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WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY

September 18, 2016

Todd McLellan

Toronto, Ontario

Team North America – 4
Team Finland ‑ 1

Q. How impressed were you by not only the speed and the skill but the back checking and all the other fundamental parts of the game that were so sound tonight?
TODD McLELLAN: I'm happy that you noticed the play away from the puck because that's what impressed me the most with our group tonight was‑‑ teams talk about or people talk about our speed, and a lot of times the focus is offensively and attacking the zone. I was proud of our group today because I thought we used that speed to catch them from behind, catch them by the red line, have a good gap, have the ability to strip pucks and go the other way. We've been stressing lately that we can use our speed in that area, as well, and we saw it paid off tonight.

Q. Todd, off the ice this is the 23 and younger team, and yet they come off as very mature, not very impressed that they won this game, they expected to win. What have you seen from them just in terms of their attitude and their approach and professionalism?
TODD McLELLAN: Well, these players, yeah, they are 23 and under. They're the youngest players in the tournament, but they've been in the limelight, they've been in the spotlight their whole careers, whether it's from junior, college, wherever it is, they're very high draft picks. The media has been around them a lot. They've been around fans.
I think they understand the whole presentation of the game itself and how to behave, and when you mix their skill level in and their ability to come together as a group, we now have a team. We started out as a group. We're now slowly forming a team. But their professional skills are as good as anybody's in the league because of the world they've lived in for‑‑ some of them have been in the league for five, six years now. They've been answering questions in front of the media. Some of them are captains or will be captains in the near future.
So they're all dealing with it now.

Q. Todd, your old boss Jamie Devellano has been around this game for about 50 years now.
TODD McLELLAN: He has.

Q. I was talking to him between periods, and he said if you give me this team, I can win a Stanley Cup within two years, and he said, this team right now is better than 20 teams in the NHL. Would you agree with that assessment?
TODD McLELLAN: Well, I'll tell you what, I spent some real good years around Jimmy D., and I don't know if he was ever wrong, so I will agree with him.
It would be awfully hard to keep this group together. I think I mentioned that before. They are very giving right now when it comes to ice time, power play, penalty kill. They get it. They understand the short‑term tournament. If we tried to run 82 games with these guys, we'd probably have a few trade requests, whether it's the agent or the player himself. There's just not enough minutes to go around, and they like to go.
I don't know, I looked at Connor's minutes, whatever he had, 14 something, or‑‑ 14 something would be a real bad night in Edmonton. It was a good night for him and his linemates, but at 14 minutes that's just how it goes through.
I think Jimmy D. has a very good eye and a very good mind, and I would agree with him in a lot of those things, but I think to coach or manage this group as we go forward would be a tough thing to do for 82 games or over two years 164.

Q. Was there a point in the second period where you maybe saw things start to get away, where maybe they were getting too fancy and starting to run a little wild that you had to rein them back in?
TODD McLELLAN: Well, one of the things we did real well until about the‑‑ I don't know, we spent about the first 15 minutes, last five, six minutes of the second period got a little bit loose on us, not getting because we were getting cute, we just didn't make them stop in their end. They started to build speed and come back after us. We talked about it a little bit, we made a couple of adjustments, got them to think about a few things in the offensive zone that basically made them stop in their end. They weren't just free wheeling out of their zone, and just dialed it back in.
And the group, the team now‑‑ you talk about them as a group. The team bought into it and did a good job of correcting it themselves.

Q. There are a bunch of NHL players here coaching but with one exception, Auston Matthews hasn't played a game yet in the league. Did you keep your eye on him because of that tonight?
TODD McLELLAN: No, my eye was on him because I thought he was going to have a hell of a game, and he did. There was no fear at all of playing him. He just hasn't played his first game. He's an NHL player. I know that. Everybody here knows that. He's that good.
Again, he complemented the other two on the line. That made it complete. They were big bodies that held onto pucks. Their speed, their ability to get‑‑ I think they had 10 shots on goal. He belongs where he is right now. He fits where he is. There's no, hey, let's babysit him and make sure we're protecting him. Let's him play. He's got all the skills and he's playing the right way. We can't ask any more of him.

Q. Just with the talent on this roster, you knew the team had the potential to be really good, what we saw tonight, but until you really see it on the ice in a meaningful game, you're not sure. Was there a moment for you where you said, okay, this team is doing what I want and they can compete with the best in this tournament?
TODD McLELLAN: Well, they're getting it. They still‑‑ they understand it and I'm sure they told you, I didn't see how they answered the questions, but I'm sure they told you they have work to do yet.
We know the games are going to get tougher as they go on, and we have to clean up some areas of the game. But in the meantime, we're trying to grow what we're doing well. We're trying to fix some things that maybe aren't going so good and try and get better every day. That was a goal of ours, maximize the time we have together every day. Today was a step in the right direction. Tomorrow we'll have a tough day.

Q. How significant was the fact that you really didn't give them any opportunity to get back in this game for the most part?
TODD McLELLAN: No, we didn't. The goal, we made a mistake, it bounced over our stick and it was in our net. That happens. You almost have to build one of those into a game a night where you just‑‑ it happens. It's hockey. But our goaltender played very well. They got our penalty kill early, two early penalties made a huge difference, gave us some confidence. I thought our ability to overcome adversity when two goals or potential goals went against us was good. It didn't seem to affect us much. We dialed it in and kept going there.
So overall a pretty good game. We'd like to replay that game again tomorrow and get better.

Q. Looking forward to tomorrow night's game against the Russians, I'm sure they're going to come out with a lot of desperation. Do you think the recipe for success is going to be slightly different for you compared to this evening?
TODD McLELLAN: Well, if we worry about them to the point where it affects us, we'll be in trouble. It's a must win for us, too, and that's how it'll be sold to our guys. This isn't casual. We're not going in there and relaxing. Hey, it's a must win for us, and both teams are playing back to back. We have to take that approach. We have to be very serious about our craft and not be casual, and then approach the Russians and what they do well.
They've got tremendous players that have played a lot of international games. They have the ability to score from anywhere, any line, and I think, like I said, we'll be tested. We've got a tough one ahead of us.

Q. It was said tonight that Team Russia should play tougher against you. How will you play tomorrow?
TODD McLELLAN: Well, hopefully we'll play well. Pavel is‑‑ I had the luxury of being around him for a few years, and he's kind of the godfather of that team. He'll have his team ready. He'll have them prepared, and they're going to come out and compete.
We're well aware of how tough that game will be tomorrow. It's going to be a battle, and we'll have to battle for every inch. We'll have to play as well as we can in all three zones, and we can't waste any minutes. We can't give five or seven minutes of the game away to a team like that, and if we manage that, we have a chance.

Q. With back‑to‑back games, how do you manage the goaltending?
TODD McLELLAN: We get back to the locker room after I talk to you guys and we'll check on health. We'll see where the fatigue level is. We'll sit down as a staff, coaches and the management team. We'll talk about the lineup or any potential lineup changes we want or need to make for tomorrow, and that will include the goaltender.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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