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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: DUCKS VS PREDATORSMay 12, 2017James NealPekka RinneAnaheim, California - Postgame Nashville - 3, Anaheim - 2. Q. James, you guys seemed to cycle a lot right before you got that shot there. What did you see on the final play, and what did you think when you let it go? JAMES NEAL: Yeah, Eky took it to the net there and did a bit of mad scrambling. I think Yarni had a great chance there to bury it and he just missed, and then it went in the corner and Eky was there and he had the poise to give it to Subby and PK made a great play, saw the shot, and got it over to me and found a way in. I don't know if it hit the goalie or the player that was laying in front still, but it was a good feeling seeing it go in. Q. For either one of you guys, third straight series where you guys have claimed Game 1 on the road. What do you think is the reasoning behind that and being able to get the jump in a series and do it all on the road? PEKKA RINNE: I think preparation, just getting ready for the series. Obviously knowing that it's a huge game always going into the series and playing the first game, and so far we've been playing all the first games each series on the road. It's a big game, and again, we responded really well. I thought that we played a really strong game. Q. James, pretty physical series out there; you seemed to really kind of enjoy that physical style. What was it like out there for you, and what is it about just kind of raising I guess to the challenge, so to speak, in a series where there's kind of a lot of physicality? JAMES NEAL: Yeah, I think when you play a team like Anaheim, they've got a lot of big bodies in there. They play a heavy game, and they're physical on you. They make you pay for everything you do. Nothing new to us. It's what we expected. You know, it was the same way last year when we played them in the Playoffs, so we knew it was going to be a battle, and it'll be like that in another couple games. You know, we're doing everything we can to win a game and move on. It was a great job by our guys tonight. Q. 5 of 6 games in the St. Louis series were decided in the third period, tonight in an overtime game. Talk about this team and its ability to win games late and why that is. PEKKA RINNE: Well, it shows a lot of character. I thought that tonight all night we had a lot of chances. We didn't give them a lot. Obviously their first one was a flukey one, and I was disappointed it went in. But other than that, I thought that we created a lot, and I thought that eventually we were going to get one by him. I thought that Kitchen played a strong game tonight, but guys stuck with it. We've been doing that all Playoffs, and it's obviously a great sign for our team. Q. James, I wanted to ask you, obviously conventional answer is the first game doesn't mean a thing, you still have to win three more, and we understand that, but can you talk about what it means for this team, which is supposedly the underdog team, three straight series, you've won the first game on the road, the mindset of this team? Do you like being the underdog? Do you like being the team that is not supposed to win coming into a series like this? JAMES NEAL: Well, I don't think we really have a choice. You know, that's who's ever picking us as the underdog, that's fine. Any time we look at the media, we see that. But we know what type of team we have in our dressing room. We've known that all year. We've built a team to try and win a Stanley Cup, and we're continuing to get better every series and every game. You know, Game 1 is a huge opportunity to take home ice advantage back, and that's what we're going out there trying to do, and that's what we did tonight, and it was a great win. Q. Pekka, I wanted to get your thoughts on PK Subban, how he's integrated into your system and what he's like to work with, and that defense-goalie exchange. PEKKA RINNE: Well, you talked about the goalie changes and stuff. I think he's a defenseman who's easy to work with. He always wants the puck, and for me, it's easy. I can just most of the time play it to him, and he's that type of guy who wants the puck. But other than that, he's a big part of our team, and I thought that he's adjusted really well. He's playing really good Playoffs right now, and like any player, I think it took some time beginning of the season, but it's obviously great to see right now how he's playing a big part. Q. James, it took a perfect shot by Lindholm to tie the game there. When Pekka is playing the way he has been, and particularly in these Playoffs and seems to be kind of in this zone, what's sort of that like? I'm sure you've seen it. JAMES NEAL: Yeah, it's great to see. Coming over three years ago and starting to shoot on Pekka and starting to get to know Pekka, he's an unbelievable goalie, but he's an unbelievable person, and his work ethic and everything he does, he's a huge leader on our team. He's a backbone, and he deserves this, and he deserves everything he gets. I love to see the way he plays out there. He's fun to play in front of, and he's going to continue to play great for us. We'll try to do our best in front of him. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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