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NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL: DUCKS VS PREDATORS

May 13, 2017

Randy Carlyle

Anaheim, California - Practice Day

Q. Randy, your team has showed the ability to come from behind within games, within a series, even within a period. Does that become a concern of yours, or do you look at it as a strength?
RANDY CARLYLE: Well, there are, I guess, two sides to every coin, and in this situation, I don't think that we would like to continue to have to play from behind for sure. Last night specifically, we didn't do that until the second period. They had the 1-0 lead, and it was our first shot on net, just lucky enough it went in the net, but obviously we have the territorial advantage, and they just played -- we can't accept that.

Q. Randy, also throughout the Playoffs, the penalty killing has been a bit of a challenge. Last night you guys seemed to be exceptional with that. Is that a thing where at least in that area you know how streaks can go with special teams, that maybe that's a turning point for you guys going forward?
RANDY CARLYLE: Well, you know, we've said this before, and we've stated that you can win hockey games consistently with your power play not producing, but you cannot consistently win hockey games if your penalty kill is going to be porous. And to some degree we've kind of outlived that fact with the percentage if you look at it and how porous our penalty killing has been. We've been a pretty good penalty killing team all year, and for just for whatever reason in the Playoffs, in the first series I think we gave up a power play goal every game in the four games, and then Edmonton scorched us a few times.

But the one thing is that we have to continue to put more pressure definitely in zone than we displayed last night, more so than we have I think in games previous, and then the other issue is that we haven't -- I don't think we've enjoyed a five-on-three in the Playoffs from a power play perspective, but we've had to defend four or five of them, so that's always -- if you can kill off a five-on-three, you should be able to benefit from that, and I think we did last night.

Q. You've told me and you've told everyone that you've changed quite a bit as a coach; how has your relationship changed with those players? It's not the same player here today that you left when you first departed.
RANDY CARLYLE: Well, you know, again, I could use two terms, and the one is probably most -- that I think is more prevalent, is that today's player wants to know why you're doing something. Before it was more of, this is what you're going to do and you didn't have to really explain yourself on a day-to-day basis. Now today's player has evolved to where you have to always give them the why, why you're doing it, explain it, explain it, consult with the people that are involved to make the decision and why you made that decision. If it's as much as moving a player off a power play even, for example, or moving a player away from his partner who he's historically played with. All those little things are the maintenance things that you have to do on a much more regular basis in today's game than 10 years ago.

Q. You touched on the power play earlier, but do you feel that power play is working good but just a matter that the puck doesn't want to go --
RANDY CARLYLE: No, the power play hasn't been working good. We're 0 for 20, and that has to change dramatically. And the one thing that we've stated is that the will that has been demonstrated by the penalty killing units that our power play has been up against has exceeded our power play's will, and that means work ethic, puck recovery, establishing shot, net presence. All those things are the staples in which you try to create a strong power play with, and right now our power play is not running at anywhere near its capability.

Q. How much has the loss of Patrick Eaves kind of (indiscernible)?
RANDY CARLYLE: Well, Patty was a big part of our unit, both on the power play and five-on-five, but we don't have him, but we have capable people, simple as that. We have people that have scored a lot of points in this league and have been in the league and played power play situations for a good part of their careers, and we have some young, talented players that can slide in. But our will to succeed and our will has got to out-will the defensive system that's been put in place by the opposition, and that's it in a nutshell. That's what we've basically related to our players, that we need more. We cannot continue to accept what's happening on that power play right now.

Q. Randy, how do you like your six currently on D right now, and to follow up, can you see Kevin Bieksa getting into the mix at some point in the future?
RANDY CARLYLE: How do I like our six D? I love them all. It's a dumb question (laughter). Again, I understand where you're going. What am I supposed to say, I don't like them? I just said I love them all. I just think that the situation that we were presented with, Kevin will be an option, and going forward, as Clayton Stoner is, as Korby Holzer is, so we'll make a decision on our lineup. We've had lots of discussions, as always, internally that take place with the coaching staff on pulling people in and out, but we felt that with the seven-game series and the type of skate, being the pressure team that we were presented with with Nashville, that we're going to need as much mobility as we possibly have in our back end, but we're always open for minor adjustments as we go forward.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk about or address Josh Manson as somebody who (indiscernible)?
RANDY CARLYLE: Well, Josh has been -- he's a young player. I think he's 23 years old, and I don't know if there's a guy that comes to the rink day in and day out that puts it on the line as much as he does. He's a true professional. He's still young, cutting his teeth, and the nuances of how to play every player, but Josh is out there competing at a very, very high level. He's a physical defenseman, and he's a big man that can skate. So we think we're very, very fortunate to have him on our blue line, and you probably would have to classify him as our most physical player.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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