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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: SHARKS v BLUESMay 23, 2016Joe PavelskiMarc-Edouard VlasicJoel WardSt. Louis, Missouri: Game Five San Jose – 6 THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Marc‑Edouard, the bounce‑back ability your team has had after a loss. Talk about how that sort of played out again tonight. MARC‑EDOUARD VLASIC: We've seen it all playoffs where we lose a game like we did the last one. Guys come out, want to respond. We played the way we did in Game1 through 3. It was nice to see. Q. Marc‑Edouard, how do you explain your game? It seems really steady. Is that sort of how you play, all the other guys do their thing, your job is to provide defense? MARC‑EDOUARD VLASIC: Yeah, it's not easy playing against their top players. My job is to try to shut down the best players on the other team. It's something I pride myself on. Every night that's what I'm relied on to do. Most of the time other guys will get credit for scoring the big goals or making a big play. But that's the way I am, is to be steady and shut down the top players. I got to keep doing that. Q. Joe, both of your goals, the first one, did you know Joe wasn't going to shoot, he was going to pass? The second one, just a product of all your practice? JOE PAVELSKI: Yeah, I think odds are he's going to pass, especially in that situation. Plus he gets it behind the goal line. You're just trying to work to get open. First look, going to see who is open. He does a good job. If you're not open, he doesn't make a careless play. He got it there. Got a little fortunate with the rolling puck, see it kind of change angles a little bit, find its way in. Q. Joe, building on that, you mentioned your thought process when Joe has the puck behind the net. What's your strategy when you see him sitting there surveying the ice? What's your approach? JOE PAVELSKI: Try to get open. He makes high‑percentage plays. He has all year. It's kind of something we want to hold onto pucks when we can. We don't want to just throw them away. When we're responsible like that, playing with Herts and Jumbo, they're big bodies and they protect the puck well. You always try to support each other, try to get open. On the power play there, I think we won a battle in the corner, which leads to a little bit of open ice there. Makes the play. Q. Joe, do you have a certain number of pucks you like to work with on that tip drill? Is it a matter of minutes? You do it every day. JOE PAVELSKI: We haven't skated much, to be honest, so I haven't had that much. Q. Through the year. JOE PAVELSKI: Early in the year, it's more. You're trying to get your timing and everything. I don't know. Right now once in a while, if we're on the ice quick, I might try to grab 10, try to get them. Q. Joel, you played with some pretty talented players in Washington, as well. His ability to redirect pucks, the way he works at it, how would you measure that as some of the other great players you've been around? JOEL WARD: Yeah, I think the word that sticks out is 'consistency'. These two guys, Pavs, Pickles on the back end has been strong. I didn't know much about both of them coming here. To see them day‑to‑day, what they do in practices, how hard they work, it's been pretty special to watch. I think for me it's just consistency and how hard they work not just in games, obviously they show up in games, but practices as well. JOE PAVELSKI: He had a nice one tonight, too. Don't cut him short (laughter). Q. Marc, you said you take pride in shutting down the opposition players. Tarasenko has effectively been shut down. What has been your approach to shutting him down specifically? MARC‑EDOUARD VLASIC: Take away his time and space. Our forwards have been doing a good job as well supporting us. Good back pressure does not allow them to have one‑on‑ones with our D. Sometimes the other D is on the ice with them as well. Time and space, against any good player, if you take that away, be physical, pushes him away. You try to limit as many as he gets. Q. One game from the Stanley Cup Final. How difficult is it not to get too excited? JOE PAVELSKI: There's so many emotions throughout a playoffs, you just try to not get too high, not get too low. If we play a game like we did the other night, you just try to respond, play a good game like tonight. You want to ride that and stay with that. It's about throwing our game out there each night, the game that we like, we feel that's best suited for us. When we do that, we give ourselves a good opportunity to win, get some chances. We believe we can be tough to play against. It's about that. But it's a four‑line attack for us. Everybody has played a key role in it so far. That's going to have to continue. Q. Joe, for all the questions you have gotten about what makes this team different, the resiliency you've shown, is that an underrated part of this team and your game? JOE PAVELSKI: I think so. There's been times through the regular season where we've gained that confidence, we've come back. Spent a lot of time on the road. It's never easygoing on the road. Guys have shown up to play, done a good job. It just goes back. There's going to be nights where we don't have it. We got to realize a little bit better when we don't have it, change it. We don't need to change it the next game, but try to change it mid game maybe. If it happens, it happens, we'll try to respond better. Guys have done a good job of throwing our game out there more often than not. Q. Joe, a lot of the talk is about your tipping ability. The one you had in front, that tied the game, what are you thinking when you have a puck like that? What do you see? Do you see an opening in the goal, try to fire it there? You seem like you're automatic from there, too. JOE PAVELSKI: You know what, it's situational. There's times when you're tight and you're trying to get it off. There's time when you got a little bit more time, you might be able to scan the goalie, see what he's doing, try to figure out some tendencies. I had one earlier. Maybe took a little bit too much time, didn't make the right choice, didn't get a stick on it. You just keep working for those opportunities. I think I was a little fortunate it rolled, bounced a little bit. Catch a break with him leaning, it goes the other way. You need those. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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