from Michael Russo of Russo's Rants,
Torchetti improved to 3-0 in NHL head-coaching debuts with the win, then was a quote machine after. It was amazing his throat wasn’t sore because he spent the entire game teaching on the bench. At one point, he was in a player’s ear for 30 seconds. I couldn’t tell whom it was because we’re oddly as press on the bench side of the ice, an oddity in NHL arenas.
Torchetti finally stepped away and it was Zach Parise.
“It was great,” Torchetti said. “It kept us into the game. It kept life in there. You’re held accountable to make the right play all the time. I thought as a group, we did a good job of starting well and maintaining it throughout the game and playing at a pretty high pace.”
Torchetti gets himself up for games on the bench by inhaling smelling salt. “Is that different?” he said, laughing. He said it’s always something he did as a player and has continued it as a coach. “That’s my only superstition, so I have to keep it.”
Torchetti speaks so fast and is so technical, he’s not easy to quote and takes forever to transcribe, but here’s some of his gold after tonight.
On what the heck he’s saying to the players on the bench throughout, he said, “Just little stuff. Details. If you’re losing a race, let’s work to the puck area a little bit better. We just want to tighten up in certain areas and keep building what I feel will help us improve moving forward. And hopefully they have trust in me when I ask them to do something differently or make a better decision. It’s not always the correct way, but we want to make sure they know the outs are there or just a little play where the player should talk to the other player. We’re losing puck possession’s that we should be holding onto, so we have to talk a little more on the ice, especially on a line change. If your partner’s in trouble, just work and get open and then you’ll keep your offense going.”
Below, watch the game highlights of Minnesota's 5-2 road win over the Vancouver Canucks...
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