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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v DUCKSMay 25, 2015Bruce BoudreauANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA: Game Five THE MODERATOR: Questions for coach. Q. Coach, now that you've had a night to sleep on it, any lineup changes expected? COACH BOUDREAU: I don't know. It's one of those game time decisions. We've told the guys coming for warmup to be ready, you might be put in. We didn't tell anybody this morning that they're definitively playing. Everybody is coming prepared to play. Q. Over the years, how much has the process of recovery and recuperation between games in the playoffs changed? Also I know this year you guys are staying in town, then traveling the next day. Most teams have flown out the night of the game. What is the reasoning behind that? COACH BOUDREAU: The reason behind that is knowledge is an important thing. In the '70s and '80s, they didn't realize how important rest was. Now teams have sleep doctors and such. I think rest at this time of the year is a weapon. You have to use it, rather than wasting a day of getting home at 3:00 in the morning. Because your kids don't know you're on the road, they're still getting up at 7:00, jumping into bed with daddy. Rest is really important. It's changed. The change in the years is the conditioning of the athlete. It's quite different than it was when I played. These guys eat properly. They go after the game, they're not going out, they're going back to the hotel, having a good meal and going to bed. I don't think we could say the same for the '70s and '80s. Q. What did you guys do? COACH BOUDREAU: What's the next question (laughter)? Q. Bruce, Tomas Fleischmann a real option for tonight? What could he bring in a particular game like this? COACH BOUDREAU: He's an option. He's one of the guys that are taking warmup. What he brings is experience. He's been through these wars, he's played in these games. He's had success in these games. I think earlier on in the playoffs he was very, very good against Winnipeg. So he could bring an option if we choose to go that route. Q. You talked about this last year when you played L.A. You're up against now another team that's got a championship pedigree. How much more difficult does that make it to drive the stake through their heart? Where does that show up in games? COACH BOUDREAU: It shows up that the team will never quit and they never panic. Those are the two things that I see. They always believe in themselves and they don't panic when things go wrong for them because they've been through those wars. I mean, Chicago, if this was a young team, when we scored three goals in 37 seconds, might have fell apart. But they regrouped. They stayed the course. They had success. But those are the two things. I mean, every team that's ever won has had to come back at some point. Very rare is that you keep sweeping, sweeping. I think L.A. did it a few years ago. Even last year, Chicago was down 3‑1 to L.A. and they came back. That's what the pedigree brings. Q. Do you believe in puck luck and how do you describe it to somebody? COACH BOUDREAU: I think you make your own puck luck over time. In one game, you cannot get the breaks, be all upset. If you're looking at a series, I think in the end the better team wins. Q. How much do you think this series and the fact that it's Chicago, a lot of this is just fitting, that it's meant to play out this way for you guys to get to where you want to go? COACH BOUDREAU: Well, I don't know how to answer that. Every series is tougher, and it should be tougher. The West for the last few years, maybe this year not being the exception, has been the better conference. But at the same time there's an awful lot of elite teams in the West. To go through a former Stanley Cup champion is something that's not unfounded. It's something you expect. I mean, they've been in the conference final five out of the last seven years. You expect to have to go through a team like this to reach the goal that you want to reach. It doesn't surprise us at all. Quite frankly, if we were sitting back there and you're doing your dream work, when you're looking at the playoffs, you figured you had to go through Chicago to get to the Finals. Q. Can you talk a little bit about the nastiness in this series. Is it a result of the amount of hockey these teams have played because of the overtimes or is it because of the prize and what's at stake? COACH BOUDREAU: I think it's more the prize than the stake. Jeepers, both of us want to get to where we haven't been in a while, or ever in some cases. When that comes to task, you do whatever it takes to win ‑ whatever it takes. I think both teams are in that situation, that you play for as long as you can. You work as hard as you can. You see the back‑checking in this series, and the tracking is so much harder than the regular season. The shifts are nowhere near as long, you don't see people staying out for a minute and a half at all. It's 45 seconds at the most and off. All these things, that's all because of the prize. That's all because you grew up from five years old, when you're playing ball hockey in the driveway, you're dreaming about holding that thing. So you do whatever it takes in all the cases, which is what makes hockey so great. It makes it super. Q. I know during the season the way you guys have responded to defeat has been very strong. How do you think the team is feeling right now, Freddie in particular? COACH BOUDREAU: Well, I mean, Freddie's probably played more games in a row than he's used to. But I kind of think he's played pretty well. I got to believe he feels great and confident, everything else that goes with that. Good teams hate to lose. Chicago knows how to finish. That's what makes this a great battle tonight. Q. Is Wiz an option, as well? Is it easier to put someone in like Fleischmann at forward than to insert a defenseman who has been out so long? COACH BOUDREAU: It is easier to put in a forward than a defenseman, but he is an option. Q. What do you recall from earlier to put Pat Maroon on the top line? What do you feel he's given you since he's been there? COACH BOUDREAU: I mean, he was on the top line when he came here last year. Even the year before, in the shortened season, he's another big, strong guy. Dustin Penner came last year. He was allotted more of the time in that position than Patty. Patty started off there this year. We had a little bump in the road during the middle of the season. But we always knew in the end that Pat would be probably the best fit for that group. Those two guys, they like playing with him. It's worked out. Q. I know he finished the question, but is Silfverberg a question? COACH BOUDREAU: No, he's good to go. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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