THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Alex, one point during this playoffs you made a comment about
sometimes maybe you read your own press clippings, take it too much to heart. Now that you’re up 2-1 in the series here, do some of those moments where you learn the lessons come into play, not read the press clippings?
ALEX KILLORN: Sometimes you get too high after wins, too low after
losses.
In this series, we’re not thinking about that. It’s game by game.
Very cliché to say. It’s the way it is in the Stanley Cup Finals. So far, but so close. You just got to take it game by game.
Q. Brenden, Steven Stamkos talked before Game 2 about why they
weren’t worried about must win because the road game being so good with this team. Why is this team so good on the road this post-season?
BRENDEN MORROW: I’m not sure if we know exactly the one detail. If we did, we’d do it at home, too.
It could be a combination of a lot of things. But maybe when we get on the road there maybe isn’t as much focus because we can’t have it on matchups, we just go out and play. We’re a team that when we have no hesitation to our game, we’re very successful. So that could be part of it. You turn off the thinker a little bit.
Q. Did you get any sense their defensemen were wearing down as the
game wore on? What are some of the telltale signs you look for in terms of fatigue?
BRENDEN MORROW: I don’t know. They’re all workhorses. I don’t know if we sense they were getting more down.
When you’re getting pucks in the corner, you’re winning those battles, winning the races to the pucks, that’s a good sign for us.
I’m not sure if it happened a lot in the game. But as the game went on, we seemed to get to more pucks. Guys like Callahan that were playing relentless in corners were winning those battles. That’s something you probably don’t see against these top defensemen a lot.
Q. Brian, last night you talked about Cedric Paquette, how he was a
bit annoying to play against. What makes him a difficult guy to play with, even if it’s in training camp?
BRIAN BOYLE: Well, he gets in the way, right? He’s in the right
spots. He plays physical. He won’t back down. Coming into camp in
September, trying to get ready for a season with a new team, start trying to feel the puck a little bit, get some confidence going, he wouldn’t let me do it.
It was funny to see. I said, Who is this guy? That’s Ceddy. People told me he came up last year for a little bit. But, again, his attitude’s
unbelievable. He was sent down. He came back up. He’s been a huge part
of our team. Now he’s scoring for us, which is huge.
The way he’s been playing, he’s been a huge part of this so far.
We’re going to need him to keep doing that.
Q. Brenden, as a veteran, when you watch Victor Hedman, how he’s
developed the past couple seasons, any comparisons that come to mind? What have you seen in his game that’s gotten better the last little while?
BRENDEN MORROW: Well, I don’t have a perfect comparison, but I think he can control the pace of a game. He can get out of trouble with moving the puck with his stick or with his feet.
I don’t know if he’s as smooth as Scott Niedermayer was, but he can
move like him. He’s about four or five inches taller. He’s a monster.
Like Coop said, this is his coming out party. We’ve got to see it and witness it for most of this season. The rest of y’all are getting to see it now.
Q. Alex, now in the Finals, in the second and third periods, you’re
playing some of your best hockey. Why is that?
ALEX KILLORN: I don’t know. Against Chicago at home in the first
two games, we came out strong. I don’t know if we’re trying to get a feel for the way the game was going to go, the other team. I don’t think we came out as hard.
In this series, we have had good starts. I think last night, their first game at home, they definitely had some jump. I think we handled that
well. But I think we got to be a little better in the first period next
game.
Q. Brian, it seems now that everybody knows what kind of team this
is. You guys have been running under the radar, getting the type of
accolades you should have gotten these playoffs. Did that motivate you at all, the fact as you move along here you weren’t getting your just due here?
BRIAN BOYLE: I mean, we’re a confident team. We’ve worked for
everything we’ve gotten so far. I think might have been the Hockey News picked us early in the year to be where we are right now against this team.
That’s an exciting thing early in the season. Doesn’t mean anything. You got to work for what you get.
The fact that we’re here now is all that really matters to us. If it was a motivating factor, for some guys maybe that’s a good thing and it’s worked.
But we’ve accomplished quite a bit this year. We’re not done yet
doing what we want to do. It’s a tough task. For us to get more
notoriety, we need to accomplish some things. Again, whether it be in the media or amongst ourselves, we’ve got to work for what we get, for all of our rewards. We’re going to have to work for it and earn it.
Q. Brian, as a guy who played for Ryan Callahan in the past in New
York, what did you see with his struggles, how he handled all that?
BRIAN BOYLE: His demeanor doesn’t really change. He’s a competitive
guy. He obviously wants to be better and contribute. But you kind of saw
it with Stammer, too. Whatever they’re feeling, going through, you know they wanted to produce goals and offense for us. They kind of internalized
it. Didn’t affect them as they were interacting with us. Didn’t affect
them as leaders.
Those are important things for guys that we all look up to on this team, to make sure they maintain that. They were positive guys.
Cally, gee, he’s in the hospital for one of the playoff games. For a guy like that, he doesn’t come out of the lineup unless he absolutely has
to. He’s come back, fought his way back. I think he’s feeling better and
better. Like Mo said, he’s been relentless. He’s been huge in this series and produced in this series. That’s something that’s good to see for other guys that might be struggling to put the puck in the net.
Q. Brenden and Brian, from a veteran’s perspective, when you look at Coop, what is different about him to be able to bring this team to the Stanley Cup Finals?
BRENDEN MORROW: There’s nothing really different, his approach, than a lot of other coaches. You’re either a guy that pushes buttons, motivates aggressively, or you do it fatherly, I guess. He’s kind of the players’
coach. You want to go through the wall for him.
But his X’s and O’s aren’t much different than some of the other teams we’ve played in the playoffs so far. He finds a way to get a little bit more out of his guys. He’s had a lot of success.
BRIAN BOYLE: I mean, he’s good at what he does. His résumé speaks
for itself. Like Mo said, he’s a fun guy to play for. You want to do well
for him. He puts a lot of confidence in his players. I think he’s got a
great relationship with his players. He’s very personable.
I think we’re a really tight-knit group because of it. If there’s one thing we all feel like we’re all in this together. Teams say that quite a bit, but it feels like the whole organization is in this together.
It’s been a lot of fun so far.
Q. Alex, what was the mood in the bench after they scored the go
ahead goal? What is it about this group that you were able to respond to
that?
ALEX KILLORN: I mean, we didn’t have much time to think about it.
They scored in, what was it, 10 seconds or something.
But I think throughout the whole playoffs, we talk about our group being resilient. I think you think about our Game 2 when we went down and we came back.
Just a resilient group. We didn’t have much time to think about it
in that last game. But we’re a group that really never quits. So it’s
just been that way the whole playoffs and throughout the year.
Q. Brenden, three games into the series now, three of the greatest
players in the game have combined for no goals, Toews, Kane and Stamkos.
Can you make sense of that?
BRENDEN MORROW: Well, it’s two great teams. We want to shut down
their guys and they want to shut down ours. It’s kind of fallen on the shoulders of some secondary guys that stepped up in a big way.
I think it’s just real competitive hockey. It’s entertaining hockey.
We know the guys to focus on. In that locker room, too, they got some guys
circled on the board. Steven is one of those guys. It’s just two good
teams going at it.
Q. Brian, last night, Paquette was talking about the fact that Coop
went away from the whole matchup game you were doing in Tampa, decided to let you sort of roll. Why do you think he did that? Do you feel maybe his increased confidence in your line’s ability to just play against everyone allows him that liberty here?
BRIAN BOYLE: We certainly want him to trust us. I think we’ve been in situations where we’ve had to do stuff like that throughout our careers.
Mo and I, our lines, I think a big part of that is being on the road. We need to understand that we’re going to see some of their top lines because that’s probably a matchup they’re going to want to do. If we can shut them down, that’s going to be a big part for us.
We need to be obviously responsible defensively. That’s a part of our game, my game, that I’ve always taken pride in. A lot is being made of
these matchups. As the game goes on, you’ll see different things.
Penalties happen, special teams, different times in games, different faceoffs in different zones, things happen. Things change.
I think it’s tough. The main thing is being on the road, you want to keep somewhat of a rhythm, keep the guys involved. Tough to get the matchup you want. He probably just let us play.
Q. Hockey players are known to be hard-nosed athletes. You’re going to play whatever with pain. But still Ben Bishop wrote a bit of history
last night. Not the first time we see it in the Stanley Cup Final. For
us, for fans, it’s very impressive. Is it for you guys? Is it impressive when you see a guy like him playing in pain like he did yesterday?
UNIDENTIFIED PLAYER: Was he in pain (laughter)?
BRIAN BOYLE: I think everybody’s playing through something right
now. What impressed me was his 36 or whatever saves, the 18 I think he had in the first.
Again, not many guys are 100% right now. He’s got a pretty important job for us. He’s been lights out. It’s been really, really impressive to watch.
Q. Brenden, you’ve been at this a little while now. Being two wins
from the Stanley Cup is as close as you’ve ever been. Is it tough even at this stage of your career to quiet your mind?
BRENDEN MORROW: Yeah. I could back to what Killer said earlier. We don’t want to get too high or get too low. We’re a long ways away yet.
That locker room over there, there’s no panic in their game right now.
They’ve been here before. They know what it takes. So we know we got a
tough road ahead of us. I know we’re not there yet. We got to keep
plugging away here. We came here to get a win. Last night we got one. We got to get greedy and get another one tomorrow night. That’s our focus.
We’ll go from there.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys.
We’ll continue with questions.
Q. Victor, last night Anton Strallman asked you how you make these
plays. How do you make some of those plays out there?
VICTOR HEDMAN: I try to take advantage of my speed obviously. Try
to take what’s there. You know, yesterday was a great play. I was able to get up in the rush, try to put the puck to the net. I got my stick on it.
For me it’s all about trying to make the plays that’s there, try not to force things too much. Trying to use my strengths as a player.
Q. Victor, Jon talked about the evolution of your game. When you
didn’t make the Swedish Olympic team last year, what did that do to you mentally? Was it a source of motivation for you?
VICTOR HEDMAN: I don’t know if ‘motivation’ is the right word.
You’re obviously disappointed to not make a team that you fight for. At the same time we had a game that night in Winnipeg. It was kind of easy for me to switch focus to that, focus on Tampa.
But, you know, I always try to improve as a player obviously every year, try to bring my game to another level. I don’t think ‘motivation’ is
the right word. But you’re always disappointed not to represent your
country on such a big stage.
Q. Steven, Victor said the other day when he was injured, he looked
to you as an example of an injury you’d gone through, the way you came to the rink with a good attitude and everything. What did you see from him as he was going through that? Did you talk about that?
STEVEN STAMKOS: Well, I think both of us are the same when it comes to not being able to help your team. You’re frustrated at the fact you can’t go out there and be a difference. But you can still be a difference coming to the rink, like you said, motivated to come back.
I think it helps just being around the guys. When you go through injuries like that, it’s tough. But if you have that attitude, I know it can be contagious to some of the guys on the team, as well.
You never want to go through those situations, but if you can come back, I think that helps you as a player, too, just getting to the rink, being around the guys. Hedy was no different. Obviously we’re glad to be in the position we are right now.
Q. Steven, were you as surprised as everyone else when Victor didn’t
make the Swedish Olympic team? Did you talk to him about the
disappointment of 2010 for you?
STEVEN STAMKOS: I don’t think there was much discussion about that.
I mean, if we didn’t get asked the questions here today, I don’t think anyone would be talking about that, to be honest.
I think in a heartbeat we would both trade the opportunity to be
where we are today. That’s the exciting thing, is we’re two games away
from our ultimate dreams. I think everyone wants to represent their
country on the highest stage. But as a kid growing up, wanting to be an NHL player, first and foremost you want to win a Stanley Cup.
We’ve been fortunate enough to be put in the position we are right now to be two games or two wins away from ultimately our dream. So I think that is our main focus right now.
Q. You’ve been through a couple situations in the post-season. Have those moments prepared you to handle a 2-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final, especially knowing the team on the other side?
STEVEN STAMKOS: Yeah, I think we’ve been able to grow as a team
through all these different experiences in the playoffs. You kind of get the ball rolling. Who knows what’s going to happen next game. We have to be prepared for either being up 3-1 or the series tied.
We’ve had that same mentality coming into every game, that you can only control our structure, our work ethic, our compete. Whatever happens
happens. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions throughout these playoffs. Our
group has responded every time, whether it be a big win or a tough loss.
Last game was a big win for our group. I’ve said it now the past couple games, we’re finding consistency at the right time, we’re able to deal with those different emotions. That’s when you need it most at this time of the year, being able to respond to a big win and a tough loss. Our group has been able to do that. It’s just continually gotten better as we’ve gone through this process together.
Q. Jon said yesterday twice, pregame, then postgame, described your
performance as a coming out party. How would you describe your game at this stage?
VICTOR HEDMAN: I think it’s easy for an individual to get better
when you play with such great teammates. It’s no different for me. I always go out there and want to make a difference on both ends of the ice.
For an individual, you need the whole team behind you. I’m fortunate
enough to be on this team. The resiliency we showed throughout the
playoffs, we had some adversity, but every time we faced some, we bounced right back. I think it’s much easier, like I said, as an individual to get better, try to rise to the occasion.
But, you know, it’s just the team itself that matters the most.
Q. Steven, everybody talks about how it’s important to have a
stopper that’s hot in the playoffs. Victor’s performance in these
playoffs, does that display that to you?
STEVEN STAMKOS: I wouldn’t say it’s a coming out party. That phrase is used because of the stage we’re on. People finally get to see Victor.
We see him every day. It’s not a surprise to us.
I’ve been fortunate enough to play with him since he came into the
league. Coming in as an 18-year-old defenseman, that’s probably the
toughest position to come in with such high expectations.
You see him mature as a player, as a person, evolve as a leader on
this team. This is a big stage, a lot of attention. People are starting
to see Victor on a world stage now.
In this room we knew he was that player all along. It takes time in
this league. I think every great player, you have to start somewhere.
It’s been impressive to watch. But you said it, he’s been an absolute
beast for us out there. Very rare do you see the combination of size and speed and smarts.
You need really good defensemen at this time of the year. You look across and see Chicago with the guys they have. Well, I think the guys on our team are just getting that notoriety now because of the stage we’re on.
They’ve been unbelievable players for us all season long.
Q. Steven, this Blackhawks team has been historically pretty good
when trailing in a series. What difference in their game do you anticipate from them now?
STEVEN STAMKOS: We’re going to get their best. We have to be
prepared for that. I think we saw it in the first period yesterday when
they can get on a roll.
Good teams, we’re certainly there. You find ways to win games.
They’ve done the same for a long time now.
We have to expect that. I don’t think anything’s going to surprise
us. They’re going to come out extremely hard. This is the situation we
were in in Game 1. We found a way to respond. They’re going to respond.
This is going to be a good test for this group. Obviously they have the experience. But we’re going through it. Like I said a couple minutes ago, you have to go through these situations to gain that experience. We seem to rise to the occasion every round. It gets magnified now with how big these games are.
We said it all along, we have confidence in our group and want to continue to build on that.
Q. Steven, even with the loss in the first game against Chicago, the way this team has played for the first three games of the series, are you playing your best hockey right now in the playoffs?
STEVEN STAMKOS: Definitely the most consistent. You go back to Game
7 against the Rangers, that’s four in a row where we’ve given ourselves a chance to win every game. You know it’s not going to happen. We saw that in Game 1.
We learned our lessons pretty quick, whether it’s having to come back like we did last night. Did that in previous series. We gave up a lead in
Game 1. That’s all you can ask for as a group, is to go through these
situations and get better the next time you’re in them.
That’s what makes it so fun. You never know what’s going to happen in these games. You have to be ready for every situation.
Q. Victor, could you describe when Jon decides to dress seven
defensemen, how does it change the flow of the game for you and for the five other regular defensemen?
VICTOR HEDMAN: I don’t think it’s changed too much, other than the
fact you maybe have to play on both sides, both the left and the right side. But we have seven capable defensemen who can play on this stage.
To see Nesty step in and play the way he does has been impressive.
We got seven guys that can really play. We just have to be focused on the
task. Doesn’t matter if we dress six or seven defensemen, we know that
everyone is going to go out there and do the best they can for us to have success. That’s been the case throughout the whole playoffs.
Q. (No microphone.)
VICTOR HEDMAN: On the road, it’s obviously tougher to get those
matchups. We’re comfortable with the four lines, the seven D, to go up
against anyone.
Obviously, I mean, it doesn’t really change too much for us.
Q. Steven, you talk about this team’s quiet confidence. How unique
is that compared to teams you’ve been on in the past?
STEVEN STAMKOS: I think this is the most talented group I’ve ever
played with. You see the depth. We talk about it a lot. But you don’t
get this far without different guys stepping up in different moments.
It’s tough out there. You need that secondary scoring, which we’ve
gotten. The guys have played with that confidence since day one. I mean,
that’s the approach that we have as a team. Obviously it starts from management down to coaching staff down to the leaders, to the players, to the goalies. Everyone has confidence in each other.
Sometimes that’s a tough thing to get. When you have it, you try to run with it as long as you can because it is so precious in this game.
You know, the way we’ve been able to play on the road I think has been the thing that’s impressed us and probably a lot of people. We didn’t have a great record during the season on the road. That was something a lot of people talked about.
It’s just our willingness to play that tight checking game knowing that if there’s limited scoring chances, we have the talent and the depth, if we get those one or two at the end, we can find a way.
I think we’ve learned since the beginning of the playoffs, it might not happen the first shift, might not happen with five minutes left, it might happen with three minutes left like last game.
When you have that confidence, it’s easy to look down the bench to
the guy beside you knowing he could be a hero. Everybody has the
confidence in each other in that regard.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys
(Feature Photo/Getty Images)
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