chance to win:
I think we’ve talked about it. He’s just the ultimate pro and dialed right into his game. He has a lot of self-confidence and self-belief, as he should — one of the greatest goalies to ever play in the league.
He just carries on and does his business. I’m not surprised at all that he was out there giving us a chance tonight.
Hiller on the importance of keeping opponents away from the crease:
They weren’t (there) in the third, right? But they were in the first two when we weren’t skating. Really, we’ve got to skate.
We spent the majority of the third period in their end, and that’ll keep them out of our end, and we don’t have to worry about that.
You’re not going to dominate a period like that, but you don’t want to be dominated like we were, either. There has to be a balance, and we did not skate for 40 minutes.
Hiller on Jack Roslovic’s career-long seven-game point streak:
I like to see him finishing and scoring like he is, but what’s stood out for me is just his puck pursuit, his skating, his hardness, his forecheck, where he disrupts pucks long enough for Auston to arrive or Cowboy to arrive and then make a play out of that.
He’s done a great job getting in and disrupting their breakouts. The goals and everything are great, but he’s skating. If you look at it, you don’t do that if you’re not skating.
Hiller on Roslovic receiving treatment after the game:
Something’s going on. I don’t think it’s too serious. He’s spending some time with the trainers. I don’t even know, frankly.
Hiller on whether McKenna’s third period was his best in a close game:
It’s hard for me to remember. We’ve had a lot of close games. I think every game, maybe outside of two this year, has been really close. It’s difficult for me to remember.
Especially at the end, yeah. I thought the second period in Vancouver was a really good period for him, and then the third period tonight was a really good period for him.
