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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v LIGHTNINGJune 10, 2015Brandon SaadJonathan ToewsCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Game Four Chicago – 2 THE MODERATOR: Questions for Brandon and Jonathan. Q. Jonathan, a couple years ago when Brandon first came up, you called him fearless even then. What has it been like for you to see what he's evolved to become here the last couple years? JONATHAN TOEWS: Well, I've always said, to me the best characteristic to his game is not necessarily his flat‑out skill, his skating, all the tangible parts of his game that you can see firsthand. I think when he came into the league, he was always pushing himself every night. He was assuming more responsibility, whether it was scoring goals or playing two‑way hockey. I think he just keeps showing that. I think he just assumes that responsibility and he wants to be one of the best players, he wants to contribute in games like tonight. We saw that again. Obviously our team is having a lot of success this post‑season. He's a big reason why. Q. Jonathan, how much did it mean to get the first goal this evening? JONATHAN TOEWS: For myself or for our team? Q. For you. JONATHAN TOEWS: I think we've definitely been talking, everyone has been talking about our team starting the game with the lead. Tonight it took us about a period and a bit. We found a way to get that first one. I think we've seen in this series, the brief times we've had the lead, they bounce back really hard. We always have to kind of survive an onslaught. I think tonight we did a better job of responding after we scored goals, especially in the third period. You can definitely expect their team to come out as hard and press late in the game when they're down a goal. It's going to get crazy in some moments. I think we did a pretty good job of handling it. Q. After the team lost a few guys after 2010, you had some younger guys come up like Brandon and Andrew. They were brought into the fold seemingly very easily. Brandon, you have another crop with Teuvo, TVR. Do you take lessons that you learned from Jonathan and Patrick and pass those along? BRANDON SAAD: Yeah. I think those two guys, especially with the amount of skill they have, it's an easier transition for sure. I don't know if they look up to me. It's mostly the captain here. You watch and learn the way he plays and competes. His passion out there is bar none. He's a special player to learn from. I know me personally, that's who I looked up to. I'm sure those young guys are doing the same. Q. When you noticed that Bishop was not out on the ice for the pregame warmup, did you have to make any mental adjustments, switch the scouting reports in your head? JONATHAN TOEWS: I don't think it changes the way we wanted to play the game too much at the end. To a certain degree you could see Bishop fighting something throughout the series. But obviously he's played through it. He's played well, just like any other player. It's been a long season for both teams. Obviously everyone is sucking it up and finding ways to perform. Regardless of who was starting the game, I think they got two big goaltenders who can make big stops for them. We want to do all those little things we've been talking about, the usual things as far as traffic and getting those shots through. Again, we didn't quite do that early and often enough in this game. But I think we had some chances again where pucks were just missing empty nets, redirection. We were there around the net, we just maybe got to put pucks on net a little more often, test them, make them make those stops. Q. Brandon, Joel really likes to move you guys around on lines quite a bit during the regular season. He did that again today with you especially. Does that help you in situations like this when you're moved around so much during the regular season, does it make it more comfortable? BRANDON SAAD: Yeah. We have a deep team, a lot of talented players that are fun to play with. When you get that experience throughout the season, you learn how each other move and how they play, that chemistry definitely helps you out there on the ice. Whether it's with Johnny or Hossa or down the line, Kaner. Pretty comfortable with anyone. Q does his job well and fits and finds the right combinations. Q. How impressed were you tonight with Crawford, his performance, especially at the end of the game, his ability to absorb the criticism that he's taken? JONATHAN TOEWS: All those things you just mentioned are really nothing new for him. We know it's a big game. We're impressed. But we're definitely not surprised that Crow shows up and plays the way he did. We obviously need him that way this time of year, with the guns, the ability, the offensive talent that they have, to make the stops that he made tonight. Obviously we need him to win games like this. He's been a huge part of our success. Every time things maybe don't quite go our way for a couple games, for some reason he's the one who takes the majority of the responsibility. I don't know why. I mean, at the end of the day he's a selfless player and a great teammate. He's ready for whatever. Tonight was another great performance for him. We want to continue to help him as much as we can. Q. Jonathan, when the coach announces sort of wholesale changes up front, what is the message a player usually receives from that kind of a move? JONATHAN TOEWS: Well, I think for the most part we got guys going from our first line to second or third, fourth line on up. I think at the end of the day we feel all four lines can contribute. All four lines need to bring everything to the table, offensively and defensively. I think everyone responded. Doesn't matter where you are. I think guys know that this is the time of year to bring everything you got, take advantage of every opportunity you get on the ice, whether it's 20 minutes or five minutes or whatever it is. I think we got a great bunch of guys that understand that and are ready for whatever the look our coaches are trying to give our lineup. We'll be ready for those changes and those opportunities. Q. Brandon, what did you see on your goal? How would you describe how you finished it? BRANDON SAAD: I was really pretty lucky. I just saw space going to the net, tried to drive and create some chaos. Goalie made a good play with poking the puck. Bounced around my feet. Finally found it to my stick. Just tried to get some wood on it and get it to the net and found a way through his legs. Really it was trying to get to the net, create some chaos, it found a way in. Q. Brandon, who are the guys when you grew up that you were fans of, some playoff moments you're trying to emulate yourself now? BRANDON SAAD: Growing up in Pittsburgh it was Lemieux and Jagr a lot. Even when Crosby and Malkin were drafted to Pittsburgh and played, I was still a teenager and young, so I looked up to them as well. Being a fan of hockey, even before being drafted, I remember 16, 17 years old watching teams have success like the Hawks, making their runs deep into the playoffs with how they compete, the amount of talent they had. There's a lot of special players around the league. Just being a fan of the game, tend to be more playoff hockey being watched, see players have success. That's pretty much it. Q. Jonathan, there was some question coming into the game how much Johnny Oduya might be able to do tonight with an injury issue he's battling through. He played 26 minutes, blocked five shots, plus‑one. How big was that tonight? JONATHAN TOEWS: He's been huge. Everyone liked to talk about the four D men who were absorbing most of the minutes and responsibility in the previous series. So I don't think that's changed. I think those guys are ready for whatever, whether it's playing through a few bumps and bruises. Johnny is one of those guys, it's going to take a lot more to stop him. Huge for him to bounce back. Made a big difference for us on the blueline tonight. Q. Jonathan, what did those final two or three minutes there feel like? JONATHAN TOEWS: Well, I guess when you're protecting a lead, especially against a team like this, they're always a lot longer than you'd think. That's the way it is. You got to know the time on the clock. At the end of the day you don't want to be clock watching too much. You just got to be smart, try to win draws, win those little battles in tight in your zone. They got a couple big chances there. In some way we worked for those bounces. We feel good about the way we closed out the game. I think we're happy about the confidence, coming out of this game knowing we're raising our game as the series goes along. We're excited to rest, recover, get ready for the next one. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. JONATHAN TOEWS: Thank you. BRANDON SAAD: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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