Say What - 'Look Forward To The Hard Part'

Head Coach Ryan Huska on a back-to-back situation tonight:

“I think the biggest thing for us is to look forward to the hard part. It's not easy playing back-to-back games, but it was an area last year that we were no good in. I think we need to be much more committed in these types of games and focused on the detail and doing things right. Now, turning the page, it's no longer last year - but it's something that we have to aware of and have to do a better job with it this year.

“(It starts with) the individual. You have to prepare for things to be hard. Your legs might not be where you want them to be in back-to-back situations, so that's OK. You just have to make sure that you're committed to doing things the right way so your positioning is there. And when you get a chance to get yourself into a battle, you have to be more competitive. So, I think a lot of it falls on the individual player. Get the rest that you need and make sure you're ready when the time comes.”

On Martin Pospisil’s physicality and comfort at centre:

“I think that's what makes him a good player for us. People know when he's on the ice and they still have to do that. Yet, he's learning how to recognize now some of the other responsibilities that come with it. So, continue to do what he's doing. I think he's gotten better every time he's played in the middle.”

Pospisil on success down the middle:

“It's maybe a little harder of a job to play centre, but I love to play centre and I'm enjoying playing with Huby and Mantha. I'm excited for tonight. … I think we have pretty good energy and Mantha and Huby are really skilled players and they can make plays, so I'm happy for Huby. He had a great night and we just have to keep rolling.”

On the physical side he showed last night:

“I want to still play my game. Even if I play centre, play hard, be the first guy on the forecheck and I want to keep doing it.”

Anthony Mantha on his first-ever Battle of Alberta tonight:

“Once the puck drops at 6, we're going to be firing on all cylinders. I'm so excited to see what it's all about. We played them in camp - a split-squad game - but it's never the same. I'm expecting it to be hard. They're coming off a couple tough losses and we're coming off a big win. We're excited. It's going to be a great game.”

Kevin Bahl on starting the season 2-0:

“We've ended up stealing a couple. We got down in Van and then last game - I wouldn't say last game was stolen - but they definitely out-shot us. ... But when we play to our structure and play to our game, we can win games and you can see that. The (powerplay) was good last time, the PK was solid until that last one with the 6-on-4. But I like the way we're trending and hopefully we can grab one on the road after a late night getting in.”

On the challenge of back-to-backs:

“It's huge. And part of it is not playing a risky game. You might have to wait a period to get your legs going and grind them down a bit. But back-to-back on the road, you fly in last night... Those are valuable points. In Jersey, we were in the same predicament. Didn't win a lot of games in the second half of back-to-backs and it's huge. Down the stretch, when you look at our schedule from last year, we were probably just out of the playoffs picture - I think we were 1-9 (on the second of back-to-backs) at one point - so definitely very important.”