Tigers return home down 2-0 to Ice

“I think Winnipeg has a good team, they do lots of really good things. They have some high-end players. Saying that, you know, I thought we took big strides even during the games we got better,” he said Monday after practice. “I think we gotta stay out of the box, they got a good powerplay. You know they got a couple empty-netters but I think just straight five-on-five the score’s 3-3 which is pretty big for our club.”

Desjardins mentioned goaltender Beckett Langkow, Dallon Melin, Brayden Boehm, Tomas Mrsic and Cayden Lindstrom as players who stood out to him in Winnipeg, but he’s proud of how hard the entire team played all weekend against one of the top teams in the country.

The coach says it’s going to take a team effort to get back in the series and everyone will need to be playing and playing hard. Desjardins says Winnipeg’s skill can make it hard to contain them but the Tigers will need better discipline going forward.

He adds the playoffs aren’t about being close or showing up, they’re about finding ways to win.

“Lots of times the coach keeps them accountable. Now this time of year it’s wins and losses that keep you accountable,” Desjardins says. “You have to look at your game. You have to look at it and you have to study it and this is the reason we lost and this is the reason we won and you gotta make the adjustments accordingly.

“But it’s great to be playing at this time of year. It’s a good thing. Our guys have worked hard and you know we’ve come a long ways from the start of the year so it’s a good group.”

Desjardins hopes fans will be out in force to watch Games 3 and 4. He says the fan support has been awesome, particularly in the regular season finale against Swift Current when the Tigers clinched their playoff spot.

A scan of the tixx.ca site on Monday afternoon shows about half the tickets are still available for the Tuesday and Wednesday games.

by Chris Brown

Tigers return home down 2-0 to Ice

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