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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: SHARKS v BLUESMay 25, 2016Patrick MarleauJoe PavelskiJoe ThorntonSan Jose, California: Game Six San Jose – 5 THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players. Q. You guys have been through so much for so long. Talk a little bit about even with one step ahead, what that satisfaction means to you and also what makes this group so special that it's been able to finally get over the hump. UNIDENTIFIEDSPEAKER: Yeah, it's a pretty cool feeling. Obviously it's our first time. It was pretty neat to get this done at home. The fans here have waited so long, 25 years. We've waited 18 years or so. So it's a great feeling. This team, I think we've always said we got a deep team. We truly believe we've got a deep team. You saw tonight all 12 forwards play big parts, six D played big parts, Joner played great. This is truly a team effort from top to bottom. Q. Joe, do you think the balanced scoring you had throughout this series was the difference? UNIDENTIFIEDSPEAKER: Yeah, no question it is. It's Chris Tierney's strong goal, Joel Ward, Patty, Pickles scoring goals. Everybody makes big contributions. That's why we're here right now. It's because everybody is making big contributions right now. Q. Patrick, drafted same year as Joe in '97. You've been a Shark ever since. A lot of good teams over the years. Did you ever wonder when it was going to be your year? A lot of gray in your beard when it finally happened. PATRICK MARLEAU: Speckles (laughter). We're just enjoying the ride right now. We've had some really good teams over the year. Like Joe was saying, this team is a little bit different. The confidence we've built over the regular season and now in the playoffs, I think winning on the road helped us get close as a group during the regular season. It carried over into the playoffs so far. Just having each other's back out there, working for each other. Q. Joe, we were talking to Pete this morning. I think he used the phrase 'treading water'. At what point did you really think this team had a shot to be where you are? UNIDENTIFIEDSPEAKER: Yeah, we struggled. Winning one, losing one, winning one, losing one. With the new coaching staff we needed to realize how we needed to play to win. Once that clicked, and that probably clicked maybe early December, I think after that, we just exploded. I think that's really when we saw the depth of this team. Everybody plays a big part. Pete has really stressed it's going to take everybody to get where we need to go. I think we've all bought into that. We all come to the rink prepared, ready to work, then have some fun after. I'd say probably sometime in December when we got it all figured out. Q. Joe Pavelski, how much does team chemistry really play in this type of situation, how your team has gelled together throughout the season? Is it a big factor? JOE PAVELSKI: Yeah, I think it's always a big factor. Chemistry has been good. It's been really strong. Coming to the rink every day, it's fun, it's enjoyable. Again, going back to the four‑line attack, I think that allows it. Everyone's played their part, has been a key contributor to our success. It kind of builds. Everyone feeds off each other. You need it, especially this time of year. That's what we got tonight. It was good to see. Q. Hitch mentioned one of the differences he thought was your ability to close out the first‑round series, get a couple extra games off. How much of a factor do you think that was? Did it play into really having that extra drive to close it off today? UNIDENTIFIEDSPEAKER: Yeah, it's always important. Anytime you can close a series, it's a good feeling. It's not easy. Teams are desperate, fighting for your life. We had that feeling in Game 7, what it's like. You understand the desperation on the other side. It's got to match that level. For us to close out Game5 was good. You get the extra rest. You take it when you can. If you get it, you use it. If you don't, you keep trying to find a way. We've been able to get a little bit of rest along the way. We'll try to keep, you know, store what we can and go play. Q. Joe Thornton, during the off‑season, Doug goes out, he gets Joel Ward, Paul Martin. In the off‑season you're looking at the moves. What are you thinking? What did you know about those guys? JOE THORNTON: Yeah, obviously I think about Jonesy, he's so big, he looks so calm in there. He doesn't get out of position too often. I love that. Pauly Martin, I think just playing against him over the years, just a tremendous player. I think him and Burnsy, he allows Burnsy to be Burnsy. He goes and creates offense, and Pauly is there to help support him. Ward is just a big‑time player. Last year when I was watching the post‑season, Wardy was a huge part of Washington. I think they miss him this year. You saw again tonight, when the game gets a little bit more important, Wardy always shows up and has a big game. Q. Joe or Patty, over the years we've heard a lot of you have to lose before you can win. You need to get that experience behind you. I know you haven't been looking backward this year, I know you're looking forward. Have there been things this year that you benefited from those years where you didn't get to this point? PATRICK MARLEAU: I think you try to take what you learned in the past and apply to it. I think there's a big part just staying in the moment, knowing what we have, the opportunity we have right now. For me, that's the biggest thing. You don't make it this far all the time, obviously. Just trying to seize the moment. Q. Patrick, I know one of your childhood favorite players was Ray Bourque. He got this opportunity with different teams. The fact you're getting this opportunity after so long in San Jose, does that make it a little bit more special? PATRICK MARLEAU: Yeah, definitely does. Being here my whole career, being around the city, the fans, all their support over the years, it's great to see. They deserve it just as much as we do, the support they've given over the years. Q. Could you put into words, now that you're in the Cup Finals, how bad you want to win the Cup and this is not the end goal? UNIDENTIFIED PLAYER: It's not the end goal. I'll tell you that right now (laughter). Q. For any of you. Everything that you guys have gone through in the last two years, maybe do you have to go through that to come out of that stronger? UNIDENTIFIEDSPEAKER: It's hard to say. Every year is different. Every team is different. You try to learn from experiences. You like to not have to. But that's the course we've taken. Now that we're here, again, this was a great step for us. It was another step. It was fun out there tonight. It was exciting. The building was great. The fans were great. But we realize there's more out there. That's what we're going to turn our attention to. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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