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May 19, 2016
San Jose, California: Game Three
San Jose – 3
St. Louis ‑ 0
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Pete, when the Blues make the sort of changes they do to the lineups, you effectively have the same result as Game2. What do you learn about your team?
COACH DeBOER: They made some changes to the lineup. They made some changes to their structure a little bit, too. They tried to push us back a little bit, create a little bit more space.
I think it took us a little bit to adjust. I thought the first five, ten minutes of the game, we were on our heels a little bit. But, you know, as the game wore on, we got more comfortable with how it was going to be played.
I thought we got into a real rhythm and really took control.
Q. Could you talk a little bit about Joe's line and how they played, and also just at this stage of his career in these playoffs in particular, just the way he's playing.
COACH DeBOER: Well, the line played exactly how they played all year for us, which has led the way with how we want to play, the identity of our team.
When your best players are your best forecheckers, the best back‑checkers, the first guys to block shots, stop and defend in your own end, that bleeds through the rest of the group.
Those guys brought it again tonight like they have all year.
Q. You are playing fantastic defense on Tarasenko. If the Blues are going to win, he needs to be part of it. Describe what you're doing so well against him and that line.
COACH DeBOER: We know he's a dangerous player. Really our team defense is about their whole team. I mean, I think we try and defend as a five‑man unit. Whether it's Tarasenko on the ice or Fabbri or Steen or Stastny, they have so many weapons, this isn't about shutting Tarasenko down. It's about our team defense every time we step on the ice, defending as a five‑man unit, respecting the fact they have a lot of offensive players over there.
Q. Putting Hertl with the two Joes, they're three centers, what was going through your mind?
COACH DeBOER: They played together before. They've had some success before in previous regimes with Todd, previous coaching staffs. I knew there was a little bit of history there.
You know, at the time Tomas Hertl had played center for us 25, 30 games filling in for Couture. I thought he was playing very well, but wasn't getting rewarded offensively.
The initial thought was to try to get his confidence going offensively. It kind of snowballed to what we have today.
Q. You got off to a slow start the first ten minutes. Was it a matter of your team speed taking over?
COACH DeBOER: I mean, even the start, the one thing I think we didn't do well tonight was shoot the puck. We had a lot of odd‑man attacks, a lot of two‑on‑ones, looks early in the game because they were pressing up. We just didn't hit the net, didn't shoot, passed up some shots. I think that's an area we can do a better job of.
I think the shot totals are a little skewed because there's at least eight to ten tonight where I thought we got a little bit cute and over‑thought some situations.
But again, I thought they pressed early. But even then I thought we were getting stuff going the other way, we just didn't cash in early.
Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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