“Pietrangelo brings penalty murder and closure (defense) … It’s Tanevs Baby”

At the forefront of Wednesday’s game, head coach Craig Berube discussed Pontus Holmberg’s offensive potential, Chris Tanev’s fit for Team Canada, if he got the call after Alex Pietrangelo’s withdrawal, Max Pacioretty, joining the top power-playing device and the challenge against Wild.

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Pontus Holmberg has played all over the lineup for you. He has been a healthy scratch, another line center, a wings. Is there a part of his game that still needs to be unlocked?

Berube: I’ve talked to him a few times about this. When I see him doing things, I see the way he can skate, hang on pucker, transport the puck up the ice and hang on pucker in the offensive zone. I think there’s much more insult there with him. It’s about honoring it a little more.

It’s more of a confidence with him. He will not make a mistake. He has to change his mindset and be more aggressive. There is ability there. I see the ability. I see more in him than what we get.

Does it help Holmberg play with a colleague Swedish like William Nylander?

Berube: Certainly with the communication part of it. When you play with a guy like William Nylander, when he has the puck, he will do his stuff. He is one of the best in the league by hanging on to pucker, cutting down and making room for himself. He doesn’t need help. He needs you to get to the net.

What are your thoughts about Chris Tanev’s fit for the role?

Berube: He would be a good fit. If you look at their lineup and what Tanny brings, Pietro also brings much of it with criminal murder and closure (defense). It’s Tanny’s baby. He is very good at both of these things. He would probably be a good fit for them.

Do you have a favorite Alex Pietrangelo moment from St. Louis?

Berube: There are many good ones. He was a hell of a player. I really enjoyed coaching him.

Ryan O’Reilly won Conn Smythe, but he deserved it as much, in my opinion. He was a really good player for us and a good pro.

This is how I look at Pietro: What is the plan today? He follows through it. Very professional. He comes to work every day and practices hard. Very named professional hockey player.

What have you learned about Tanev and how he is about his business?

Berube: Very professional and consistent. I get the same thing every night from him. He also has great tranquility with the puck. He makes a lot of little acting out there that can go unnoticed to much of the time.

You get the same guy every night: competitiveness, read the piece really well with a hockey -iq and a smart player that is very consistent.

With the compressed schedule due to the four Nations tournament, have you noticed more than usual?

Berube: Yes, for a few months. We went through a stretch earlier where it was a lot of games packed in there. It will be so again in March. There were a lot of back-to-backs early, and then it died a little for us.

It was early the challenge and now it is a little different. Now you have almost too much free. The unbalanced action is going on. That’s the challenge. It’s hard to get the consistency, but that’s how it is. You deal with it as best you can.

March will be a really busy month for us again.

What can Max Pacioretty bring to the top power playback unit?

Berube: With the way it has run with Knies and Tavares usually, we have the same type play there with two large bodies around the net and in the blue paint. We are looking for things about – goals in tight and screening of the goalkeeper. That’s what their job is.

How do you benefit from a group near the bottom of the league on PK?

Berube: Shoot the puck. Find rebounds. When we look at it during the last day or so, and this morning we have to attack, shoot the pucker and enter the paint area. This is how you benefit from it-which also includes five-to-five.

What type of challenge is it wild present tonight?

Berube: A very good road team if you look at their record. Very good structure. They have some really good players. I know Kaprizov is out, but they are a very structured team that makes you work for offense. They do a good job with their structure in the defensive zone. They don’t give you much and their goals have played well.

What gives a good road team with your team on a long road trip, what creates a good road team?

Berube: Not to be yourself on the road, be patient and play with really good structure consistently throughout the game. When you get your options, hopefully you can take advantage of them.

Keep firing up and playing at home and they come. You have to play with good structure. You need to check out well and wait for your options much of the time. For me, that’s what creates a good road team.

Is there more a urge to entertain at home and a temptation to be lost from the structure?

Berube: Yes, I think sometimes, at home, your players will do acting and try things they might not should instead of playing a boring game and taking what they give you.

That’s what I said this morning to our guys: Take what they give you. We won’t beat ourselves. They will protect the middle of the ice all night and they will do a good job with it. We have to play behind them. We have to work for our chances in the offensive zone, get on the inside as much as possible and get pucker there.

What can you remember about competing against Bill Guerin? Is his wild hold a reflection of him?

Berube: Definitely. Hardworking team. He was a hardworking guy. Very competitive. Scored many goals – many goals in the blue paint. He was that kind of player. He mixed it up. He was a great all-round player.

Billy is one of the funniest guys you’ll ever be in, and a good guy to hang out with and talk to. Fun guy.