Tyson Kozak Post Game | 05.23.2025
Cozy, you guys do or die. You’ve been here before and this team has done this before. Um, actually fifth straight road win that you guys have had in elimination games over the last couple of years. What is it about this group that that that has that never say die mentality? Yeah, I think uh obviously we have a different team from past years, but uh I think throughout the season we just kept gaining belief in our team and it’s carried over into the playoffs. I mean, we haven’t been in a situation like that uh this playoffs yet. So, it was good to experience that and we just have a lot of belief in the room and in each other. They scored 15 seconds in on Wednesday. How important was to get the first goal? I mean, even in that game, I thought we after giving up a goal 15 seconds in, I thought we responded uh throughout that game and then kind of just got away from us in the third. But going in today, I think obviously we just wanted to have a good start and uh hopefully get uh the lead at the start of the game cuz uh if you’re down in this building, it’s a tough place to come back in. So, we just wanted to get the lead, try and hold the lead for as long as we could. And uh fortunately we were able to you new line you with Fther Schultz and Josh Dunn. Those two have been together for a while. Uh what was it like being uh on with that duo? Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. Uh played with them a little bit uh towards the end of last game. So um we just play a simple game, get to the four check. Uh we know if we’re hard on the for check, they’re D are going to give the puck up. So we just kept it simple, tried not to do really anything fancy and ended up working out for us tonight. been a part of a lot of playoff games with this team the last couple of years. Anything as chaotic as this one? I mean, ended up with around 160 penalty minutes. Yeah. No, I mean played Syracuse a bunch and I don’t even think those games have gotten out of hand like that. So, haven’t seen that uh very often. Can you explain I mean, obviously they they were initiating it in most cases. Frustrated team down. They know they’re going to lose. uh is what is the the temperature like for for you guys on the bench? I mean, at one I think at the end of the game they had they had four guys left on their bench. Mhm. I mean, they’re a frustrated team. They obviously lost tonight. So, we knew they were going to try and stir the pot and try and carry it over, get it to carry over into game five. So, we just knew to keep our heads and not do anything uh that’ll get us in trouble. Well, with that being their mindset, how important was it for you guys to kind of do what you just said? I mean, do you expect to carry over into game five? Um, with it being a do or die situation, I mean, it could. I’m not 100% sure, but uh yeah, they’re a competitive team, good team, so skilled team. So, we just got to enjoy the win tonight. Uh, reset tomorrow and be ready for game five. Oh, no. I think Josh does does a lot of different things for this team, but he’s usually not, you know, filling the score sheet. It kind of just says what his, you know, what his game is really all about. Not that not that playoffs, you know, there aren’t guys who step up big in different ways, but, you know, what does he mean to this team? Yeah, Dunner’s great. He’s been great all year. Uh, very reliable. Uh, 200 foot center. uh great on the PK. So, uh it was uh felt pretty great uh for him to get rewarded tonight, especially in a big game. You uh do you think they’re they’re maybe done trying to intimidate Deon? Uh yeah, I think they’ve tried everything, but it it doesn’t seem to get to him. So, uh, he also he had a great game tonight and, uh, expect him to be, uh, ready to go and have another great game in game five.
