Pretty quiet morning skate today. When things are going well, there are a few injuries, few news stories and the same questions to ask every day, it makes for news-less mornings like these.
Marc Crawford said they used the time off this week to fine tune the details of their game.
"We worked an awful lot on our forecheck the last number of practices," said coach. "...And a little bit on our backside pressure. We haven't had a great deal of time to tidy up those areas. It helps when you get three practices in a row."
Then he joked "Our guys have played extremely well so hopefully we didn't screw them up with the practices."
A vigorous faceoff competition was taking place at center ice today with Stu Barnes officiating. Jamie Benn and Steve Ott employed an interesting tactic much to the amusement of their teammates when they introduced tackling to faceoff strategy occasionally. Adam Burish was one of their victims.
They do take that very seriously, though, while at the same time having quite a bit of fun. Steve Ott can be just as vocal about a lost faceoff decision by Coach Barnes at a morning skate as he can be about a bad call during a real game.
According to the Ticketmaster seat map there should be a pretty reasonably good crowd at the arena tonight but as is hte norm these days there are lots of good seats still available and you get in the building for as cheap as $15.00 if you like, so buy them up and come out and see them. After tonight they've only two home games in the next 15 days or so. Hope to see you out there.