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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: PENGUINS VS SENATORS

May 12, 2017

Guy Boucher

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Practice Day

Q. Can you talk about the buy-in you've got from the guys to your system that you brought here and how well they have adapted to it how willing of this been to play it.
GUY BOUCHER: Well I don't want to make anything big about my systems, I think it's all about the players and you're right, there's been a total buy-in from day one, and started with Erik, who's had a terrific season, has become a definite two-way player and has inspired our group. But also guys like Dion and a guy like Kelly who is in the lineup now but had a huge impact on our group. The intangibles have been probably what has made us grow a lot faster and I think the soul to this team and buy-in like you say and I think the commitment has really stood out for me all year and I think right now we're benefiting from the adversity we have overcome and our players have become a lot stronger because of it and we're able to get through two rounds to get ourself here.

Q. Would you consider it a tough system for guys to pick up?
GUY BOUCHER: No, I've been doing the same thing for years, so I've never had a problem, Tampa first year worked right away, so I don't think -- I went to Europe, different culture and it worked right away. So I don't think it's anything guys can't learn and I think they have proved it but again, I don't think it's about my systems at all, I really believe it's about the players and what they have done and how they grew throughout the year and their commitment is really what's coming out now and like I said, the soul they have developed. They have developed a family atmosphere in there where they really are the ones who are owning what they have done.

Q. Why have you pushed the underdog card so much in these Playoffs? You talked about you're underdogs, talked about it before the Rangers series?
GUY BOUCHER: I never pushed it, I'm asked the question all the time. So you're asking me again.

(Laughter.)

I never came up and said, hey, we're the underdogs. Somebody, the first question was hey, you guys are the underdogs. I guess we are.

Q. Do you believe it?
GUY BOUCHER: I guess the same thing first game of the year until now it's, we do what we can and we try to stick to our strengths and no matter who we play against we haven't changed our identity. Have we tweaked some stuff, have we adapted? Of course. That's part of the game. But I think we have been real loyal to what we were trying to be since day one. So in that respect I think that we're, we were able to play with anybody this year and of course as we move along here, the opponent gets tougher and tougher and if you're asking me if this is a tough opponent it doesn't take a rocket scientist, I mean this is the Stanley Cup champions who just eliminated the No. 1 team in the league. So it's clear that this is not versus us, I think this is the best team in the NHL and so we have to measure up to the best team in the NHL?

Q. What's it going to take to beat them four out of seven?
GUY BOUCHER: First thing is, I think that we have to be aware of their strengths, that's for sure and I think that the previous series has helped us in that respect because I strongly believe that the two fastest teams in the league were the Rangers and Pittsburgh. And having played the Rangers the previous series, obviously that gave us a look and I guess right now we know that this is a similar team in terms of the counter acting, if you turn the puck over, they're gone. They got tremendous speed, you won't catch up to them once they're gone. So we know that. Obviously, it was tough to play against the Rangers because of that. We might have had numbers back, but you got guys that can get through you and that's just the quality of the players and the speed. I think Pittsburgh has similar attributes and but they also have these high-end superstar forwards and three different lines, depending upon what they do. You got Malkin and Crosby and the other ones, that's choose and pick who you want, they're just stars on every line. And what they have got is they're an experienced group that's won, that's gritty, and they're a first on puck team and that's really hard to play against. So we're aware of that, but like I say, the previous series for us was a similar one in terms of the counteracting and the speed and the danger that they pose and we're definitely going to have to make sure that we're aware of that.

Q. With the forwards they have, do you think you'll match more than you seemed to in the last round?
GUY BOUCHER: No, no, I think it's the opposite. I think once you see it during the season, and you look at our roster, and you got one real top line and then you can see the drop off, then usually that's when you want to match. But when you look at the roster there and there is no drop off, I think that's where you go, well you know what, I think everybody has to do the job against whoever, especially on the road. Obviously you're trying to get the defenseman you want against the guys that you want, but who are you going to pick? Crosby or Malkin, somebody else? I mean it's, everybody's going to have to do the job. I've been here in conference finals before and once you get here, it's everybody has to do the job or else you don't belong here.

Q. You pointed out stylistic the Rangers are somewhat similar. Washington is very different than you guys. Do you think the Penguins have a steeper learning curve than maybe you guys did?
GUY BOUCHER: No, I think the Rangers, I thought Pittsburgh, sorry, have had to play against different types of teams all year and they have done great. They have won the Cup last year because they were able to adjust to any style. It was the same this year. You look at who they have won and lost against, they have got enough tools to be able to go from one style to another and still shine and do well. So I don't think we're looking at their team and saying, oh, there's a weakness here and there's a major hole there and there's, this is a team with no basic weaknesses, I think, and that's why they're, they are who they are and that's why they have won the Cup and that's why they were able to beat the No. 1 team in the league and that's why it's obviously the best team in the league. So, for me, it's, I don't think they're going adjust drastically to us, I think they're the ones who have got the experience and they're the ones who have got the background and we are going to have to make sure that we're able to adjust to them most probably.

Q. What is it about coaching Karlsson and maybe your system that allows him to be a star? He's the guy that goes back and gets the puck, is it the ability to have the puck, go back and get it and be the guy with the puck on his stick? What is it about the way you guys play that allows him to be even better than maybe some thought he was?
GUY BOUCHER: Well, I think to answer your question more generally than just Erik, what we have asked the players since day one and I've asked that question this morning with Bobby Ryan and the other guys, we have asked for players at the beginning of the year not to be an offensive player or a defensive player but to be better two-way players. I've had the same approach with forwards and defensemen. And the players who are very defensive, well that's not good enough, we want you to score goals. We want you to score goals in the way that you can, with your strengths. For an example a guy like Pyatt who is a terrific defensive player while he can still score 10 goals a year going to the net and he did last series and then you get the offensive players who are asked to be better defensively, so that we have a more balanced team and a much more committed team and I think that's what we were able to do this year. That's credit to the players who not only bought in, but really tried to flex, I call it flex towards their weaknesses and improve them. But in the end though, I've always gone with the people's strengths. I'm an 80/20 guy. And bring me 80 percent of the time we're going to talk about your strengths and we're going to make sure that you are able to shine in your strengths. And improve your weaknesses 20 percent of the time, not the opposite. I think that probably that's the approach that Erik or any other guy that he's had success this year with us was able to draw from. I've always done that, it's all about people's strengths and I look at Erik and everybody talked to me about how he needed to improve in terms of his defensive game and I thought he was really good offensively that's probably not the only guy I thought that, but I thought he was good, he was spending a lot of time for offense and he was spending a lots of minutes and then they had no juice to defend and it wasn't because he wasn't good, I thought he was a great stick on puck guy, I thought he had terrific gap, but the energy he was spending on the ice presented him from being just as good defensively. It wasn't because he didn't have the tools. So all we did is diminished the minutes in terms of shift lengths this year and that certainly helped him and his focus was definitely about winning. So winning is being a two-way guy, so he did it all. He's unbelievable. Like right now it's, he defends, I can't ask him to defend better than that, he was top shot blocker of the week until he got injured at the end and what he's great at is because he's able to defend and take off, we're a counteracting transition team and he fits perfectly. I like to accelerate the transition, and there's no better defenseman to transition in the league. So, yeah, I definitely look at what we have, whether it was defensemen or forwards and I built our identity around him, around his strengths, rather than ask him to just look at his weaknesses and just become something that he's not. So I think it's everything we have done this year was trying to be a better two-way team and look at people's strengths and try to draw from them and grow. And that's what we did.

Q. Are you going into this series at your best?
GUY BOUCHER: I think we're not that banged up, to be honest with you. We could be more banged up. Are we a hundred percent, everybody? No. But if you saw the last two games against the Rangers, I thought we looked good and I thought we looked fresh. Our players have really displayed a lot of energy on the ice and so I think we have got a really good roster coming in tomorrow for sure.

Q. Do you think you guys are good enough to be in the Final Four?
GUY BOUCHER: We're in the Final Four, so if we're not, I don't know what we're doing here.

If you're in the Final Four you've done something right. The players earned their way here. They weren't lucky. If you look at our season, there's no luck there, it's all hard work and it's all guys paying the price and getting better or wanting to be better and sticking to what we were doing and sticking together. And we have earned our way into the Playoffs, we have earned our home ice advantage, we have earned the last two series, and I think the players should be proud of having earned it. A lot of people didn't see us here, but now we're in the Final Four and we're ready to get started. I think it's exciting. I've been here before, and it's a drug, you want to get back, and me personally I'm back, some other players on our team are back also, they have been here, and they can't be more positive than it is now for our group so everything that we're living now is positive and we're looking forward to get on the ice with the Stanley Cup champion.

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