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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: SHARKS v BLUESMay 18, 2016Peter DeBoerPatrick MarleauMarc-Edouard VlasicSan Jose, California: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions for Patrick Marleau. Q. How do you feel about this victory? PATRICK MARLEAU: It was nice to even things up after Game1. Have home ice advantage now. Q. How is your mental preparation for the upcoming game? PATRICK MARLEAU: We're going to prepare the same way we did for Game2. Going to take another 60‑minute effort from everybody. Q. What kind of pushback do you expect from St.Louis? PATRICK MARLEAU: You always expect the other team to come back hard. I think what we've done a good job of is focusing on what we need to do in order to succeed, bring our effort, do those little details throughout the game. That usually kind of bodes well for us. Q. (Question regarding the power play and confidence.) PATRICK MARLEAU: It's one of those things where you want that clicking for you. It helps. It helps everything, I think. You're playing hard, playing hard five‑on‑five. When you get that opportunity, you try and make the most of it. Q. Talking about home ice advantage now. Reestablish home ice advantage? PATRICK MARLEAU: Have to continue it. Fans have been great, loud, supportive. It's fun playing in front of them. Q. What was the key to the penalty kill? You did a real good job on that last night. PATRICK MARLEAU: I think just the pressure up‑ice, the stands at our blueline were good. Everybody was working as a four‑man unit out there. Doing a good job. Q. Do you think speed has played a role so far? PATRICK MARLEAU: That's one of the things, we try to play fast, try to get in on the forecheck, cause turnovers and things like that. When we're doing that, that's when we're effective. Q. (Question regarding other lines contributing.) PATRICK MARLEAU: It's been great all throughout the playoffs. Everybody's been chipping in in different ways, not only on the score sheet, but things you don't see, those little details. Something we're going to have to continue doing. Q. A lot of physicality on that line. PATRICK MARLEAU: Seeing those guys go out there, use their bodies, be physical, gets everybody ramped up on the bench, into the game. Q. What is the most important factor for the upcoming game? PATRICK MARLEAU: For us, it's more the same: being sharp on those little details, having our forecheck going, getting pucks out, winning battles, 50/50 pucks, those types of things. Thank you. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Marc‑Edouard. Q. Talk about the PK yesterday. Used a lot of people. MARC‑EDOUARD VLASIC: It was big for us. Special teams were the difference last night. Q. What is your motivation for the upcoming game? MARC‑EDOUARD VLASIC: We feel confident. We're really excited to come back home and play in front of our fans for the next two games. Q. Do you think you kind of reestablished that home ice advantage? MARC‑EDOUARD VLASIC: Well, they're 5‑1 on the road, we're 5‑1 at home. In the playoffs, you need to win at home or on the road. I mean, we're coming back home, we feel confident, so that's a good thing. Q. How important is it, the discipline in terms of staying out of the box, not giving them opportunities? MARC‑EDOUARD VLASIC: I think both teams had five power play. We didn't really stay out of the box more than they did. But special teams was big. Our penalty kill created a lot of momentum for us. The power play got two goals, which we needed. Q. Have you played any differently at home or on the road throughout the regular season and into the playoffs? MARC‑EDOUARD VLASIC: No, the results were there on the road in the regular season. I think in the playoffs you can see the results are there at home and on the road. We've been playing the same way. Q. What kind of pushback do you expect to see from St.Louis? MARC‑EDOUARD VLASIC: If you lose the first one, you come back stronger. They lost the last one, so we expect them to come out better than they did in Game2. Q. And you counter that by raising your level? MARC‑EDOUARD VLASIC: You counter that by trying to be better than they are. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for coach. Q. Seems like when you're power play is going, your team has success. COACH DeBOER: This is a one‑goal league. Most games are decided by a goal. I think there's a saying amongst coaches, If we can get to three goals in a game, we have a good chance to win. The numbers bear that out. To score three even‑strength goals in the night is good. You have to have a good power play in order to win in this league. Ours definitely helps us, but it's not the only element of our game. Q. Do guys feed off that, lift the rest of your game? COACH DeBOER: Sure it does. Absolutely. I mean, it creates momentum for us. I think that's what you're looking to do with your special teams both ways, is create momentum. I think when our power play scores, that creates momentum. I think when we kill penalties like we did last night, like that four‑minute penalty, I think that creates momentum the other way for us. That's what you're looking to do as a coach, is get momentum out of your special teams. I think that does that for us. Q. What was the key to the PK success last night? COACH DeBOER: Well, I think preparation. Bob Boughner does a great job with our penalty kill. I think execution and energy, the fact that in order to have that late in the game, considering the long road we've been on, we had multiple participants. I think we used eight forwards through that penalty kill. It goes hand‑in‑hand with the other systems we have. We have to be a four‑line team because we want to put pressure on the other team. You can't do that if you're tired. Q. Before the playoffs, you had been happy with the team's play at home, the second half of the year especially. Has there been a difference in the playoffs? COACH DeBOER: There was no magic moment where we said, Hey, let's be good at home. We felt comfortable at home the entire second half of the year. I think our record against good teams at home was always good. I think we dropped the ball against some of the weaker teams we played at home. Obviously we're not happy about that. But that was a reality. The other reality of it is, we were I think 1‑7‑1 coming back off road trips. That's a product of traveling the most out of any team in the league. You come back, there's an adjustment period. That's real. I think that's reflected in our home record. Q. What do you think has been the key to breakouts, the way you break out of your zone? Difficult to get a clean hit on the first guy in. COACH DeBOER: I think part of it's personnel. We have six solid NHL defensemen, a lot of composure, a lot of games under their belt. They don't panic under pressure. I think we've got a good plan. Everybody knows where everybody's supposed to be. I think it's just a matter of working away from the puck. Breakouts around just defensemen. It's all five guys on the ice. I think our support away from the puck, you know, working together to come out of our own zone is key. I think Jonesy is great. I think Jonesy's puck handling is great. That's one of the first things Johan Hedberg started to work with him on. Jonathan Quick was such a good puck handler. So hard to get in and forecheck goalies that handle the puck well. I think Jonesy's puck‑handling ability is night and day from when we got him. He's improved immensely to the point I think he's very good now. Q. (No microphone.) COACH DeBOER: I wasn't here in previous years. I know there's always been some disappointments. I think the fact that last year, you know, there was a little bit of a come‑to moment with the team missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, coaches moving on. It was a little bit of a rock bottom. I think there's probably some soul searching over the summer. I think the guys came back renewed and excited, wanted to show they're an elite team, not the team that missed the playoffs last year. Q. After what you said about the home record, how much value is there in getting that split and having the home ice advantage? COACH DeBOER: Well, it's critical. We've been very good at home through the playoffs. I think we're comfortable here at home. We said it after the Nashville series. If you got a Game 7, you would rather play it at home. I think that was a big help for us. We don't have home ice advantage in this series, but by getting that split, we do now. We've got to take advantage of that. Q. What do you think about Wingels and Zubrus playing together? COACH DeBOER: I like the fact that they're both guys that at different points in their career have played higher up in the lineup, Zuby has been a first‑line guy with Jagr in Washington and scored 30 goals. Tommy has played with Couture and scored 15 to 20. Yet, you know, they've accepted their role with us, come over the boards, and do it with a lot of professionalism and a lot of energy. That's what gives us depth. When you can have guys that are used to play higher up in the lineup, accept the fact they're not going to play there for the good of the group and the team, I think you have a real chance. I think we have that. Q. Nieto a possible option for tomorrow? COACH DeBOER: Day‑to‑day, yeah. Q. (No microphone.) COACH DeBOER: He seemed fine today walking around. Q. Do you expect some changes from St.Louis coming in here? COACH DeBOER: I don't profess to coach Hitch's team. He might mine once in a while (laughter). I have no idea. Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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