Doug Falconer
Good morning once again. It’s time for the Melville Millionaires Coaches Show on GX94, and this morning I’m joined by the head coach of the Millionaires, Doug Johnson. Doug, a tough overtime loss last night—you had a 3–1 lead in the third period. How do you process a loss like that, and what’s the message to your group right after a game like that?
Doug Johnson
We can’t dwell on it. We just have to make sure that the mistakes we made don’t happen again, tighten up the areas that we need to tighten up on, and take some positives out of it. Because we started on time, we did a good job there, and we put a lot more pucks to the net than we have in the past, so we’ll take the positives there.
But obviously it’s not a great feeling, and we’ve got to move forward. We can’t dwell on it because that can kill you in the playoffs.
Doug Falconer
Absolutely, and of course despite the result, your line of Jaden Kokosha, Wesley Olson, and Grady Carmichael had a great game. What did you think about their impact last night?
Doug Johnson
They were amazing last night. They’ve been our best line, shift in and shift out. They’re working, they’re competing, and they were doing what we asked of them and more. So I’m very happy with that line, and if they keep playing like that, they’re going to be difference-makers in this series moving forward.
Doug Falconer
How much of this comes down to managing key moments late in the game, and what needs to be cleaned up to close out a game like last night?
Doug Johnson
Well, we need a killer instinct. If you look at the two goals we gave up in the last eight minutes, it’s two guys on one, leaving one guy open, not coming back hard enough, and then not sealing the wall through the neutral zone like we’re supposed to. And then again, not backchecking—it’s just a couple mistakes by some people that shouldn’t happen at this time of the year.
Doug Falconer
But of course, the building itself had great energy last night. How much of that did you feel, and how important is that heading into Game 4 at home as well?
Doug Johnson
I’ve said it all along—our fans are amazing here. This community is amazing. For a town of under 5,000 people, what we’re able to accomplish and what we’re able to do with our organization, it’s all because of how special our fans are in the rink.
So you definitely feed off it. You can see the energy our guys had from the crowd, and we’ve just got to keep using it and make sure we give them a great show.
Doug Falconer
So now the series sits at two games to one. What’s the biggest key for your group in Game 4 on Friday night to respond and even up the series?
Doug Johnson
Just get the win—whatever it takes. We’ve got to get the win and eliminate the mental mistakes. But we’ve shown time and again that we’re a resilient group. We’ve just got to catch that lightning in a bottle and make sure we get the W.
