Andre Tourigny and Clayton Keller discussed what it takes to become a winning team after practice Wednesday at the Olympic Oval.
After absorbing a 4-0 loss last night to the Ottawa Senators at Delta Center, the Utah Hockey Club went right back to work Wednesday in preparation for tomorrow's clash with Colorado.
The squad started off the game well, but were undone by an eight-minute stretch in the first period where the Senators capitalized on untimely mistakes by Utah's offence.
It was just one of those games where nothing seemed to go right for Utah, despite having the better of the play through most of the night.
"That's what becoming a good team is," head coach Andre Tourigny said. "What makes you a good team is, can you win without playing your A-game?"
A great example of that is last Saturday, where Utah had to weather a stingy Boston Bruins defence to rally for the 2-1 overtime win.
Forward Clayton Keller added Utah came out with a different, much better mindset in the last two periods of last night's game against Ottawa, and it is something they can build on heading into tomorrow's game with the Avalanche.
"When things aren't going your way, you have to stay patient," he said. "That's something I've gotten a lot better at, and our team's learning it, as well."
Tourigny added the team has had those moments before, including the shutout loss in New Jersey, and that's why veterans like Ian Cole, Robert Bortuzzo, Kevin Stenlund, and Mikhail Sergachev are on the squad this season to help foster that growth.
"We're becoming more aware and having better intentions in those situations," he said. "It's not because it's easy; everybody knows it is, but not everybody can do it."
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