PREGAME: Head Coach Lane Lambert joins Everett Fitzhugh before the Kraken host the Blue Jackets (11/11)

Everett Fitzhugh's conversation with Kraken head coach Lane Lambert ahead of the Nov. 11th matchup between the Seattle Kraken and Columbus Blue Jackets at Climate Pledge Arena.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks, Mike. It was a very hard fought split over
the weekend in Saint Louis in Dallas to get the
overtime win Saturday, come up just short Sunday down in Texas.
Just take us through this weekend and your thoughts and
the performances.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah, I thought we played well, you know, I said
after the Saint Louis game, what a difference a half
a second makes, you know, turned a potential loss into
a victory. And then you know, from the other end
of it, thought we could have had better. I guess
if you could have, you would have should have kind
of thing. But you know, we played very well in

(00:35):
both of those games, and you know, that's the consistency
and the effort that we're looking for. So pleased with that.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
In the Dallas game, at least from a press box
view for myself and Al, it seems like your team
did everything right except score that second goal in the game.
What did you make of what appeared to be a
probably the best defensive effort that we've seen the season.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, well, I thought both games on the weekend were
really good defensively. You know, I think we kept shot
totals and we kept shot attempts down and we did
a really good job of that offensively. You're not wrong.
I mean, you know you're going to have you're going
to have nights I guess when you just can't solve.

(01:20):
You know, the other goaltender, I thought he played well.
I thought our goalies both played well in both of
the games, and so, you know, it was just one
of those things like we had enough opportunities to tie
the game. We certainly had enough opportunities to win the game.
It didn't work out. Sometimes those things are going to happen.
But my whole point to that is that if you
put yourself in that position every night, you'll come out

(01:42):
on the right end of the stick more often than
you won't. So you know, that's the message moving forward
for our hockey team.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
You mentioned the goalies both Matt Murray Philip Rubauer going
essentially on two and a half week's rest and thrust
into that position, probably unplanned with Joey Decor not making
the trip. What did you like about their game and
their ability to keep the Kraken not only winning one game,
but keeping them in a position to win the second
as well.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, I thought, you know, I thought they both played well.
You know, you called it two and a half weeks rest.
We can call it two and a half weeks rest.
It's you know, they hadn't played for a long time.
They'd been working hard. Our goalie coach Collins Uliano's done
a great job with them to keep them ready. They've
done a great job and I said that before, to

(02:30):
keep themselves ready. So you know they they in both
games gave us a chance to win and they both
played well. So you know we need them to keep going.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Looking at Columbus, they're coming off of a very tough
loss last night in overtime in Edmonton. Despite their recent results,
still a very skilled, a very fast team. What can
the Kraken expect out of Columbus here tonight and how
can you mitigate what they bring and capitalize on the
fact that this will be there a second game in
a row.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well, first of all, highly and I know I say
this probably every time, but really.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
There are no bad teams in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
So there's no bad teams, and and you're actually seeing
it even more. I would probably argue this season, in particular,
at this juncture, there's more teams piled up than there
ever has been. It's just incredible. All the young teams
are getting better. And you know your Anaheims and and

(03:31):
and Columbus is no different. They are a highly skilled,
very fast team. They put pressure on you and they
have defensemen that can you know, join the play, move
up on the play, and make plays. Zach Wrenski is
one of the best in the business. And so you know,
for us, it's it's business as usual. You know, we

(03:54):
have to make sure that we defend, we take away
their speed and we can transition off of that and
use our and you know, yes, they did play last night,
so we have to make sure that we manage the park,
take care of the pocket, and play down in their
zone and force them to come two hundred feet