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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v LIGHTNINGJune 6, 2015Jon CooperTAMPA, FLORIDA: Game Two Tampa Bay – 4 COACH COOPER: Before we get going, I hate to be that guy, I know I talk way too much when I get up here, but I won't answer a question about the goaltending and what happened tonight. I apologize for that. Q. How about a question about yourself then, what were you thinking when you had to make that change, when Ben came to the bench? COACH COOPER: The one thing about Vasilevskiy‑‑ I know we have two unbelievably capable goaltenders. When Bish had to leave, there wasn't an ounce of stress on anybody on our bench, including myself. I mean, the kid proved it when he went in. He was great. Q. What does that say about this team then? A lot of ups and downs tonight. A lot of things happening out there. When your starting goaltender goes in and out, in and out, what does it say about the team that it didn't have any ripple effect all on them? COACH COOPER: I've said this many times, this team, we're learning the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the job. I think what happened to us the other night was a lesson learned. It's the first time that it happened to us in the playoffs. So what are we going to do about that? Put in that position again, what do you do? That position happened midway through the game when we had the 1‑0 lead. There go the two quick goals, it's 2‑1. Our guys wouldn't be denied. There was a fire on that bench when that happened. There wasn't panic, it was pissed. You got to love that in your team, that in 72 short hours, we're coming back. They did. You got to give those guys a ton of credit. Q. What did you think of Jo's game tonight? Trailed off in the second. COACH COOPER: I thought Jo was great. He did everything we wanted him to. He took some short shifts, which cut his ice time down a little bit. But he came into that game, and he's been prepared to play during our run here. We've had some success prior to this, so we've kept our lineup together. But I always knew Jo was going to get in. I think he came out flying. The adrenaline, all that stuff, he was really fired up. But he was fine. Like I thought he played really well. As the game went on, you know, everybody comes back to earth a little bit, but he got pucks in, he got them out, he was flying around the ice. He had command of the puck when he had it. I thought that line did very well in the first period. Then special teams and things took over. It was harder to get guys out. I thought he did a heck of a job. Q. The series is tied 1‑1. In personal matchups, it seemed like it's 2‑0, Cedric Paquette over Jonathan Toews in terms of the way the games have gone so far. Talk about having a guy who is hardly known to most hockey fans playing against what seems to be an all‑time great and defeating him so far. COACH COOPER: Well, this is a team sport. Cedric has been given an assignment to do something for the team. Not looking at, Oh, somebody has been defeated in this. Ceddy is going out there and doing his job for the betterment of the team. It's been fantastic to watch. There was a big thing last year when we brought him up in the playoffs last year, he played all four games. There's a reason for that. The kid's a gamer. You talk about you get this far in the playoffs, you need guys that sacrifice themselves. That's all that kid's done. He may not have huge point totals, but he's done so many good things for us. It's part of the reason, piece of the puzzle why we're here. He's been given an assignment and he's been doing one heck of a job. I was thrilled when he scored tonight. You could just tell how excited he was. It was just a weight off his shoulders that we were going to get some secondary scoring from some of these guys, then help out on the defensive end. It's phenomenal what he did. Q. Johnny said before the game he felt his line needed to step up. Obviously they delivered tonight. What is it about those guys that seem to rise in these big occasions? COACH COOPER: I don't know. I would say Johnny is wrong in that. They've been outstanding from start to finish. I don't think that everybody should be judged on your point totals. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Johnny's leading the league or darn close in scoring in the playoffs. You can't score every single night. It's really hard, unless your name's Gretzky. The way the game's played today, I mean, what, did only one guy have 50 goals this year in the regular season. Guys play defense. That's turned up a notch in the playoffs. You have to contribute in other areas. That line has been really good for us, including Johnny. But they've carried a lot of the load for us. For them to get going, it's usually a good sign for our team. Q. What specifically, knowing all the storylines of Game1, got your team over the hill tonight? I know about the tempo. Was there anything specifically that you saw behind the bench that you said, This is a little different from Game1? COACH COOPER: To be honest, I thought we started the game much like we did Game1. The difference for me, as I answered earlier, was when we fell behind this time, there was no sitting back, we got to defend the lead. Now that we gave up the lead, we don't have any push‑back. We had push‑back tonight. Again, I think we learned from that. We've played pretty well in these two games. It's 1‑1. It could easily I guess be 2‑0 both ways. I guess 1‑1 is probably fair. But we thought we played pretty well in Game1. We had a tough two‑minute stretch that cost us in the end. You have to be in those situations sometimes to grow from them. We did tonight. It's one of the things about this team, I don't know, you challenge them and they seem to fight back pretty well. It was great. Q. Did this ever happen to you with the goaltending tonight, did this ever happen to you in your career? COACH COOPER: That's a really good question that I would need a little bit more time to answer (smiling). On this stage, at this time, this was new for me. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. COACH COOPER: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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