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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LIGHTNING v RANGERSMay 27, 2015Alex KillornNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Practice Day Q. You guys had the best record at home throughout the regular season, but now you seem to be playing a little bit better on the road. Why do you think that is? What's changed there both at home, and what is it about the road that you guys suddenly have seemed to figure out there? ALEX KILLORN: I don't know. That's a tough question. I think we've obviously had quite a bit of success on the road, I think. When you play on the road, you seem to play more of a simple game, get pucks deep. I think at home maybe we try to make more plays or whatever it is. But I think on the road we play more of a simple game, and I think we've had a lot of close ‑‑ more close games on the road, just because once we've had a lead, we liked to protect it. We've been pretty ‑‑ we've had a lot of success on the road, and hopefully we can do that in Game 7. Q. I don't know if I should be surprised that there have been such high‑scoring games considering what both teams did in the regular season. But how do you view just the kind of wild scores that we've been seeing in this Conference Final? ALEX KILLORN: Yeah, I don't think anyone would have expected these scores. It's tough to kind of explain, I think. You know, once they got that third goal last night, I think it kind of deflated us, and that's not a good thing. We have to be better. We have to come back stronger after those goals. I think we played a strong two periods, but it seems like either way, once a team gets up two goals or three goals, it kind of just opens things up for the other team. Trying to do too much offensively kind of gets away from the way they've been playing. So I think that's why you've been seeing high scores once there's a two‑goal lead or a three‑goal lead, things just really open up. Q. Would you prefer for the game to get back to what we saw, I guess, in Game 5 where it's a little more controlled and maybe a little more disciplined game? ALEX KILLORN: Yeah, I think that's the way we want to play. We want to limit their scoring chances. I think we know what they're telling our team. We're going to get enough scoring chances to win the game. I think in the first two periods, we kept them to like six scoring chances, so if we can do that, I think we'll be just fine. We need to play more with a defensive mindset. Q. Just wondering what is your process personally for moving past a loss like last night? I'm sure it's a frustrating type of experience. ALEX KILLORN: Individually or as a team? Q. Yeah, for you. ALEX KILLORN: For me, I'm kind of ‑‑ the way I am personally, I could turn the page pretty quickly. I got home and watched some of the game and kind of slept on it. But today is a new day. I've already gotten over it. I think you have to have a quick memory in the playoffs, especially with the quick turnarounds. We know what we have to do. Game 7 is a huge game, and I think it's definitely not going to be indicative of what happened in Game 6. Q. Did you watch the third period at all when you went home? ALEX KILLORN: Yeah, parts of it, I did. Q. What did you see? ALEX KILLORN: I think the main thing that stuck out is the beginning of the third period when we're fighting for our lives and a chance to finish the Rangers, I think in the first six minutes or something we didn't have a shot on net. I'm not sure exactly the timeframe, but we didn't come out nearly as strong as we could have, and then they end up scoring that goal. And it seems like from there it was over. So that's kind of what I saw. Q. I was asking you about the Rangers being 7‑0 all time at home in Game 7s and the opportunity for you guys to write a bit of history for yourselves on Friday? ALEX KILLORN: I guess that means they're due to lose one, right? But, no, I mean, they're a team that, as we've seen when their backs are against the walls, they've played well. But we've also shown in the short history that our team has been together, we've been able to bounce back, and we've been rebuilding a group. So I think there are going to be a lot of people watching. We know we're going to get the best out of Lundqvist, like he always does in Game 7s. But we think if we play the way we did in Game 5, I think we'll put ourselves in a good situation. Q. Just a quick follow‑up, just the bug that seems to be running through the room, Braydon being sick on the bench there, how are you guys handling all of that? Obviously, the timing isn't great? ALEX KILLORN: Yeah, it's tough. We've had a few guys under the weather, not that that's any excuse. I think most of the guys have been ready for games and stuff like that. But these few days we have here, I know today is a day off, it's going to be to be huge, not only for injuries, but for guys that have been feeling kind of sick. So we're going to use these days to get our guys back healthy. Like I said, we're not going to use that as an excuse as to why Game 6 went the way it did. Q. As you mentioned, you guys are so good with your backs against the wall and bouncing back after losses in this postseason. But it seems after big, emotional wins, you guys don't have a consistent effort the next game. Do you why that might be at all? Is it just a young team trying to mature? How would you explain that? ALEX KILLORN: No, it's tough to explain. I think it's something we've noticed early on in the series, early on in the playoffs. I think you're right, whenever we've had a big win, it seems maybe we get too high on ourselves, I think. I don't know what it is. Obviously you turn on the TV and after a big win, everyone wants to tell you how good you are. I think maybe that in some ways goes to your head. But I think in Game 6, I don't think we felt that at all. I think we came out strong. They just had a good surge in that third period, and we weren't able to handle it. I think we just can't get too high after these wins, in the same sense that we can't get too low after these losses. Q. Not that anyone was really blaming your goaltender last night, but he did get pulled. What's the confidence level in him to bounce back in this game like he did in Game 5 early in the series? ALEX KILLORN: I think he'll be fine. I know there was one game, it was a very similar game, I think it was Montreal, I'm not sure, I think it was Game 4 at home. It was kind of a similar situation where they had a few lucky goals‑‑ not lucky goals, but they had a few goals that you couldn't blame on Bish. We took him out just because of the situation of the game. And I think the next game he came back and responded huge. He's going to respond big in Game 7. He's done that all year. I don't think you can put the blame for any of those goals on him. It's just kind of the way the game worked out. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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