Jeff O'Neill

It's the goaltending largely and the power play that have stopped them from getting points because last year under Craig Berube and this system, they won games.

They did not give up a lot of goals, but process-wise, they were not that strong last year either.

I mean, I think as a player, when I hear that, it's more like it translates to physical, right?

Because I think when you have a two-on-one, me and Hayes going down the ice, we are trying our hardest to score, right?

No one doesn't try their hardest to score.

I think I associate that always with some of the stuff I was talking about, blocking shots and taking hits and making hits and being gritty, whatever.

And I don't know if I had the wherewithal when I played to kind of take a step back and be like,

To me, that is coach speak, and it's okay for the public.

But the answer, I think, is always just work harder.

Just try harder.

I think at some point there's got to be a different answer than just try harder.

These guys are professionals.

They are trying hard.

No one goes out there not to try.

Either you've got to find a different system, or you've got to find different players.

Because I believe the majority of the players in the NHL are basically trying as best they can all the time.

And so that's where I associate it with working hard, but hopefully behind closed doors, it's more, hey, not only do we have to be grittier, what I was saying, but we also need to do this.

Execution, system play, position play, defensive mindset, different things beyond just try harder, because try harder can only take you so far.

I think a lot of, yeah, Saturday was tough.

It was tough.