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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LIGHTNING v RANGERSMay 28, 2015Jon CooperNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Practice Day Q. Will you give a speech to your team before the game, or is it to the point of the season where you really don't need to say a whole lot? COACH COOPER: My 102nd speech? Two words, Game 7, I don't think it needs much more of an introduction than that. That's, I'm sure you hear the same cliché from everybody that's ever been a part of a Game 7. Growing up in the streets as a kid, you don't say you scored the winning goal in Game 1. So it's a pretty exciting time. Q. How would you describe the emotions of the team after that loss in Game 6 and how they felt about that loss? Usually that feeds them into a more positive frame of mind, and sort of a ticked off frame of mind, which seems to have served you well. COACH COOPER: I think it's been a funny playoffs with this team, and we've strung together some beauties, both beautiful and beauties, if you know what I mean. But they've always found a way. I think it was very‑‑ I guess the end of Game 6 was probably a very similar feeling as the end of Game 4. We've seemed to follow up some games where the result wasn't what we wanted with better results. Now the one thing I am not faulting our players is they're gaming it up. They're trying as hard as they can, but sometimes we've got to come in with not so much but work smarter not harder. I think these last couple games at home we've probably pressed a little bit in front of our fans and stuff like that. But am I angry at our team, or am I going to go in there angry? Not a chance. I'm so proud of this team of what's been accomplished so far, and we feel like we have a ton left in us. To sit here and say we're in a Conference Final and we're going to get to play in a Game 7, I don't know. You can't ask much more than that. There are four teams playing, and we're one of them. We're really, really excited to get going tomorrow night. Q. Has the flu or stomach bug or whatever it was kind of moved through the team? Is that over with? COACH COOPER: Yeah, I think going into tomorrow we're going to be‑‑ for this time of the year‑‑ as healthy as we can be, I suppose. Out of a possible 21 games, this is going to be our 20th. So we've kind of taken every series to the max. Things like what happened around Game 6, unfortunately, are going to happen. But we're definitely going to be‑‑ well, I shouldn't say that now. Ask me that question tomorrow morning, but I'm pretty sure we're going to be in a heck of a lot better shape than we were the other night. Q. How would you characterize the trickle‑down effect? COACH COOPER: I always like when you're here, I'll be honest. I'm flattered when you're here. Q. I'm honored to be here. How would you characterize the trickle‑down effect of having a player like Stamkos in your lineup, beyond, obviously, scoring goals? COACH COOPER: You mean other things he's done in the game? Q. And how he impacts the team in many areas. COACH COOPER: I think the one thing, this is where I've really seen Stammer grow. When you look at these playoffs, and you look at how he played the Detroit series and he wasn't scoring. So now he's got to do other things, whether that's playing defense, winning draws, finishing checks, whatever he can contribute to help us win, and he was doing that. He's still leading our team in shots. It was just a matter of they weren't going in for him at the time. So as a scorer, you can sometimes look at these guys and say, well, is frustration ruining his game because he's not putting the puck in the net, and that's where his name‑‑ he's become known as a goal scorer? And I think this is where Stammer has really grown, because as you watch him through the Montreal series, he moved to the wing. Another challenge that was put in front of him, and all he's done is answer them. All of a sudden now the puck was going in the net for him. He wasn't scoring the 6‑1 goals, he's scoring the 1‑nothing goal or the go‑ahead goals. I think for an early part of this playoffs, Jonny's line has really been the big contributor for us, but we needed help, and I think Stammer, when he went together with Fil and Killorn, they really elevated their play, and I think it was led by Stammer. So now we kind of had this one‑two punch that has brought us to where we are now. You watch the way he's playing, some of these games he's not getting the 20 minutes a night, he's getting the 15, 16, which is a little bit less than he's used to, but he's embracing it. He's embracing everything that's going on for the better of the team. I think these games where we've had a lot ‑‑ you know, he doesn't kill penalties, so when we're caught up in that, he doesn't get to get on the ice as much. But he's the first guy on the bench pulling for the PK to do things. It's just to watch his maturation going through a playoff year, it's been a pleasure to watch, to be honest. All of a sudden, don't look now, but look who is in the top 5 scorers in the playoffs but Steven Stamkos, and he was getting much maligned a couple series ago. Q. You guys have probably played one of your best defensive games in Game 5 here in New York. How can you guys get back to that after it maybe eluded you guys in the third period last game? COACH COOPER: Well, one thing is get the lead. That's going to help you in your mindset and how you're going to play. I think you look at the teams in the series when they haven't had the lead, they've tried to chase it a little bit. Maybe it pulls you out of your comfort zone. When you do have the lead, you're in your comfort zone. I think, I don't know, is it only one game that the team that's scored first didn't win? Q. (Indiscernible)? COACH COOPER: Yeah, but I think the Rangers had the 2‑0 lead in Game 3 and we came back and ended up winning that game in overtime, but that game had to go to overtime. So I think both teams have been comfortable playing with the lead. Not that both teams don't have the ability to come back, but I think that helps you stick with your defensive structure because all of a sudden you're trying to fight that goal. That's the discipline that we've tried to find is, okay, if we're behind one, we just can't get out of our structure trying to get that one goal back. If you're down two, trying to get two goals back in one shot, and that's the mindset that we're trying to pull out of our guys. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter who scores first, it just matters who's got the most at the end, and stick with your structure for the 60 and see where the chips fall. Q. In Game 6, the Nash, Brassard, Miller line had a really big game. On the road you're not going to get to match up against them if you'd like to, but have you talked about adjustments you want to make playing against the line, whoever is out there, how to limit them and keep them off the board? COACH COOPER: Well, they had a really big Game 6, and Nash had a couple goals in a couple of games prior. But I don't think‑‑ you look at ‑‑ it's funny. They've had their success in our building. They haven't had the success in their building. I think, yeah, they're good players. You're not going to hold them down forever. It's like Stamkos. You're not going to hold him down forever. Guys are going to get opportunities. But I don't think the line match‑ups or the team match‑ups are the keys, I suppose. It's how hard you're going to play against them, and that was our big issue was are you going to give them a free pass when they're going to the net? Are you going to give them a free pass when they go through here or are you going to make them look over their shoulder next time they're coming into those scoring areas? And that's what we didn't do, especially in the third period. We kind of let them‑‑ they got their confidence going, and we weren't competing at the level we needed to. That's what it comes down to is make them pay the price and make it hard for them to get to those areas and they're probably not going to get points. If you let them have the free pass, and good players are going to put points up on you. Q. How important are the first ten minutes going to be for you guys to establish something and take the crowd out of the game? COACH COOPER: We've been through this before. It started in Detroit and carried on through Montreal and here. There is nothing you can do about the first ten minutes. There is the first ten minutes of the game, and everybody's going to be amped up. We just have been that team that's kind of just slid under the radar, and especially in some of these road games they've found a way to just play simple hockey, and that's all we have to do, play simple hockey. We don't have to sit here and go through a game and think, oh, we need to get chances right away, or we need to take it to them in the first five minutes. We just need to play structured. We, as a team, feel we are going to get our chances at some point, but we can't go searching for them. They're eventually going to come. We play some pressure defense, and we're gapped on them, and we're playing hard, we're going to end up getting our chances, whether it happens in the first five minutes, ten, 15. But we have to make sure if it doesn't happen in the first 10 or 15, we just stay the course, because eventually things are going to work out. But there is nothing we can really do to fix the first ten minutes. It's going to happen. We've just have to keep it simple. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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