The Cleveland Monsters had to win the first game against Toronto Maris Thursday night. But giving up two late goals and having to win in overtime is not to shock the head coach Trent Vogelhuber.
Vogelhuber led his team to overtime in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last June as they lost to Hershey. He saw many highs and lows – whether it was due, game against game or series – with a team that entered the Calder Cup playoffs.
Vogelhuber believes that playoff hockey is process-oriented, not results-oriented.
“Manage the ups and downs,” he said after the first game. “When you manage your emotions and you’re not based on the results, you end up getting better. It’s easy to talk about it, but putting it into practice is different. You just keep moving forward and you don’t have to worry about the results.
Cleveland benefits from the return of defensive players Denton Mateychuk For Game 1. The 20-year-old rookie ranked 12th in the 2022 NHL Draft, had a great start to the season before he recalled Columbus in December. He made his debut for Cleveland in last year’s final.
Mateychuk has more experience than his years, including the Calder Cup playoffs, the Memorial Cup and the World Youth Championships – a 45-game match in the NHL this season.
“The guy in the room…this didn’t beat myself,” Mateychuk told reporters after Game 1. “Yes, ‘Let’s go out there and get it back.’ It’s a very positive message and I think it makes you do a great job in overtime.”
San Jose Barracuda Head Coach John McCarthy A fairly low downtrodition was offered Thursday night.
“I think we’ve executed the game plan well,” he said, with a 2-0 masterpiece road victory in the first game of the team’s first round series.
The Barracudas have put Ontario’s goal-scoring percentage to 17, including one in the third stage. When Ontario manages to create opportunities Yaroslav Askarov Handle any hassle. Playoff hockey is nothing new to Askarov, who is again in the finals in 2023 with Milwaukee and 2024. Getting more large gaming experiences can mean spending a busy night online. Or it might mean adapting to something quieter, like Game 1.
“We took care of the hockey,” McCarthy continued. “I thought we played tight. I thought we had a tight gap. I thought we were tracking well, taking care of the hockey, and there were no unnecessary mistakes. I thought we played well and performed well.”
Rule received some potential playoff help on Friday when the Los Angeles Kings reassigned their 2024 first-round draft pick Liam Greentree To the team.
19-year-old forward Greenentree entered the Kings with the 26th overall pick in the NHL draft last June. He had an excellent season with Windsor of the Ontario Hockey League, ranking third in OHL scores in 64 regular season games. In the second round of the playoffs this week, he added 14 goals to the league-leading 11 playoff games before Windsor was eliminated.
– with from Patrick Williams
