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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v DUCKSMay 22, 2015Andrew CoglianoRyan GetzlafClayton StonerCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Ryan, a lot of great shutdown centerman in the National Hockey League. When you've had a chance to go against Ryan Kesler in the past. Does he present a different challenge than Jonathan Toews or Patrice Bergeron, other centermen in the league? RYAN GETZLAF: Is he a different challenge? Q. All those guys are great defensive centermen. Is that a different challenge? RYAN GETZLAF: Well, Kes can frustrate you mentally a little bit more than those guys. He plays with a little more chip on his shoulder, gets under your skin. Other than that, they're all great two‑way guys that play hard and they're tough to play against. Q. Ryan, can you talk about how much more physical the team became with the addition of Clayton and Simon? Is it a mental or physical thing? RYAN GETZLAF: I think we got bigger this year. Our depth got stronger. Our D got bigger. They're a little bit harder to play against in our zone and throughout the series. It's been a big advantage for us, especially in the first two rounds. We played pretty physical teams that are physically demanding. Those guys are a great addition for our group moving forward. Q. Clayton, how much is continuity involved in your play as a unit? What has Trent Yawney done for you guys? CLAYTON STONER: Trent is great for us. He shows confidence for all six of us. He plays us all fairly equal minutes, has confidence in us playing against any line. I think over the course of the 82 games, that's really developed a good six‑man unit that plays hard and really has faith in each other. We got young guys and old guys, so it's a diverse group. But we play together, back each other up when we can. Q. Ryan, your team and their team want to play a little bit different game. You want to probably be a little more physical. Does winning this series become dictating how each game goes and the way the game is played? Seems like you had probably more of Anaheim's way through the first three games. RYAN GETZLAF: Sure. I think anytime when you talk about winning a series, you're going to want to play your game. We can't play a run‑and‑gun game. We're not a team that's built to skate up and down the rink all night long and trade chances. We're just not built that way. We have to be able to execute our system and the things we want to do. We've been doing a fairly good job of that so far. There's been points throughout games where they've handed us in, got to their cycle game a little bit more. But, you know, those are points that we have to address and keep doing what we're doing going forward. Q. Penalty killing can be so inexact at times. You guys were so dominant last night. Does that give you a great burst of confidence for the rest of the series, especially Game4? RYAN GETZLAF: Yeah. I mean, from game to game it's going to be a difference. You talk about killing, I don't know, eight minutes or something like that in the first period. Not ideal, not what we want to do. But I think going back to Game2 at home, we gave up two power play goals in the first period, which is not something you can do against this team and win. It was a big point of ours to make sure that specialty teams battle last night. We were able to do it. Q. For Ryan and Andrew. Ryan, you mentioned after last night's game the team learned from last year about closing out games. Could you expand on that, exactly what you learned and applied from last year to this year? ANDREW COGLIANO: We've had experiences during the year where we've been good in one‑goal games. I think there's guys that know the importance of when you're up, when you have the opportunity to win, you have to focus and bear down. I also think we have some players, a guy like Kes, a guy like (indiscernible) that came in, those guys play big minutes at the end of the game that are tough to play against. I think we've gotten a lot of practice with one‑goal games. We've been doing a good job at that. I think you hope that continues in the playoffs. RYAN GETZLAF: I've always believed that you learn a lot from losing, almost more from losing than you do winning. If you win all the time, you don't really understand what exactly you're doing, you just do it. When you have those times when you go to a Game 7, you see the difference between what they did last year and what we did in that game, you learn a lot about yourselves, what you need to do, how minor the changes are that make the big difference. Q. Ryan, you mentioned last night that you didn't think you were doing a lot of scoring. Bruce just said that they wish you would shoot more sometimes. RYAN GETZLAF: Sometimes (laughter)? Q. How do you walk that line, though? You still want to shoot some, right? RYAN GETZLAF: Yeah (laughter). I honestly don't think about it. I'm on the ice, I just play. There's games where I think I have opportunities to shoot that I don't. Sometimes I kick myself for it. Most of the time I try and go out there and execute what I feel is the best fit for that play. Game2, I think I had 14 attempts at the net, which is unheard of for me. It was a little uncomfortable. Perry gave me hell after the game. But that's just the way the relationship works. I'm not going to shoot a whole ton, but I'll try to take my opportunities when they're there. There's always going to be people telling me to shoot more. I accepted that after my first year in the league, so... Q. Bruce said there were times the coaches want to wring your neck for not shooting. But obviously you've accepted that. You tied a franchise record for assists in a playoff year. The choices you're making are turning out right. RYAN GETZLAF: Yeah, I mean, I'm surrounded with players that put the puck in the net. It's kind of hard for me to argue with making passes. There are times where I overpass the puck a little bit. Like I said, those are things that I address as the series goes on, games go on. It doesn't change my mindset on the ice at all. I try to go out and do what I feel is best at that time. Sometimes it works and everybody's happy. If it doesn't work, everybody thinks I made a bad play, so... Q. Ryan, you mentioned the lessons that come with losing, small things. Do you have an example? You talk about that Game 7. What is something tangible you pulled out of that experience? RYAN GETZLAF: It's hard to say individual things. I think it's more of a mindset that you figure out that that little play matters, that little chip matters, taking the hit to make a play, getting the puck deep so you can make a good line change. Those things are very minor when you look at them individually, but on the scale of a game, when you're talking about not making mistakes in a Game 7, those are part of them. I think you learn them when you lose, you go back and watch the video. No matter what the score was in the game, no matter what the time was on the clock, they were doing the same thing. They were getting the puck in every time, not most of the time, those things. You learn about those little things, I think, along the way. Q. Ryan, Corey isn't everybody's cup of tea. RYAN GETZLAF: Not mine either (laughter). Q. Can you describe in a few words that personality, that penchant for annoying people. RYAN GETZLAF: Personality (laughter)? Well, Perry, he is what he is. As a teammate, he's great. He enjoys the game. He likes being at the rink. He's good to his teammates, despite what Cogs says. Obviously being an opponent of his isn't a fun thing to do. He's annoying on the ice. He agitates, does things people don't agree with all the time, and sometimes we don't agree with. But he puts the puck in the net, goes to the dirty areas, he plays hard and he plays to win. That's an attribute to him, what he can bring to the table. In our locker room, we love him. Q. Clayton, you told me at the beginning of the playoffs this is a fun time of year. Everybody sees how serious everybody is, how much tension is out there. Last couple of years in the playoffs, your game has lifted. Is it different? How much fun are you having? CLAYTON STONER: It's a lot of fun. Every day is refreshing coming to the rink. The 82‑game schedule can get a little long at times. You may not be there mentally every day. But during the playoffs, it's a totally different feeling. Everyone's got a common goal. It's fun to try to reach that goal together. We got a great group in here. It's different from the last couple years for me. I feel a different feeling in the group, that little bit of extra confidence, not cockiness, but a little bit of swagger and self‑confidence that you need to win in this league. So same but different. Enjoying every day of it. Q. Andrew, you talk a lot about the little details you need to win. From watching the game, one of them seems to be slowing things down. Is a big part of that the confidence that you have, you know you can win that faceoff, and that allows you to keep on taking what is considered by many people a high‑risk play? ANDREW COGLIANO: Yeah, I think so. I think sometimes icing is the best play out there when things get moving. It seems like in some of those plays, when things are really fast, they have opportunities, turnovers are the mistakes that end up costing you a goal. We have good faceoff guys. We have guys that are very confident taking faceoffs on both sides. I think it frustrates them. In those situations if you're able to ice them a few times, slow things down, just get a rest, I think it works to your favor. Last night was a perfect example. Obviously you want to hit the empty netter. At the end of the day I think it's better than keeping the play going and risking a turnover. Q. Clayton, in the process of trying to wear them down a little bit with physical play, the person delivering the hit, there's impact on your body. How worn do you get? CLAYTON STONER: Yeah, you definitely get a little banged up, I think on both ends of playing physical, the guy receiving it, the guy giving it. It's something that at this time of year you almost enjoy that little bit of soreness in the morning. Usually means you had a hard‑fought game the night before. I'm sure it's all the guys in the room are probably a little bit banged up, not 100%. It comes with this time of year. I enjoy it. I'm sure most guys do, as well. Q. Clayton, what about the method of the madness of hitting? When you're looking to hit someone, do you give someone a little bit more umph? CLAYTON STONER: Yeah, it obviously depends on who it is, the situation. You don't want to go running around. But if the opportunity's there, you know, especially this time of year, you're putting everything that you have into it. I think obviously certain guys you'd like to give it to a little bit more. But some guys are pretty tough to hit. That being said, I think you're always trying to put everything you have into it, but you might be trying to target other guys a little bit more. Q. Clayton, you have 84 blocked shots so far in this series. Is that something that Trent preaches? Is there ever a time where, Oh, God, this is going to hurt, but you know you need to do it? CLAYTON STONER: No, I don't think it's something we talk about a whole lot. From day one coming to this team, I noticed starting from our leaders, Getzy on the penalty kill, Cogs, it starts with our forwards blocking shots. We've always done it here. It's kind of a culture around here that everybody sacrifices, whether you're the top player or a fourth‑line guy. Doesn't really matter, everybody is willing to sacrifice. I don't think you see that on every team. It's a cool thing to see on this team, for sure. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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