After the Avalanche’s 4-2 loss to the Capitals Friday night, Patrick Roy was having a bite to eat in a local establishment and watched the broadcast as the Golden State Warriors’ 54-game home winning streak came to an end against the Boston Celtics.
And Roy noticed what Warriors coach Steve Kerr said afterwards.
“He took the time to praise their players for what they’ve been doing for 54 games,” Roy said. “But the first thing he said (after that) was, ‘We had 22 turnovers and you cannot win if you turn it over.’”
Roy paused and then used his hand to additionally emphasize: “It goes for basketball, it goes for hockey, it goes for all the sports. That’s why I said yesterday I was very frustrated. I have to find a way to make our guys accountable. How I’m going to do it, I guess I’m going to have to figure out. Is it by showing them on the clip night after night. Is it by taking them out of the power play. Is it by benching the guys. . .
“But we have to find a way. I mean, we had way too many turnovers. I’m not going to give you the numbers we came up with, but I’d say probably half of their shots are coming after turnovers.”
I asked: “Twenty-two?”
Roy replied: “It’s a lot more than 22. I’m not going to go into the number, I’m going to let you watch the game and tell me the next day how many you had. But it’s too many. It’s impossible, when you play against top teams like this, their counterattack is outstanding, their transition game is good. If you turn over the puck, they’re gone. Breakaways, 2-on-1s, 3-on-2s. They’re going to possess the puck in the O-zone. There are moments in the game where we had the puck two times, if not three times, and we could not get it out of our zone.
“You’re watching and saying, ‘You’ve been in your zone for a minute thirty,’ yeah, because we have (up) the puck three times. We know we have to be better there and that’s the cause of our problems, our main problem. Are we going to fix this to zero? No. There’s always going to be some. But we have to cut down on those numbers big time.”
Roy noted, “There are different ways to see it. Is it a lack of talent, is it a lack of concentration, is it a lack of options? These are things we might have another conversation on.”
At that point, I asked if it was too late to fix it after 77 games.
“Well, you know what,” Roy said, “my values are respect and trust. Should I have shown those clips before? I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to affect the confidence. Sometimes if you watch this too many times, you’re like, ‘OK is it going to help?’ What’s the good strategy? … And is it too late to fix? We’ll see. All I can say to you is we talked about it for a while and we know we need to be better at it. You hear me saying that many, many times. It’s not just in hockey, it’s not just in basketball, it’s not just in football. It is something we need to be better at.”
On another subject, Roy said he believed the un-penalized hit leveled on the Avalanche’s Nikita Zadorov by Washington’s Tom Wilson was a head shot. At the game Friday, the Avalanche said Zadorov — who was done for the night — had suffered a head injury, and Roy Saturday confirmed it was a concussion.
“I did’t like the hit because to me it was a blind-side hit,” Roy said. “I think it was a head shot, should have been penalized. That’s how I see it.”
I’ve seen the replays and even the frozen-frame breakdowns, and the most honest thing I can say is I’m not sure if Wilson, who had just come off the bench and skated straight to the contact with Zadorov behind the net, got him in the head or not. If you are certain, either way, good for you. Zadorov had his head down, that’s undeniable, but it gets tiresome when that’s used as an excuse for a cavalier hit.
So I’m not taking a stand either way.
But I will add this: I’d ask that anyone reacting vehemently, either way, apply the skate-on-the-other foot standard. In many years of covering hockey, I’ve always been a bit amused by the 180 degree swings, so predictable depending on whose ox was gored.
What would all be saying if it played out exactly the same, but it was a Cody McLeod hit on Matt Niskanen?
Many of the same Caps fans dismissing the Wilson hit today — and note, I didn’t say all — would be screaming about how irresponsible McLeod’s hit was, how it should have been penalized, and how McLeod should be pleading his case with the Department of Player Safety today.
And many of the Avs fans decrying the Wilson hit today — and note, I didn’t say all — would be saying, geez, Niskanen had his head down, the Zapruder Film proves that it wasn’t a head hit, and what do you want to do, put these guys in skirts?
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or
