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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v LIGHTNINGJune 11, 2015Kimmo TimonenJonathan ToewsTrevor van RiemsdykTAMPA, FLORIDA: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Kimmo, I didn't get to ask you this last night, but how fast was your heart beating when the shot hit the crossbar last night? KIMMO TIMONEN: I wished that went in. I guess in life you can't get everything. Just living the dream here (laughter). Q. Jonathan, according to the National Hockey League, this is the closest Final since 1968, after a very tight playoff. What ultimately is going to decide it, do you think? JONATHAN TOEWS: That's a good question. I mean, I think it's kind of funny to think it's been a really tight series, considering there's not been one game that's gone to overtime yet. I think in a way that how we view a tough, equally balanced series when you have some long games, some overtime games, what we've seen in these playoffs so far. It's really tough for either team to separate themselves from the other in any of these games, which makes for entertaining hockey team. I think both teams are equally deserving so far. I think it's just going to come down to, as they say, who wants it more, who is going to fight and work for those bounces. I think both teams are feeling pretty confident it's going to go their way right now. Q. Jonathan, to win this series, you're going to have to win another game on the road. That hasn't been very difficult. Why hasn't home ice meant as much as it used to in the past? JONATHAN TOEWS: I don't know. I still think, speaking for ourselves, we feel more inclined or more excited to play in our building, like anyone would. There's no doubt we have confidence, especially in these big games late in the series, that we can raise our play and find ways to take that energy away, make things difficult on a team in their own building. I think that's a good feeling to have, especially given the fact we are where we are right now. We view it as a great opportunity more than a challenge, I guess. So we're looking forward to it. Q. Do matchups not mean as much anymore because teams are so deep once you get to this point? JONATHAN TOEWS: Could be. I think a lot of it has to do with the way these two teams play. I think you see, especially their team, even the way we've kind of changed our lines up front the last few games, all four lines are contributing offensively and defensively. At the end of the day if it's not the perfect matchup one way or the other, I think both teams are confident that the players on the ice can find ways to try and find ways to get the edge for their team. Regardless of who we have out there against their top couple lines, we have to be smart against those guys. Same type of thing we said in the Anaheim series. Q. It seems like the penalty kill has gone through streaks this year, whether it's been good or bad. What have you noticed in this series? How have you handled the rotation with the three guys in the power play? JONATHAN TOEWS: I think it goes with what was being said about our defensemen the last series. Everyone thought they were playing a lot of minutes, they were taking away too much of the responsibility and the pressure on the blueline. But we have guys, you know, when they get the opportunity, like the two guys I'm sitting next to right now, when they have the chance, but probably one of the toughest things to do in sports, especially at this point in the season, to be thrown into a really tough spot, you know, not having played a lot, not having played a ton of minutes throughout the night, just going out there and trying to find a way to make the difference. We got guys that can do that. I think that's a huge reason why we've had that success. I think when it comes down to the penalty kill, I think we've really always understood how big of a deal it is, especially to try and take away energy from a team like this. The last couple games, it's been big for us. I think first and foremost, you want to stay out of the box. If you happen to take a couple like we did last night, we're confident we can find a way to get the job done, feed off of the energy it gives us at the end. Q. Trevor and Kimmo, you guys, being with this team for a little bit this season, here again at the end, your thoughts on the resolve of this team to pull out games even when you don't have your best game. KIMMO TIMONEN: I've been here three months now. I seen a lot of teams, a lot of hockey players, a lot of different systems. I got to give a lot of credit to these guys. I would say the top eight guys who's been here for six, seven years, these guys are so dedicated for this sport, hockey, just taking care of themselves. It surprised me. I never seen that before. It is not surprise these guys have won it couple times and been in Conference Finals every year. You know, just happy to be here. Happy to enjoy this journey. Hopefully we got two more wins for us, you know. TREVOR van RIEMSDYK: Like Kimmo said, just being here right from the start, that little stint I had, just seeing how a 24‑hour commitment that everyone puts in, takes care of themselves. They're some of the most competitive, hard‑working people I've ever met. Yeah, you can see that on the ice with no matter what the situation, you feel confident we're going to work our way back, get those chances at the end to have a chance. Q. Jonathan, you get to see Brandon Saad play every day. Now everyone is clueing in to how good of a power forward he is in this league. JONATHAN TOEWS: He showed it this time of year last year. He's showing up to play right now. I'm not saying that he didn't all year, but he's definitely raising his game and showing that he's not only a talented player, but he has all those other characteristics that you look for when you want to build a championship team. There's not much more you can ask for. He's the type of guy that wants to make a difference. He wants to be out on the ice in those crucial moments. There's no doubt he was thinking late in that game that he was going to find a way to score a big goal. He went out there, drove to the net. I think when you play that way, you create your own chances and bounces. Another big one from him last night. Q. (No microphone.) JONATHAN TOEWS: No, no. It's just funny to think. We all call him the Man Child. We're under the assumption he's in his mid 30s now. It's funny to hear him talk about growing up watching Crosby and Malkin. That catches you off guard a little bit. Q. Kimmo, at this stage of your career, you're two wins away from the Cup. Do you let your mind drift and think about what it would be like? KIMMO TIMONEN: Not really. You know, I been in different Finals throughout my career. It's easy to look the end of the results, easy to dream about it. You can dream about it, but you can't let your mind wander too far. We got big game coming up Saturday. You can only focus on Saturday. But in the big picture for me obviously when I made this comeback early in the year, this was the dream. I can't lie to you that I'm not dreaming about it. But you still have to focus on daily basis and make sure you practice hard, just focus on task in hand. Q. Trevor, you had one difficult shift yesterday, and a goal was scored. Pretty impressive how you bounced back. How as a rookie did you mentally process that and get past that? TREVOR van RIEMSDYK: Yeah, I think it's important, especially during the game, to have a short‑term memory. Some shifts just aren't going to go your way. The puck's not going to bounce the right way. You got to learn from what you did there, what mistakes you made, just kind of try to bounce back from it. Having guys like the guys sitting next to me in the locker room to keep your confidence up, just telling you to move on, keep it going, that definitely helps to hear that from them. Yeah, you can't let the one mistake compound and lead to another that leads to another. As tough as it can be sometimes, just shake it off, come out the next shift, make a good play, get right back into it. Q. Jonathan, prior to this series, what did your scouting and preparation tell you about the Tampa defense as a whole? Four games into the series, what have you seen from them in relation to what you were anticipating? JONATHAN TOEWS: There's no doubt they have a strong D corps, some great puck movers, great skaters. I don't think it's as much the focus on their D men as it is their five‑man units, the way they come out of their zone, all of them supporting each other, the way they have D men jumping in the rush. We always need to focus on staying together and making sure we got forwards coming back, as well. It's not always just about finding ways to try and poke holes in their defensive game, but it's also making sure that we're ready to hold back and make sure we're picking up guys, because they love to activate on their rush, as well. Yeah, I don't think there's anything specific like that. They all play pretty well put together, complete game. Q. Jonathan, if you win this next one, then Game 6, the Cup is in this building with a chance for you to win it here this time. Do you use that as motivation or do you completely block that out? JONATHAN TOEWS: I'm going to go ahead and echo everything Kimmo just said. There are moments where you let yourself daydream. All of a sudden you catch yourself getting ahead of yourself. You need to snap back to right here, right now. As he said, that is focusing on Saturday, nothing more than that. The only way you get to that point is if you just focus on the next shift, the next period. That's as far ahead as you want to look. I think coming into the series, coming into Game1, maybe sometimes you were a little too excited knowing that you're near the end of the finish line. But I think going through this series we've done a good job of just focusing on the next task, especially last night. We'll do the same thing in the next one. Q. Jonathan, Brad Richards said last night that Tampa Bay is way better than anybody imagined in terms of how well they check. What adjustments do you need to make to combat that the rest of the series? JONATHAN TOEWS: Well, it's all about our work ethic. I think when we're out there, winning the battles, the puck races, getting body position, I think the more we can have the puck, the better off we'll be. At the end of the day it's just about being hard on them, too, not letting them do the things they want to do. We've seen it in spurts in some games where we let them get into their rush game, their wide‑open puck‑moving game. That's when we start to get ourselves into trouble. It's focusing on little details like that, again raising our speed, our play, tenacity, working for the bounces we've been getting. Q. Last night Richards talked about it being one of your worst games of the year. How important do you think it is for a championship team to have the kind of mentality that even after a win, you're still disappointed after a win? KIMMO TIMONEN: You always have to, after the game, realize and evaluate your own game. We didn't play our best last night. Corey was unbelievable yesterday. He pretty much won the game for us. But at the end of the day, it's 2‑2 now. The only thing which matters is a win. We have to realize we have to get better for Saturday. Good thing is it's a 2‑2 series, but we need to get better for the Saturday. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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