The Utah HC head coach spoke to the media Wednesday in Kearns about his objectives for his team heading into their final two pre-season games.
The regular season is now just six days away, and Andre Tourigny is already having to make tough decisions regarding his roster.
One move made today was to send no. 6 overall pick Tij Iginla back to the Kelowna Rockets, trimming the roster to 35 players. (All NHL teams must be down to 23 by the end of training camp.)
However, Tourigny said Wednesday at the Olympic Oval moves like that are made to test players' responses to adversity.
And another example of adversity came following San Jose opening the scoring in last night's 3-1 win at the SAP Center, where Utah was hemmed in for the final five minutes before breaking through with Sean Durzi's power-play goal with 11 seconds left in the second period.
"There's no such thing as 60 perfect minutes," Tourigny said. "That was a learning opportunity for us, and I think the guys did a really good job to settle down."
Tourigny added it led to a strong third period where Utah had its best defensive game of the pre-season, especially on the penalty kill.
"San Jose had a lot of guys with talent out there," he said. "The big thing for us is get into the dirty areas as much as possible, and to not overpass the puck.
Game Day Information: Utah Hockey Club at Anaheim Ducks
Wednesday, October 2 at 8:00 p.m. MT; Honda Center
- TV: None, streaming only on SEG+ and UtahHC+; Mike Folta (play-by-play) and Nick Olczyk (color)
- Radio: None
More from pre-season/training camp: