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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: SHARKS v BLUES

May 22, 2016

Jake Allen

St. Louis, Missouri: Practice Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Jake Allen.

Q. Short sleep day?
JAKE ALLEN: Get as much as you can. It's quite the travel. Get what you can, get your rest, get your body ready for tomorrow.

Q. (Question about being out for so long.)
JAKE ALLEN: Keeping the right frame of mind throughout this whole playoffs. Being able to watch Ells, watching our team compete and play, gives you the motivation to keep yourself ready and fresh. That's been my objective since the last few games of the regular season when I didn't play till this point.

Q. When you have two goalies, he plays well, you're happy for him, you play well. The first guy to high‑five the goalie is the other goalie.
JAKE ALLEN: I've said it a million times. It's a scenario we're very fortunate to have, personally as well as a team. It's no fun, any goalie can tell you, when you have a partner that you either don't get along with or you have a rivalry with or something like that.
We're pretty fortunate to have two guys that are very similar on and off the ice, just get it.

Q. Brian is probably your biggest fan on the team. Did he say anything to you when you knew the change was going to be made, a pep talk or anything?
JAKE ALLEN: Not a whole lot. I've been sort of letting him do his thing. First three series. He just told me to go get them. It's my chance now. Just tried to make the most of it last night.
I don't think you need to say much. We both understand. We're both pretty similar in that aspect. We have each other's backs.

Q. Does it mean something to know he's got your back?
JAKE ALLEN: Yeah. It's a team game, but we're sort of our own team in a little different sense as well, back there on an island, on our own.
But, no, it's great to have a partner like that that has faith in you.

Q. Were you starting to wonder if it was going to happen?
JAKE ALLEN: No. Honestly, no. The way he's been playing and the way he's held himself throughout this whole playoffs. Not every game is going to be perfect, I understand that, he understands that, the coaching staff understands that. I knew there would be potentially a chance at the start of this playoffs. Didn't know when it would happen.
It's the third round. Little different than the first round. It was fun to get out there and get back in some game action.

Q. Does Hitch say anything like, It's yours now till further notice? Do you know day‑to‑day what the plan is?
JAKE ALLEN: We're treating it like the regular season. Just day‑to‑day. He'll tell you who is in the net, who is not in the net. He'll talk to Jimmy and staff and go from there.

Q. You won't find out till tomorrow?
JAKE ALLEN: Tomorrow or later today. Not a big deal for us. We've been used to that for a few years now.

Q. Is staying ready mentally in the regular season the same as in the post‑season?
JAKE ALLEN: A little bit in a sense. Not so much. I think for me playing in the playoffs last year, being able to watch three rounds this year, changed my whole mindset around being a goaltender in the playoffs.
I think I came in last year a little bit antsy and wanted to do too much, wanted to help the team win so bad, unfortunately we lost in the first round.
This year we realized it's honestly another hockey game. Yeah, it's a little bit more meaningful in the post‑season, but it's another hockey game. Be yourself, play your game. What we've done all year will bring success.

Q. You've had 18 games in 39 days. Is that a good thing to play every other day, a bad thing?
JAKE ALLEN: Rest is a weapon, like everyone says. But it's the playoffs. That's the way it is. Travel is tough in the west. Right now we're the farthest team we can play.
It keeps us fresh, keeps us on our toes. Guys are taking care of themselves in different aspects. Our trainer has been doing a great job to keep us fresh and ready. Playing every day keeps your mind off it a little bit more as well.

Q. How important was it to come back home 2‑2?
JAKE ALLEN: It's huge. Our back would have been against the wall tomorrow night if we lost that game last night.
We have a little bit more breathing room. We're back in our own barn. We have two games out of three on our own ice. Best‑of‑three. First one to win two. We need to have a good start tomorrow and hopefully get the W tomorrow.

Q. In the room, were you guys confident? You didn't look like the team we had seen for a few weeks.
JAKE ALLEN: I think we were still extremely confident. We knew we hadn't played well at all in this series until last game, to be honest. We knew we had so much more to give.
If it was the other way around, if we were playing phenomenal, still weren't finding ways to win, maybe that's a different story. We were struggling to put consistent minutes together. We just knew we had so much more to give. Yesterday we just came out strong. I think that's going to bring a lot of life to our group.

Q. Have you seen that save you made on Thornton yet?
JAKE ALLEN: No. Don't watch too many of the highlights. Once it's done, it's done. That's it for me. I remember it in my head. That's all I need.

Q. Anything instinctive on that one?
JAKE ALLEN: They're a team that finds seams so well, passing. He's one of the best passers to ever play the game.
They know where each other is on the ice. They have so much chemistry. Sometimes if you're not in the proper position, you just got to get something over there in front of the puck.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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