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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: PENGUINS VS SENATORS

May 12, 2017

Derick Brassard

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Practice Day

Q. What's it like playing in this system, it's completely different. What was the change like for you, especially a guy who plays center, a lot of responsibility on you.
DERICK BRASSARD: For me personally I think it took me a little while to get to kind of adjust to it, but from day one of training camp, everyone in the dressing room bought into the system and I think those pre-season games and all the first part of the season I think really helped us as a team. Right now we are here and that's, I think that's the main reason why, we are here because we defend well and we're committed to play defense and a lot of times we don't give you a lot of space in the neutral zone and we just capitalize with like the skill that we have up front and the special teams. So, yeah, we are here for a reason, I think it's a big part.

Q. Was there a point in the season where you guys started to, the confidence in the system started to grow? Was there a turning point? There was a lot going on this season?
DERICK BRASSARD: Yeah there was a lot of thinking in the system and we did a lot of videos too to like prepare ourselves and a lot of reviews after games and just trying to get better and as a team on the ice and it wasn't perfect, like all season long, but I think for the most part I think we have been playing really good and we had some bad stretches and if there's one thing we did really well this season is that all the best teams or the good teams they find a way to get out of those bad slumps and we didn't really have bad slumps this year after like two or three games we came out of it and I think that it says a lot about our character and in the dressing room.

Q. (No Microphone.)
DERICK BRASSARD: Is this the fourth or fifth? Yeah.

Q. Can this system be the great equalizer against what they do so well?
DERICK BRASSARD: It could be, but at the end of the day the Game One's tomorrow and I don't really know what the answer is for that, we had some good success this year against them but everything is in the past now we have to look at tomorrow and we know we have a big challenge ahead of us and they won the couple last year, they have been one of the best teams in Chicago in the last 10 years and you can't pass, just like Crosby and those guys, and now they're missing Latang, but they still have some really good offensive players and we're up for the challenge. I think we're right there and we have a lot of confidence in our group.

Q. Is puck position still a priority in the system or do you guys kind of rely on other teams forcing?
DERICK BRASSARD: Yeah, a lot of times it's especially in the neutral zone we're going to try to force you to make mistakes but we wants to spend time in your own end and sometimes that's the best defense, when you don't spend time in your own end you're going to spend time and work their defensemen and that's something that we have been doing all season long and we're going to try to do tomorrow.

Q. Guy has pushed the underdog card a lot. Has it benefited you guys at all to have that consistently pushed?
DERICK BRASSARD: He doesn't say it just to get pressure off from his team, I think it's pretty much clear like we're not even supposed to make the playoffs and when you look at, yeah, like pretty much like the media or like the people around hockey, they know that there's no one that put to us make the playoffs and now we're in the second round. So he's not doing that just to say so, he, it's pretty clear.

Q. Third round.
DERICK BRASSARD: Yeah, third round.

Q. What did we miss about your team? What did we not see?
DERICK BRASSARD: Well, we're going to try to play the same style but I think there's a lot of little areas in our game that we can improve and it's not because we won two rounds that we can improve our game, there's a lot of areas that we can improve and we talked about in the last couple days and we have to execute better with the puck, I think we have to manage it a lot better, especially against them, and I think we learned a lot from the other series and when you look at the rangers team and the Pittsburgh team, I think it's two similar teams that can hurt you offensively and, yeah, we just have to play a little better with the puck, I would say.

Q. So nobody thought you would be here but you got to training camp your first time, did you think this was possible?
DERICK BRASSARD: Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about that, I was just trying to just trying to acclimate with my teammates and I know they had a good team, I know they had a really good player in Karlsson that can, like a game changer, but I don't think anyone in our team was thinking about that. Our goal was to make the playoffs and after that anything can happen and now we are here and maybe that's a good thing for a team that's just going to fly under the radar and just play hockey and taking one game at a time.

Q. How different are the Penguins without Latang do you think?
DERICK BRASSARD: Oh, a lot different. He's up there and plays a lot of minutes, he can play on the penalty kill, power play, can shut you couldn't, he's an all around defensemen and I'm sure they're missing him a lot. He's a big part of their success as well in the last couple years. I said Crosby and those guys, but Latang is up there and we're going to try and take advantage of that.

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