|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: SHARKS v BLUESMay 21, 2016Jake AllenKyle BrodziakTroy BrouwerSan Jose, California: Game Four St. Louis – 6 THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Jake, can you say how you reacted to the news you'd be starting, and how confident were you to have some kind of form after going so long without a start? JAKE ALLEN: Yeah, you know, found out right after the game, Game3. I had a day to prepare. Got on the ice a little bit yesterday. Got some more pucks at me. I've been ready. I've been trying to practice as hard as I can. I keep my focus throughout the course of the playoffs. If called upon, give the boys a chance. It was nice to have a four‑goal lead when I haven't played a couple months. A little comforting. Q. Did you feel especially nervous? JAKE ALLEN: Didn't feel nervous at all. I think sitting here and watching these first two rounds, a little bit of the third round, and playing last year, my comfort level is really high. I felt confident out there. Q. Troy, after being shut out in back‑to‑back games, why were you so effective tonight? TROY BROUWER: You know, I thought we went back to our roots, what made us successful all throughout the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs. We were able to get pucks deep, we were able to create chances from below the goal line rather than creating stuff off the rush. We watched a lot of video after the last couple games. They do a great job coming back, supporting their D. There wasn't a whole lot to be made through the middle of the ice. We wanted to get around the net, be resilient. You saw it on Lehtera's goal. We had a couple whacks at it. We were able to get Jones out of position a few times for some goals. I thought collectively and individually, guys really brought a great game tonight. Brodziak's line with Jaskin and Paajarvi were probably our most consistent line tonight. Getting pucks down low. His second goal. Jaskie doing a great job behind the net, able to find Brodziak in a soft area. Just doing what we're comfortable with and what works for us. Q. Jake, everybody raves about how you support each other. How tough is it to sit in such big games and watch? How hungry were you to compete? JAKE ALLEN: Yeah, but I think that's the nature of the situation me and Ells have been in all year. We played the same amount of games, 40‑odd games. We had the two‑man system the whole season. He's been a rock. If it wasn't for him, everyone would agree, we wouldn't be here right now. All the credit to him for getting us here of the. My job tonight was to go maybe give the guys a boost, give them a spark, create something. We were up 4‑0 after two periods. Just a really confident group in there now. We knew we had this in us. It was good to show it. Q. Troy, it's been quite a run for you this post‑season. What has gone right and how are you seeing things out there? Has the game slowed down for you at all? TROY BROUWER: Coming into this playoffs, I had a lot of expectations on me this year. With what Armie expected from me when he traded for me, telling me that my season was going to be judged on how I handled myself, how I played in the playoffs, down the stretch. When you have expectations like that on you, you want to perform your best. For me, I've been able to have some great responsibilities all throughout the season, earning the coaches' and the players' trust, being put in some really good situations for myself. In the first round, we did a lot of checking against Kane and Toews the majority of the time. I thought we did a great job in that series. The Dallas series, we were able to open it up a little bit and have some more scoring opportunities. I thought as a line, whether it's with Steen or Fabbri on our line with me and Staz, we've done a great job of taking advantage of our opportunities. Whether we get mismatches or time in the offensive zone, we've been able to capitalize on our opportunities, especially in some big moments as well. Q. Troy, you played back in the old Crush, Cannon, Moose Jaw with him on a line a million years ago. You're taking a Stanley Cup run together again after a long time. Do you have any stories from back then when you were 18 years old? What kind of relationship did you have? TROY BROUWER: We were friends. We were hockey teammates. When you're in junior, you actually hang out with guys your own age a little bit more. Even though there was a year apart from us, I don't know if we hung out too terribly much. We were on a line for a couple years together, a full year at least. We did a lot of really good things back then. Coming here this year, I didn't know a whole lot of guys on St.Louis. He's a familiar face, even though we hadn't talked for, I don't know, eight, ten years, whatever it was. You say hi to each other on the ice. We weren't exactly great friends. This year I think we've become really good friends. Our families are close. They go to the park all the time together. Me and him sit beside each other on the plane. We have a lot of time to talk and reminisce, catch up. It's been a great friendship, one that I'm sure we'll have for a long time. Q. Troy, we've seen three posts from you in this series, some frustration in the last game. Had you felt like you were close? What was that frustration level coming in tonight? TROY BROUWER: I had a good talk with our assistant coach Kirk Muller. A lot of guys are watching me on the team, seeing how I react. It can be contagious when you get a little bit frustrated. That was something I had to push aside in my game. I hit three posts in the last two games, games we hadn't scored a goal in. So wanting to score, wanting to give our team an opportunity to get back in the games was partly‑‑ well, fully for the frustration. You know, you got to look back, for the fact that you're getting chances, you're getting opportunities. Even though you're hitting posts, you're doing good things to get yourself in a good scoring area. That's what I was focusing on more tonight, is making sure I was still getting myself in good scoring areas. I know they were both power play goals, but being around the net, finding those soft areas, getting my stick on the second one for a tip, those are things I consistently need to do. Whether I'm scoring or whether we're creating chaos around the net to create more opportunities, I have to be consistent in doing those types of things. Q. Kyle, can you describe the shorthanded goal? Why do you think you were able to play as a team more in your offensive zone tonight? KYLE BRODZIAK: Thornton had the puck on the wall. He threw it across ice, missed his pass. Got a good bounce off the wall. Went right to Schwartz. We skated up the ice two‑on‑one. I was a little worried for a second. Thought I might have went off‑side. Fortunately didn't. Made a great pass over to me. Yeah, fortunately I was able to put it in the net. Second part of the question. I think just as a group, you know, we weren't obviously happy with the way the last few games went. Had a good talk of what we felt, not necessarily adjustments, but maybe more of a style of play we needed to give ourselves a chance. I think guys did a really good job of coming out with the mindset of we know there's not going to be any easy opportunities, there's not going to be any odd‑man rushes. We're going to have to get pucks deep, go to work, and hopefully that's how we're going to create our offense. We did a good job starting the game. But I think what's even more important is we stuck with it and we got rewarded for it. Q. Kyle, you guys are asked to do a specific role with the fourth line. When you're able to chip in with big goals, do you feel like it rubs off on everybody else? KYLE BRODZIAK: Yeah, I don't know. It definitely feels good to pitch in. It's not really, I guess, part of our job description every day. We're looked at more to, I guess, provide some energy. When we get a chance to get on the ice, we want to make sure we're doing the right things, making it hard on the other team. Yeah, to get rewarded definitely feels good. Q. Troy, you mentioned a lot of video work going into this game. Was there any tactical difference that you attacked or had a point of emphasis on? TROY BROUWER: Yeah, there's always going to be minor changes and tweaks. The focus of our video was getting back on track to the game we want to play. That's getting pucks deep, that's making their D men work, that's leaning on them. We know these series are going to be long series. This one is going to be no different. We wanted to get ourselves back into a good spot where we had home ice. We worked so hard this season to try to get home ice advantage. It was just trying to limit our mistakes, seeing where we could hopefully expose the other team, and just try and create more for ourselves and less headaches for ourselves at the same time. Q. Kyle, your coach has made a bunch of changes this series, goaltending changes, line changes, lineup changes. As players, how do you handle that? Is it that you just trust him, just kind of go with it? KYLE BRODZIAK: Yeah, I think at this time of year, those are the types of things you can't really focus on. I think individually what you got to think about is realizing what you need to do as an individual to prepare yourself to play the type of game that you need to play. Coaches' decisions, whatever they are, you're going to have to live with them. You have to make the best of the situation. I think throughout the year, guys have done a good job of that. I think the last little while everybody has respected it and done a good job of responding the way the group needs everyone to do right now. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|