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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v DUCKSMay 29, 2015Bruce BoudreauANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA: Practice Day Q. The whole series there's been flurries of goals. That's happened frequently. Do you have a theory on that, and if not, can you make up one? COACH BOUDREAU: Well, if I'm trying to make something up on that, it's that when one team scores, the other team gets down, and the team that scored is pretty excited, they come right back. If you don't get ready right away, they score again. But, I mean, I don't have a definitive real answer for that. Q. Bruce, you guys obviously have game plans to win the series offensively and defensively. What changes in your game plan a little bit when you know the chances of Toews and Kane is a real possibility in a game like this or like in Game 6? COACH BOUDREAU: Well, I mean, they've done it the last two games a little bit. We expect them to do it again. I mean, to me guys that are out there at this stage have to be able to play against guys that are out there. We get the last change, which is good, which means they have to change on the fly to get them. When that usually happens, faceoffs become very important. They've been great at home in faceoffs. We've been good at home in faceoffs. Whoever usually gets the puck has possession and it's usually in their zone. Makes it difficult to change. Hopefully we can win a lot of faceoffs tomorrow. Q. Bruce, coming out of the game yesterday, and even today, maybe there was a little tension before Game 6 than you'd want. Is tension going to be natural for a game of the magnitude of tomorrow? How do you deal with it, combat it? COACH BOUDREAU: Well, I mean, I think we talk about it. I think today's practice was very upbeat. I mean, you can use the words that we were tense. I think both teams in the first period were sort of, Let's see what the other team is going to do first before we react to it. We didn't react. Three and a half minutes they had three goals. And once we scored, it was like, Oh, man, we're in a hockey game. We've got to make sure we keep the composure no matter what. There's a good chance they'll score first. I mean, we have to make sure we keep our composure and keep coming at the teams like we've done all year and not go, Damn, they scored, woe is me. We have to have a strong mental game tomorrow as well as a strong systemized game and all those things. Mentally strong is going to be a real big advantage for somebody. Q. Is that the major adjustment that you want to be made from Game 6? You've tweaked the third and fourth lines, as well. COACH BOUDREAU: I wanted to see it in practice today.  We tried that a little bit. I wanted to make sure that if that's the route we're going to go, I wanted to see if they at least had sort of some good chemistry together. We talked about it. We'll talk about it again tomorrow morning. But that's by no means set in stone, those lines today. Q. Bruce, you talked about having stronger will and resolve, being a mentally strong team. What does Ryan Kesler bring to that? How does he change what's going on mentally with your team? COACH BOUDREAU: Well, I can't read into it. But Ryan Kesler plays angry. He looks like he's a man possessed when he's out there, as does Jonathan Toews. That's why those two have such great battles together. But he sure brings a determination and will. That's all you can really ask of him, I think. I can't get into the heads, and I'm not trying to get into the heads any more. It's Game 7, boys, lay it on the line. There's nothing to save yourself. Either Sunday you're done or Sunday you're continuing to play up to seven more games. Q. Bruce, how much do you think the losses of playoffs past creep into their minds? How do you help them channel that into something positive and constructive? COACH BOUDREAU: I don't think it's crept in their minds. Listen, last game was the first game we lost in regulation in the whole playoffs. Usually what our team does, if you get bucked off the horse, you get back on and keep riding. That's what we're going to do. We're going to keep going and hopefully go at them pretty strong. If we play the best game we can play and we lose, we'll be ticked off, but at the same time we will know we gave it everything we had. But if we play the best game we can play, usually the success is on the other end. That's how we're going to react to everything. Q. I know your job as head coach is to prepare your team and stay in the moment. Have you got a sense through all of that of just how good this series has been? COACH BOUDREAU: You know what, I asked the question yesterday to somebody. I said, Has this been a good series? They laughed at me. They said, Are you kidding, it's been as good as it gets. You don't notice it. You're playing game to game. All we see a lot of times as coaches are mistakes. So we don't appreciate how good it is. Even last game, it's 3‑2 with five minutes to go in the game. I think everybody probably thought, Oh, this game's going into overtime, as well. But the goals I think are both the same for both teams. It wouldn't surprise me if there's a lot of numbers that are very similar because it has been a good series. Both teams have a tremendous amount of warriors that don't want to lose. When that happens, it usually becomes a good series. Q. Bruce, with all due respect, you've lost five of the six Game 7s in your coaching career. How much does that weigh on you going into this game, especially going up against Quenneville? COACH BOUDREAU: He's lost two of the last Game 7s, hasn't he? Q. Yes. COACH BOUDREAU: You're just bringing up things to talk about. I don't think about any of that stuff. Everything is its own entity. This is a new game tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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