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OILERS’ DUBNYK: I KNOW I CAN BE GREAT
Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk tells The Edmonton Journal he’s just trying to focus on what’s going on in the room through his slump and that he knows he can play his way out of it.
“Obviously there’s never been a time like this because of the spotlight, but every guy goes through this. It happens,” said the netminder. “And it’s not fun when it happens, but it will change on a dime. That’s why you just have to keep working.
“It’s tougher on the days in between (games) when you have time to think about it. But on the day of the game, you park it and go through the routines that you know are going to get you prepared to play and you go play.
“I know I can play. I know I can be great. And I have been. It’s not a question of wondering if I’m capable of doing it. It’s a tough spot right now but if I work and focus I know it will turn around.”
Head coach Dallas Eakins said he is not worried about his goaltender, that Dubnyk just has to fight through it.
“You have to enjoy the pain of the game,” said Eakins. “If you don’t embrace that pain and that challenge, you’re not going to be very good ever. He’s in the fight.
“The biggest thing for me is that I know he cares.”
ZIBANEJAD PLAYING WELL FOR B-SENS
Two worthwhile quotes via The Ottawa Citizen on prospect Mika Zibanejad from Binghamton coach Luke Richardson:
“He has been great, he has played well and he has a good attitude,” Richardson said. “He has been strong on the puck and he probably should have had a goal (Saturday). He has done what we wanted him to do.”
The Senators don’t necessarily want Zibanejad to be a big hitter, but they do want him to use both his size (6-2 and 211 pounds) and speed.
“Marian Hossa isn’t a banger, but he’s a powerful skater and he plays on the inside. He can also beat defencemen wide. We just want (Zibanejad) to do it all with intensity. It’s not that he played that bad in training camp, but there were two desperate guys (Stephane Da Costa and Jean-Gabriel Pageau) that outplayed him. You’ve got to keep an eye out for guys who are pushing you.”
FLYERS’ LAPERRIERE REFLECTS ON COACHING LESSONS
While discussing his new assistant coaching gig with the Flyers, Ian Laperriere tells CSNPhilly.com he kept “only the good stuff” he learned along the way to impart on others now.
“Preparation-wise, Andy Murray was the best prepared coach I ever played for,” Laperriere said. “He wasn’t perfect, no one is, I mean I played for Mike Keenan [in St. Louis] too, and I don’t think I’m going to take too many tips from him.
“It doesn’t work today. Those coaches don’t last. It was the 90s when he coached me. He scared me.”
He credits Larry Robinson as his biggest influence behind the bench.
“Larry Robinson was a guy I really liked with his approach,” Laperriere said. “He’s a real good assistant. He’s personable, has a great pedigree. He won so many Cups and is in the Hall of Fame.
“But his biggest quality is how he talks to guys and how he makes them feel like he cares about them and wants to make them better. That’s what our job is — to help those guys become better. If they make the team better, everyone will be happy.”
HORTON OPENS UP ABOUT BRUINS’ EXIT
The Boston Herald indicates that if the Bruins wanted to sign Nathan Horton, then they should have started a little earlier in the process. So said the winger himself.
Instead, Horton signed a seven-year, $37.1 million contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“All year nothing happened and I waited for a long time,” Horton, who is still rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery, said Saturday. “It came down to the end and like I’ve said, for my family I’ve wanted to get a nice place where my kids can be outside. That’s kind of what it came down to. I heard a little bit about Columbus and it’s not the Columbus everyone knows. It’s up and coming and they have a great team, great people in charge. It’s what I was looking for.”
Horton said the fact that the Bruins were not more proactive in trying to work out a deal was meaningful.
“You wait till the last minute and I’m not going to wait around,” he said. “But I’m happy with everything with the way it turned out.”
STARS WORK ON MATURING CAMPBELL
The Dallas Morning News points out Stars prospect Jack Campbell, the 11th overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft, has a high revving engine. That’s sometimes a problem for a goaltender and Stars general manager Jim Nill said his biggest goals this season are: “Calming down, maturing.”
“He wants to get here so bad, and Jack is one of those guys who feels the more he does, the better chance he has to get here,” Nill said. “That’s good, but sometimes that hurts you as a goalie. So it’s just a matter of continuing the process of calming down.”
LIGHTNING TRAINERS MINDFUL OF MRSA
The Tampa Bay Times notes with the outbreak at One Buc Place — three Bucs players have contracted the severe bacterial staph infection MRSA that is resistant to antibiotics — the Lightning’s training staff’s guard is up.
“In any medical setting, everybody will try to take the right precautions,” Tommy Mulligan, the team’s head athletic trainer, said Saturday; “simple things, sterile instruments and properly cleaning a room. Unfortunately, no one is immune from it. You just try to do the best you can and try to be diligent and recognize the symptoms early.”
The Lightning also uses several sanitizing mechanisms in player areas at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. One cleanses the air overnight and is rotated for use in different areas. It travels with the team, too, for use in visiting locker rooms.
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